In a world where people move on in life very quickly, The Mire franchise made us privy to a man who, no matter how he tried, couldn’t forget that one person who had left an indelible mark on his soul. Witold Wanycz was an accomplished journalist, and over the years, he worked on some ground-breaking stories and created a reputation for himself. It was very evident by looking at him that something had happened to him in the past, as he never seemed happy. There were moments where he laughed, but deep inside, it felt like he was hiding a wound that, even after so many years, never healed. Whoever knew Witold personally knew the kind of man he was, and that is why they all respected him way too much. Witold understood the system, and Piotr learned a lot from him when he started working for the newspaper. In The Mire Millenium, we saw that Piotr tried to convince Witold to write for the newspaper once again, as he knew how good he was at what he did. Witold wrote an article or two, but he told Piotr that he couldn’t write on a regular basis as he wanted to undertake a quest to find his love, Else Koepke. So, let’s find out if Witold was able to find Else Koepke and what happened to her back in the day.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Else in 1945?
Else Kopeke was a German woman, and Witold fell in love with her during the time period when Poland was under the control of the German forces. Witold and Else both knew that the odds did not favor them, but they were not ready to give up hope and part ways. Soon, World War II came to an end, and the German natives were either killed or taken as prisoners by the Russian troops. At times, we become those whom we hate, and we saw the Russian soldiers inflicting the same pain on German people that they had been subjected to earlier. The women were kept in deplorable circumstances, and they were physically and mentally abused in the camps. A lot of them died, but somehow Else was able to survive. Witold, for the longest time, didn’t know where she was until he stumbled upon her paintings, and he realized that she was trying to communicate with him through them and inform him that she was still alive. Witold had a very strong intuition that she was somewhere in Germany, and he made his plans to take a sabbatical and go on a quest to find her. But Witold was never able to do that, as something or another came up, and he got involved in a case with Piotr. Witold had even taken money from his partner, Nadia, with whom he shared a very mature bond. Nadia respected Witold, and she understood how he felt for Else. She even gave him money to go to Germany, and she understood why he was so desperate to do so. It could be said that Naida admired the kind of love Witold had for Else. It had been years since the man hadn’t seen her, and still, his heart ached for her. He still thought about her on nights he was lonely, and he still felt a pang in his heart when he thought about that visual when he saw her the last time in the year 1945. Witold never entertained the possibility of Else being killed in the Russian camp, and he was hopeful that one day he would get reunited with her.
How did Witold get Else’s letter?
Call it Witold’s bad luck, destiny, or anything else, but we cannot imagine how unfortunate he might have felt when he realized what happened to him, and that too without any substantial reason. Back in the day, there was an influential man whom Kociolek sent the girls to on a regular basis, and later, we saw that the same man was killed by Kociolek’s wife. He was an important customer, and he didn’t hesitate to pay a huge sum for the girl of his choice. The poor girls in the swimming academy were forced to solicit, and they had no option but to adhere to the order given to them by Kociolek and Grochowiak. The man gave a letter to Kociolek, and he asked him to give it to Witold. Kociolek had only heard about Witold at that time, who was just starting his career and had already made a reputation for himself. Kociolek had foresight, and he knew that in the kind of business he was in, there might come a time when he would need Witold’s services. He knew that Witold was a man of integrity, and he needed to have some leverage over him so that, in the future, he could force him to do whatever he asked. So Kociolek never gave Witold the letter, and Else, on the other hand, felt that either Witold had forgotten about her or maybe he didn’t love her anymore. Else never entertained the idea that there was a possibility that the letter never reached Witold, and she harbored all kinds of negative thoughts in her mind. She waited for Witold her entire life, and she hoped that one day he would come to her doorstep and surprise her.
Did Witold and Else get reunited?
At the end of The Mire Millennium, we saw that Witold finally got the letter after Kociolek’s death, and he immediately went to the address that was mentioned there. A woman opened the door, and she told Witold that she was Else’s daughter. She asked him why he hadn’t responded for so many years, and that’s when Witold told her that he had gotten the letter just a few days ago. The girl told him that Else Koepke had passed away a couple of years ago, and all her life, after she escaped from the Russian camp, she hoped that she would get reunited with Witold. There was a moment of silence as Witold’s mind was incapacitated from thinking anything. Remorse, regret, grief, etc., couldn’t justify the kind of gut-wrenching feeling he had in his heart. Finding Else was something that kept him going all this while, and he didn’t know what he would do now. Else’s daughter asked him to come inside, as she probably wanted to show him where she spent the last years of her life.
Witold probably would never be able to get over Else, but he knew that he had to find some purpose in life and keep the marvelous woman he fell in love with alive in his heart.
