Personality

Zelma is simply overworked. She tries her best for her children, trying to give them the best life she can, even if they’re poor. She doesn’t let anybody speak ill of her kids or her husband or even criticize them; after all, she knows best how to raise her children. Because of extra hours at work, she’s rarely at home, and sad and tired almost all the time.

Blurb

Zelma (full name: Salomea Cegielnik, née Obrok) is a main character in A Ballad About Silesia during the 1950s arc. Zelma is Erwin’s wife and mother of their teenage children, Stazyja and Michał. She lives in Giszowiec on Żdanowa street.

Zelma was born on June 30th, 1907, as a daughter of Otto and Frieda Obrok. She lived in Giszowiec for her whole life, first with her parents and siblings, then with her own family. In 1927, at the age of 20, she met Erwin Ziegler – a German who came here from Cologne to work. They quickly fell in love and got married by mid-1932. In 1940, their first child, a daughter, was born and two years later she gave birth to their son. Not long before Michał’s birth, Erwin got drafted into Wehrmacht through the Volksliste and never returned from the front. Despite everything, Zelma still believed he’s alive and will come back home one day. Zelma died peacefully at the age of 77.