Passports
Bob Dobek and Anna Muller
The story is based on the research done by Walter J. Dobek and his unpublished manuscript “The Dobeks—An Immigrant Family” (completed in 2004 and edited by Robert F. Dobek, 2011).
The Dobek family gets together often. Most recently for the 99th university of Aunt Gene Dobek in New Britain. Aunt Gene is John and Bernice's sole surviving child. Her birthday provides an excellent opportunity to get immersed in the family history. Her house is also a place where some of the most precious family documents are stored, for example, the passports of John and his wife, Bernice Dobek, Gene's parents.
There is not that much that the family knows about the couple, but their beautiful passports remain, offering at least a semblance of the couple's appearances. John was born as Jan in 1890 in Radłów, a town in Lesser Poland that, since the first Polish partition in 1772, was part of the Austrian Empire. In 1907, when he was 17, he left Radłów on President Lincoln, a ship that sailed from Hamburg to the new world via Boulogne and Plymouth. He settled in New Britain, CT.
That is where he most likely met his future wife: Bronisława Bodzioch, who traveled to the States from Poland on an urgent matter. When her family learned that her sister, Klara who emigrated to the States in 1909 wanted to marry a Hungarian, they sent Bronisława on a mission to check on her sister’s well-being in the States and if Klara was not being abused by her “Magyar” boyfriend. Bronisława left her village Wierzosławice in 1914 and was to return to Poland with Klara. But the outbreak of the war made her return impossible. According to family lore, Jan’s band was playing at a wedding in 1914 or 1915 and this is where he first saw Bronisława, eight years his junior. John told another musician that “he was going to marry that girl.” At first, she was “annoyed by his antics” but eventually came around. Following their wedding in September 1917, Bronislaw joined Jan in New Britain. In 1925, she became an American citizen. At this point, Bronisława and Jan most likely were using their English names – Bernice and John.
Their passports are unique: they were issued in Wien in the name of Franz Joseph in two languages: Polish and German. The Habsburg Empire began using passports at least in the middle of the 19th century. The citizens did not have to have IDs, but they were expected to carry passports when traveling. They are hence a relatively modern invention that redefines the relations between the state and individuals. They provide basic information, most importantly they define us by providing the date, place of birth, and the names of the parents. They were forms of governmental control and surveillance, but while defining one’s background and expectations as a citizen of a given state, they also provided new opportunities. If granted, they open the world; they limit it if denied. They opened to Bronisława and Jan a possibility to travel, to learn about the new world, the world that they then shared. Back in Poland, the villages they were from were one kilometer away and yet, it was in the United States where the two met. But the passports also meant moving away from Polish home and families. Bronisława and Jan, or Bernice and John, did not have a chance to go back.
John was a proud American citizen who understood the importance of active participation in matters that related to this his new home, and was active in sports and clubs the Poles had setup. He was also a musician and played the bass fiddle in an orchestra. The orchestra performed at weddings, dances, and other social events. He was a man of many interests and learned to write and speak English quickly. He was not interested in being a factory worker for the rest of his life and he tried several business ventures. The passports remain as documents of his and his wife's lives and the transitions they both experienced from Poland to the US.