Chris Konstan (this is the easiest of his 4 names to pronounce!) entertained us with history, geopolitics, wars and foreign travel.
We learned how Poland grew over the 300 years from the 1400s to the 1700s, but then disappeared in 1800 during the Napoleonic era. It was partly reestablished by the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15 and became a nation again in 1921, 2 years before Chris’ father was born.
Chris’ family comprised multiple nationalities : his grandfather was German, his father was Polish, his grandmother was a Swiss Jew and his mother was English making Chris part German, part Polish, part Swiss and part English! No wonder he has so many different names and 3 passports.
Chris told us about the 5 grades of German according to the Nazi’s 1935 Nuremberg Laws; Chris’ father’s family were classed as grade 2 Germans and so Chris’ father was conscripted to fight for the Wehrmacht. Interestingly Hitler was a grade 3 German due to his heritage.
Tragically Chris’ grandmother’s family lost their lives in Auschwitz and none of the family are left. Chris’ father recognised what was happening and went AWOL from the Wehrmacht before joining the French Resistance, but mistakenly as part of the Communist side, the FTP. (Chris reminded us of the comedy drama ‘Allo Allo’ which portrayed the two different sides of the French Resistance.) Realising his mistake and not wanting to be seen as a Communist Chris’ father went AWOL again and joined the Polish Army in Matera, southern Italy.
Chris took us on a modern day photo tour of Matera from his visit there in September 2025 tracing the footsteps of both his father and surprisingly James Bond (No Time to Die was set in Matera.) From Italy, Chris’ father went to Britain in 1946 and was given a post in the British Army, becoming a British citizen in 1959, just after Chris was born.
An amazing tale which kept all the audience enthralled.
