Janusz Esman
Archival and Historical Review, Vol. XI, 2024, pp. 207-240
https://doi.org/10.4467/2391-890XPAH.24.009.21071Janusz Esman
Archival and Historical Review, Vol. X, 2023, pp. 167-208
https://doi.org/10.4467/2391-890XPAH.23.009.19248Tadeusz Esman wrote his memoir in the years 1976–1985, in order to tell his children more about his early years. The first part of his work discusses his childhood and youth in the Poznań neighborhood of Śródka, where he was born in 1903 and lived until his move to Bydgoszcz in 1927. His stories revolve around three topics: his home, his backyard, and his parents. All these three aspects reflect the daily lives of people living in Śródka at the time—where and how they lived and worked, their surroundings, animals, and neighbors. Tadeusz was raised in a family of tradespeople. His father was a master butcher, and his mother ran a butchery near their house. The author’s language is very vivid, he shares impressions from his childhood, recounts numerous anecdotes from his family and social life in the Śródka market area, and describes his relationship with his parents.