AS A boy, Antoine Skalecki had a pony or a horse as a constant companion. Together they trudged through dimly lit tunnels, transporting loads of coal in a mine 1,600 feet (500 m) below ground. Antoine’s father was injured in a mine collapse, leaving the family no choice but to send Antoine to toil in the mines nine hours a day. On one occasion, Antoine almost lost his life in a cave-in.

Antoine was one of many children born in France to Polish parents in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Why did Polish immigrants come to France? When Poland’s independence was restored following World War I, overpopulation became a serious problem. France, on the other hand, had lost more than a million men in the war and was in desperate need of coal miners. Therefore, the French and Polish governments signed an immigration agreement in September 1919. By 1931 the Polish population in France had reached 507,800, with many Polish people settling in the mining regions in the north.

The hardworking Polish immigrants brought along their distinct culture, including deep religious sentiment. “My grandfather Joseph spoke of the Holy Scriptures with a reverence that had been implanted by his own father,” recalls Antoine, now 90.

Antoine’s family learned of the Bible Students through his uncle, who attended his first meeting in 1924.

To help train these new publishers, the France branch appointed the first circuit overseers in 1948. Of the five selected, four were Polish, and Antoine Skalecki was one of them.