Kęszyccy Family Archive

collection Kęszyccy Family Archive
authors Marcin Kęszycki
starring Wojciech Kęszycki; Wojciech Kęszycki
length 10'13
country Poland
locations Gdańsk, Poland  Stutthof, Poland  Gdynia, Poland 
year 1961-1962
format 8 mm
color black and white
signature PAFD 0036 008
description

The author of the film is Marcin Kęszycki, who as a teenager documented family and social life with a Newa 2 camera. 

The film was made in 1961 or 1962 during Marcin’s seaside holiday with his dad Wojciech and younger brother Wojtek. Wojciech and his son are relaxing on a blanket and playing by the shore, jumping over the waves. The family returns from the sea; on the way they all climb a ladder to a hunting pulpit. The Kęszycki family spent the first part of the trip on a so-called company holiday at the Jantar resort together with Wojciech’s co-workers from the National Bank of Poland. It was one of the last holidays on which the family travelled by train and Jelcz buses. Wojciech and Maria bought their first car, a Volkswagen Beetle named Glacis, in 1963. During the trip, Wojciech and his sons visited the former Nazi concentration camp Stutthof. Shots of the guard tower, barbed wire and the Monument of Struggle and Martyrdom. The author of the film recalls: “It was the first tangible touch of cruelty incomprehensible to me. I remember that at the time I was sickened by the sight of the gallows and the pictures of executions carried out on it. To this day these images are still stuck somewhere in my memory. Fortunately, I had a camera at the time, which allowed me to hide behind the viewfinder”. The next point of the trip was Gdańsk, where the Kęszycki family strolled along Długi Targ and saw the Neptune monument and the Złota gate. The next and most important city visited by Wojciech and his sons was Gdynia. The man had studied at the Maritime School before the war and sailed on the Dar Pomorza. The Kęszycki’s managed to board a moored sailing ship, where Wojciech told Marcin and Wojtek about the names and purpose of some of the sails and ropes. Also moored in the harbour was the cruise ship Mazowsze, on which the family had sailed for excursions from Świnoujście a few years earlier.

(AT)

 

keywords Poland  Gdańsk  Gdynia  Sztutowo  Stutthof  Monument of Struggle and Martyrdom  Neptune Monument  Złota gate  Baltic Sea  Dar Pomorza  holiday resort  port  sailing ship  ship  sightseeing  sea  waves  holidays  beach  cruise  leisure  volleyball  free time 
source of funding Ministry of Culture and National Heritage