A life well-lived
A beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and World War Two survivor, is celebrating her 99th birthday.
Horison resident Wladyslawa Rademeyer has led a remarkable life.
Born in Poland in 1925, she was only 14 years old when Hitler’s Nazis invaded her home country, leading to the outbreak of World War Two.
She was living on a farm with her family at the time. Their farm was invaded by Russian forces and the family was captured and sent to a Siberian concentration camp. Her father and brother were sent into forced labour by the Russian army.
Upon being freed some months later, Wladyslawa and her stepmother Anna joined other survivors on a gruelling nearly month-long walk to the nearest train station, and assisted by American troops, were put on a train to Arabia, where they were taken up in a refugee camp.
In Arabia, they found out that her father was gravely ill in a hospital. She visited him, and he advised her to go back to the refugee camp, where she would be safe under the protection of the American military. She never saw her father or brother again.
After a few months in the refugee camp, they were ushered onto a train to the coast, and from there onto a warship which took them to Beira, Mozambique, where they lived until August of 1945 when they, along with more than 3 400 other Polish refugees, were moved to refugee camps in the former Rhodesia.
Wladyslawa and her stepmother ended up in a refugee camp in Lusaka, where they both found work as nannies.
She met the man who was to become her husband in April 1949, Charles Frederick Abraham Rademeyer.
Her stepmother moved to England with her employers and lived to the ripe age of 100.
Wladyslawa and Charles had two children, and upon Charles’ retirement in 1982, the family moved to South Africa, settling on the West Rand. Charles sadly passed away 10 years later in 1992.
Wladyslawa now lives with her daughter Flora in Horison and is gearing up to celebrate her 99th birthday on December 14.
According to Flora, her mother is still very active and healthy.
“She still walks on her own, and she loves to dance. Sometimes, she even exercises with me,” she says.
“We are planning to celebrate her birthday with a wonderful tea party, where she will be surrounded by her family and friends, including her children, grandchild, and great-grandchildren.”
