'Oldest Bradford Ukrainian' would have been appalled by war

Teodor Oleskiw, who lived in Bradford Moor for most of his life, died on February 9 at the age of 98 after being forced to flee his homeland in 1944.

Following the capture of his younger brother Micheal four years previously, the Germans returned to their home of Potik, a village in western Ukraine, to take Teodor away to France. Both brothers never saw their parents again.

Mr Oleskiw as a young man.

Stephanie Goring says her father would have been appalled with what is happening in the Eastern European country as it matches up with what he went through.

"My father was a private man, who quietly made a difference," Stephanie said.

"The horror he went through is happening again in Ukraine. It’s history repeating itself. We have had Hitler, Stalin and now Putin.

"It has affected ordinary people who just want to live an honest, hard-working life. My dad never wanted to live in England, but he had no choice, he could not go back.

"What happened to my dad nearly 80 years ago is happening to millions now.

"War is the most terrible thing. Only a small group of people call these wars, but the majority suffer.

"It is a blessing that he didn’t see it. It would have been heart-breaking for him."

She added: "I only have distant cousins now in Ukraine. I have spoken to them and they are staying put. They don’t want to leave.

"There are no buses running, so they can’t move. They don’t have their own car. They have got food but can’t go into Potik."

In northern France, Teodor managed to escape into a forest and, with the Germans starting to retreat from the Allies, they did not hunt and shoot him as they had done to previous escapees.

He only just managed to survive by foraging on apples and one farmer gave him a pot of butter.

Mr Oleskiw was found by British forces as a starving displaced person and taken to Scotland on Christmas Day of 1944, where he joined up with the Polish army to fight back against Germany. The war ended before he saw active service.

By chance, Micheal had settled in Bradford and they were finally reunited in 1948 after the trauma of eight years apart.

Teodor with brother Micheal when they revisited Ukraine.

The siblings were very close and remained close for the rest of their lives – enjoying the city's Ukrainian club and playing games of chess.

Teodor never forgot his roots and regularly posted food parcels to his family in Potik who suffered greatly after the war and had most of their land taken from them.

Down the years, Mr Oleskiw desperately wanted to go back but he was advised that it was too dangerous and he would likely be imprisoned or shot if he returned under Stalin’s rule.

For 45 years, he would not accept a British passport because he always felt Ukrainian.

It was not until 1989, when he applied for one in order to visit his family as it was too risky to go there with his displaced persons’ travel document.

By this time only one sister was alive and she lived in the family home where he had been born.

From the early nineties, he went to visit his family every summer for a month. He usually took a three-day bus journey but as he got older decided to fly over on the plane.

The Oleskiw family home in Potik.

Mr Oleskiw, a devout catholic, was the eldest of four children.

He went to school up until the age of eight when his father told him he must stop and work on the farm.

Mr Oleskiw married Joan, an English woman, he met at St Peters Catholic Church, on Leeds Road, and they had four daughters and subsequently six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Known as 'George', he worked very hard in a variety of jobs until he settled at a job in a bakery where he worked for about 30 years.

Mr Oleskiw always passionately loved Ukraine, the land of his birth.