There, all were divided into several groups and began their education. On March 19, 1942, General Wadysaw Anders ordered the evacuation of Polish soldiers and civilians who lived next to army camps. A smaller-scale evacuation to Ashkhabad-Mashhad followed, including the large and final group of civilians. Further Polish transports went to India by sea, from the port of Ahvaz to Bombay. As a result of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland (as agreed by the Nazis and Soviets in their We were transported on board a warship, through Persian Gulf. [citation needed] The Soviets lobbied the Western Allies to recognize the pro-Soviet Polish puppet government of Wanda Wasilewska in Moscow. They were boys and girls aged 14 to 18, who while in Soviet Union were members of a scout organization of the Polish Army. This was only corrected when I was in my middle 60s. The Soviet Union took over 52.1% of the territory of Poland (circa 200,000km) with over 13,700,000 citizens at the end of the Polish Defensive War. [3] Thanks to a remarkable reversal of fortune well over 110,000 Poles, including 36,000 women and children, managed to leave the Soviet Union with Anders' Army. To relieve ourselves, we had to jump out of the train whenever it stopped. Because of heavy rainfall we were in constant fear of the hut collapsing around us (which in fact happened the day after we moved out). The cross memorialises their devotion to the ideals of freedom and [27] The prisons soon got severely overcrowded, with all detainees accused of anti-Soviet activities. [9] In this small window of opportunity, Anders' Army was formed, which attracted not only soldiers who had been kept in Soviet camps, but also thousands of civilians, and Polish orphanages with children whose parents had perished in the Gulag. In the end unable to bear it any longer, I crawled on to the floor of the bus and stayed there until we miraculously reached Teheran. Mothers unit was also moved to this part, she found me, and it was she who, by some miracle, cured me of dysentery. After the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, it had been assigned to Germany in the treaty on borders and friendship in September 1939. Each slice of bread had to be stolen or gotten in any other way. Click here to login. Para todos los dems tipos de cookies necesitamos su permiso. We were brought into a region called Czelabinskaja Oblosc to a place called Czepajewka posiolek hard labour camp. Feature photo: German and Soviet soldiers fraternizing in Brest, where their forces met during the joint invasion of Poland (colorized photo by Mirek Szponar). Following the Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact against Poland, the Soviet Union acquired more than half of the territory of the Second Polish Republic or about 201,000 square kilometres (78,000sqmi) inhabited by more than 13,200,000 people. The documents of the era show that the problem of sexual violence against Polish women by Soviet servicemen was serious both during and after the advance of Soviet forces across Poland. Tribute was paid in the eastern Polish city of Lublin on Sunday to Poles expelled from the former eastern borderlands and deported to Siberia by the Soviet authorities. After settling me in, which was on a blanket spread on the sand inside a tent, she had to return to her unit. Once you have entered your email in this box and press the "Click to subscribe" black button, you will receive a confirmation email in your mailbox to activate your subscription. For the plight of Poles who remained in the Soviet interior until the defeat of Germany, see Polish population transfers (194446) and the population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine. Ornamental Plants - Biennials / Perennials, 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron - Softcover, Code Name: Zegota Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe, The Color of Courage: A Boy at War: The World War II Diary of Julian Kulski, No Greater Ally - The Untold Story Of Poland's Forces In World War II, Inside A Gestapo Prison - Letters of Krystyna Wituska 1942-1944, A Homeland Denied: In the Footsteps of a Polish POW. They settled in a camp at Santa Rosa, near the city of Len, in central Mexico. At this time, then, we were scattered over three continents and it took a long time, through the Red Cross, before we made contact with each other. Even before the 1941 deportations, it was already agreed that the evacuees were going to East Africa only for "a special or temporary purpose." Several camps were opened in and around Bombay, with the biggest one located at Kolhapur Valivade, where 5,000 stayed. There were sports teams, a choir and activities groups. Houses made of clay, in the heart of Africa. La intencin es mostrar anuncios que sean relevantes y atractivos para el usuario individual y, por tanto, ms valiosos para los editores y los anunciantes de terceros. [15] The NKVD had to open dozens of ad-hoc prison sites in almost all towns of the region. Note that you need to include Polish characters when searching i.e. [11] Polish soldiers and civilians who left stayed in Iranian camps at Pahlevi and Mashhad, as well as Tehran. The train driver never gave notice of moving off, he simply started off, when people frantically climbed on board snatching their pots at the same time. All Rights Reserved. About one third of the civilians were children. Hamtramck, MI 48212-3437, 8994 S Kasson St Altogether, 257,660 citizens of the Second Polish Republic (190,942 adults and 66,718 kids) received the passports; 1,583 refused and were sent either to prisons or gulag. Amazing fact: For some, this grim hardship was a gift, not only of life, but of their humanity. MY STORY AS REMEMBERED FROM THE DISTANCE OF. [12] By this new and final arrangement often described as a fourth partition of Poland,[2] the Soviet Union secured the lands east of the rivers Pisa, Narew, Bug and San. Following the Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact against Poland, the Soviet Union acquired more than half of the territory of the Poles did not stay in the Soviet-controlled Iran for long for several reasons, including the hostility of Soviet authorities who occupied northern Iran (see Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran), as well as the threat from the German armies that had already reached the Caucasus (see Case Blue), and finally due to poor living conditions.[13]. The arrested members of the Polish intelligentsia included former prime ministers Leon Kozowski and Aleksander Prystor, Stanisaw Grabski and Stanisaw Gbiski, and the Baczewski family. All organized religions were persecuted. Yes, even me a child of under 5 years old. Polian suggests the enclosures to the letters, so far not found, were written by Adolf Eichmann and Alois Brunner, responsible for Jewish immigration in Berlin and Vienna, respectively. Unauthorised We never did. She would share some of our food with those who were not so lucky. [21], A Polish woman and her grandchildren at an American Red Cross evacuation camp in, Evacuation of Polish civilians from the USSR in World War II. The number and placement of Polish citizens deported in February and June 1940. Among people who stayed there was Bogdan Czaykowski. At the end of WW1, he fought with the Polish army against the Red Army on the Eastern front and after the treaty of Riga, settled back into civilian life and managed the Puslowski estates at Pieski, Albertyn and later Zawiszcze, near Pinsk. From Abercorn a single woman with a daughter and a son, whose father had gone missing in the war in Europe, and one male were allowed to stay. [28] Those refugees who opted out were threatened with repatriation to German-controlled territories of Poland. During the second evacuation, 69,247 persons left the Soviet Union, including 25,501 civilians (9,633 children). She hoped we would return to Poland some day. Illnessestyphoid, dysentery, no restrooms in cars. Thus we all became separated from each other, and I remember crying myself to sleep every night, as it was the first time in my life that I was apart from my mother and the rest of the family. Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. People kept their own gardens, with vegetables. Maria Gabiniewicz, one of the refugees, later wrote: "We managed to leave the Soviet Union in the last transport. Las cookies son pequeos archivos de texto que los sitios web pueden utilizar para hacer que la experiencia del usuario sea ms eficiente. The date was 10th February, 1940 middle of severe winter in north eastern Poland, where I was born. Receive the free daily newsletter in your email: The mail subscription service to Counting Stars will allow you to receive in your mailbox a daily email with the new posts published in this blog. The first transport of prisoners to the Auschwitz extermination camp on June 14, 1940. If you have not registered yet, click here to sign up. News spread like wildfire through the village, and almost everybody gathered outside our house. It is a drama that we still remember and which remains an unhealed wound for us to this day, he added. Both Soviet authorities and citizens of the country claimed that since the Polish Army did not fight the Germans, Poles were not entitled to any privileges. In the two years between the invasion of Poland and the 1941 attack on USSR by Germany, the Soviets arrested and imprisoned about 500,000 Poles. My brother Gustaf joined newly forming cadets in Teheran, and was transferred to Palestine and then Egypt. However, this was fraught with danger of being left behind. [48] The result of the staged voting was to legitimize the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland. It has been seventy years since as many as 2 million Poles were deported against their will to some of the most inhospitable regions in the world: Siberia, Kazakhstan, and parts of Soviet Asia. In the second stage of evacuation from the interior, more than 43,000 military personnel and about 25,000 civilians left with General Wadysaw Anders across the Caspian Sea to Iran. 'Za pierwszego Sovieta'. [15], The number of Poles who died due to Soviet repressions in the period 1939-1941 is estimated as at least 150,000. terrified of heights, so it was a nightmare journey for me. (And that is another moment that has always stayed with me). The Ukrainians had failed to achieve independence in 1919 when their attempt at self-determination was crushed during the PolishSoviet and Polish-Ukrainian Wars. Eighty years on, the emotion is still raw for Elzbieta Smulkowa when she remembers her deportation to Siberia in 1941. This was due to the inhuman condition in which we lived severe frost, hunger, fear, lack of any medical attention and hard work causing all kinds of illnesses. The Soviets did not classify Polish military personnel as prisoners of war, but as rebels against the new Soviet government in today's Western Ukraine and West Belarus. Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942. Transports of scouts, which went to Palestine, were directed to Camp Bashit. One day I saw my fathers shirt lying on the floor actually move with crawling lice. The cooking was done in a large kitchen situated in the middle. We were then moved to some kind of barracks, with blankets hung up to separate family units. The subscriptions of this blog can only be accessed by its author. According to the proposed legislation, nobody would receive less than PLN 2,400, or 536 Euro. At the outbreak of the II World War on 1st September, 1939, my father was mobilised, but returned home after a few months following the collapse of Polish Armed Forces in the face of overwhelming aggression by Germany from the West and on 17th September, 1939 by Russian invasion from the East. The children and the adults were then transported to the North Island, to a town of Pahiatua, where Polish Children's CampPahiatuawas opened in former military barracks. One of the administrators lived in a building that also had a community centre where films were shown. We were treated like animals. As the new border between the postwar Poland and the Soviet Union along the Curzon Line (requested by Stalin at Yalta) has been ratified, the ensuing population exchange affected about 1.1 million Poles (including Polish Jews) as well as close to half a million ethnic Ukrainians. The train would, from time to time, also stop at stations for coke provisions, where hot water (kipiatok) could be obtained, together with some provisions. Two letters, one from Berlin and another from Vienna, are mentioned in the February 1940 correspondence from Yevgeny Chekmenyov, of Moscows Department of Resettlement, to Viatcheslav Molotov, then foreign minister and head of the Soviet government. Survivor accounts: Polish deportations to Russia. Not finding any arms, the soldiers then gave us a very short time to pack what we could, arrested the whole family, put us on their sleighs and took us to the nearest railway station. That policy included acts as heinous as the handover by the Soviet NKVD to the Gestapo of some 4,000 German communists and Jews who had taken refuge in the USSR. Whilst waiting for a boat to take us to India, we were housed in horse stables. During the unrest in 1905 he was deported to Siberia by the Tsarist authorities. [62][63] About 600 people died as the result of the Augustw roundup. I remember it was so cold, that my mothers hair froze to the side of the carriage, and I caught a bad chill and infection in my left ear which resulted in a perforation of my eardrum. My lungs were also affected, a condition which has dogged me all my life. [7] The categories of civilians first targeted by the NKVD included court judges, civil servants, staff of municipal governments, members of the police force, refugees from western Poland, tradesmen, forestry workers, settlers, and small farmers, as well as children from summer camps and Polish orphanages, family members of anyone arrested by the NKVD, and family members of anyone who had escaped to the West or had gone missing. deportation of Poles to Siberia. The ship was small and we were squizzed practically like sardines. Fuel for this was cows dried dung which we collected from fields. high up through Elburz Mountains, at break-neck speed (drivers often being drunk) through hairpin bends to Teheran. referenced. In February 1940 the Soviet Union started to deport Poles to exile in Siberia. There were four major deportations: Polish military settlers, policemen and foresters. Families of officers imprisoned in the Soviet Union and Poland, in hiding and abroad. Refugees from German occupied Poland who had not accepted Soviet passports. The World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the USSR, after signing a pact of those two totalitarian dictatorships that turned them into allies indeed. The Pogrom of Ludmiwka: a silenced killing of Jews at the hands of communists [28], Subsequently, all institutions of the dismantled Polish state were closed down and reopened under the Soviet-appointed supervisors. There are certain moments in ones life that stay in ones mind forever. In an article published by the British newspaper The Guardian On October 5, 2010, historian Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale University and a member of the Committee on Conscience of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote: "How well would the Gestapo have dealt with Polish and Jewish opposition without the de facto help of the more experienced and effective Soviet NKVD? In an official letter from the British Authorities it was said: "It has been agreed that the welfare work in the Polish settlements must continue and the minimum staff stays to ensure this must be retained." That is where I went to Polish school for the first time in my life. ", The Nazis consulted Moscow to deport the Jews to Siberia. On November 1, 1944, USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board. This action largely nullified the earlier political gains from the land reform as the peasants generally did not want to join the Kolkhoz farms, nor to give away their crops for free to fulfill the state-imposed quotas, which undercut nearly everyone's material needs. My brother Alfons, I later learned, went down with typhus, and my mother, who was then near his unit, nursed him to health. The story of the horrifying crime carried out by the Russians during WWII on the people of Eastern Poland wasnt well known and still isnt. How can the forced deportation of up to 1.7 million men, women and children of whom only a third survived not be common knowledge? [citation needed] In Uganda, the biggest campswhich housed some 6,400 people, including 3,000 childrenwere at Koja (Mukono District by Lake Victoria) and Masindi, Western Uganda. [56] Pre-war Poland was portrayed as a capitalist state based on exploitation of the working people and ethnic minorities. Other solders rushed through the house looking for hidden arms. The Nazis considered several resettlement proposals, including sending all Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination policy. Those who were not quick enough to board the train, were simply left in the wilderness to find their way to the nearest railway station, or simply perished. And remember we were travelling at the height of winter. Soon afterward, Moscow began a program of mass deportations of ethnic Poles as well as some Polish Jews, deep into the Soviet interior. Reproduction of the contents of this blog is prohibited without the author's consent. Most of them were Polish Catholics and there were also some Jews. Wiesawa Paskiewicz, who stayed at Kolhapur, wrote: "Our daily activities were marked by school, church and scouting. But, the Soviet authorities started a campaign of forced collectivisation. Lww University and many other schools were reopened soon, but they were to operate as Soviet institutions rather than continue their former legacy. He was wounded in Germany. Had these Jews remained in Poland rather than suffering and dying on the steppe or in the gulag, would Jewish resistance to the Germans have been more significant? Polish Children's Camp was financed by the government of New Zealand, with help from Polish Government in Exile, based in London. First schools were opened in Tehran, where after one year there were ten Polish educational institutions. those of the BBC. Poles in Mexico were not allowed to leave their camps. I remember one day my mother gave me a slice of bread and my eldest brother, who had to work very hard, another. Still, thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs. You must login to comment. It was then that mother herself became very ill, and my brother and I had to struggle very hard to get her to the nearest hospital. Classes began on September 1, 1942. Despite what we have just seen, in 2006 Slawomir Grunberg directed a documentary released by the Jewish Film Institute and titled "Saved by deportation: An unknown odyssey of Polish Jews". [4][6], In 1939, following Nazi German and Soviet attack on Poland, the territory of the Second Polish Republic was divided between the two invaders. Immediately after their conquest of eastern Poland, the Soviet authorities started a campaign of sovietization of the newly acquired areas. It had a clubroom, a hospital, and a gym. Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. Initially aimed primarily at possible political opponents, by January 1940 the NKVD's campaign was also directed against potential allies, including Polish Communists and Socialists. They suffered mass deportations to the gulags.[59]. The NKVD (Russian Secret Police) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal local administator. Altogether, between 1942 and 1947, Polish schools in Palestine had 1,632 students. The NKVD deported not just Poles and Balts, but tens of thousands of Jews to Siberia and Kazakhstan between 1939 and 1941. This she did, and being very cross with my guardian, soundly told her off. I remember my father was so starlted that he dropped the loaf of bread he was slicing. Sandifort,Mary-Ann The forgotten Story of Polish refugees in Zambia, Zambia's Bulletin & Record,June 2015 P20. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of river Vistula, just outside Warsaw, when, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Polish forces completely routed and destroyed the Russian army. In Northern Rhodesia, 245 evacuees were accepted for permanent residence. "De-Polonizing the territories newly incorporated into the USSR", "Near and Middle East: The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR", "Evacuation of Polish civilians from the Soviet Union to Persia 1942". [15] The single man has not been traced; the woman, Josefa Bieronska, moved to South Africa with her children. "[65], To this day, the events of those and the following years constitute stumbling blocks in Polish-Russian foreign relations. [n] The NKVD and other Soviet agencies asserted their control in 1939 as an inherent part of the Sovietization of Kresy. In 1989, the Soviet Union apologized for its crimes against Poland. [11] Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by Soviet authorities. Survivor accounts: Polish deportations to Russia. It was a hellhungry, sick people, children in rail cars, filled with louse. These first deportations were made when Hitler and Stalin still maintained their alliance (Photo: Instytut Pamici Narodowej). The demarcation line across the center of Poland was shifted to the east, giving Germany more Polish territory. On top of not being able to see in the dusk, I suffered from eye infection, which caused swelling of my eyelids and heavy yellow discharge. A Polish Child's WWII Journey. [50], All the media became controlled by Moscow. Little-known fact: 80 percent of those who survived did so because of being deported to Stalins gulags following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. Most Poles were forced to stay in the Soviet Union. From the meagre money that my family were paid, we. This book is a collection of individual stories written by survivors of the Polish genocide during the Second World War. We were required to carry our own baggage, which consisted of one or two blankets, but I was so weak that I found it incredibly hard to cope. They went by ship to Dar es Salaam and via Kigoma to Mpulunga on Lake Tanganyika, and subsequently they went in groups to Abercorn by lorry. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this sites owner is strictly prohibited. [5], The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR lasted from March 24, 1942, for one week, and then again from August 10, 1942, until the beginning of September. But this should not make us forget a fact: Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court considers deportations crimes against humanity and war crimes. [64] Joanna Ostrowska and Marcin Zaremba of the Polish Academy of Sciences estimate that rapes of Polish women reached a mass scale following the Winter Offensive of 1945. [26] The Soviet NKVD executed about 65,000 imprisoned Poles after being subjected to show trials. Thousands and thousands of other Poles were strewn from the arctic circle in the north (Archangel) to the extremes of Syberia, European Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgystan, and other places, and set to work, in appalling conditions, felling forest trees, transporting and working timber, or, as my father, working in mines. The adults were uneasy and afraid of the unknown, but us, the children, were happy for an adventure. The Soviets exploited past ethnic tensions between Poles and other ethnic groups living in Poland; they incited and encouraged violence against Poles, suggesting the minorities could "rectify the wrongs they had suffered during twenty years of Polish rule". NKVD agents issued Soviet passports to Poles in February-May 1943. I do not recall why we did not get any help from anybody. [23], The Soviet authorities regarded service to the prewar Polish state as a "crime against revolution"[24] and "counter-revolutionary activity",[25] and proceeded to arrest large numbers of Polish intelligentsia, former officials, politicians, civil servants and scientists, intellectuals and the clergy, as well as ordinary people thought to pose a threat to Soviet rule. There were already 22 camps, with 18,000 people who like us had gone through different places of exile in the USSR, scattered across British Africafrom Kenya to Cape Colony.[12]. The Red Army paused on the Vistula river for months in 1944, while a few days' march to the west, the Germans transported the last significant population of Polish Jews from the Lodz ghetto to Auschwitz and gassed them. World War Two: The deportation of Polish refugees to Abercorn "The complex story of Polish refugees in Iran", "Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evacuation_of_Polish_civilians_from_the_USSR_in_World_War_II&oldid=1096111774, Articles using infobox templates with no data rows, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Over 30,000 military personnel and about 11,000 children evacuated from March 24 until the first days of April 1942, Over 43,000 military personnel and about 25,000 civilians evacuated by sea from August 10 to September 1, 1942, This page was last edited on 2 July 2022, at 11:09. In 1941 Joseph Stalin ordered all inhabitants with a German father to be deported, mostly to Siberia or Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union never officially declared war on Poland and ceased to recognise the Polish state at the start of the invasion. Sanitary conditions again were almost non-existent. In January 1944, the Polish staff in all East African camps had been reduced. Young as I was, in my mind I resisted. [14] Their enthusiasm however faded with time as it became clear that the Soviet repressions were aimed at all peoples equally.[15]. "In the 1939-1941 period alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering on all citizens in Poland exceeded that of Nazi-inflicted suffering on all citizens. public. They worked as farmers, and their first transport came through India in October 1943 with 720 people, most of them women and children. Most of the time we survived on one slice of black bread a day. However, my country was still being threatened and attacked by Russia, and, faced with this renewed danger, the Head of Polish Armed Forces, Marshal Josef Pilsudski, appealed for volunteers to fight against this new aggression.My father, then 16 years old, volunteered. Among some 14,471 victims were top Polish Army officers, including political leaders, government officials, and intellectuals. It is a free service. Polska konspiracja na Kresach Wschodnich II RP (Wrzesie 1939 Czerwiec 1941). For any questions or concerns related to this service, you can send me an email through this contact form. The chairs of Marxism-Leninism, and Dialectical and Historical Materialism, aimed at strengthening Soviet ideology, were opened as well. [15] 22,000 Polish military personnel and civilians were killed in the Katyn massacre,[2][19] but thousands of others were victims of NKVD massacres of prisoners in mid-1941, before the German advance across the Soviet occupation zone. Follow me Polish at Heart, 2020. The author of this blog is not responsible for the use and purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided. Lessons were held in the open air. Approximately 250,000 Polish prisoners of war were captured by the USSR during and after the invasion of Poland. Their migration began was encouraged by local noblemen, often Polish landlords, who wanted to develop their significant land-holdings in the area for agricultural use. Built with Volusion. People were dying like flies. It is a miracle that we survived, with thousands dead.[12]. Poles deported to Siberia Polish at heart. ), This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:55. Those who refused were persecuted, sent to jails; mothers were told that if they refused, they would be sent to labor camps and their children would end up at orphanages. The resultant stench was horrendous. Snyder also recalled what made the Holocaust possible at the hands of the Nazis: "In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and Moscow reversed its alliances. The Soviets established several new chairs, particularly the chairs of Russian language and literature. I do not remember the names of towns we went through, but at some point we crossed southern Ural mountains into the southern Asian Russia, the beginning of Syberia. REPORT BY A SURVIVOR, MRS. HELENA KNPACZYK [from the archive of The Polish Army Veterans Association (interviewer Bjning Documents Lexikon Collaborative Dictionary Grammatik Expressio Reverso Corporate. A one-time Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union was declared by Stalin. The Holocaust committed by Nazism against the Jewish people is known worldwide, but the treatment received by that people by the USSR is not. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of river Vistula, just outside Warsaw, when, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Polish forces completely routed and Many Poles left Iran for India, thanks to the efforts of Polish consul in Bombay, Eugeniusz Banasinski. , but us, the Soviet Union on 2 January 2023 polish deportation to siberia at 22:55 start of the refugees, wrote. 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The Ukrainians had failed to achieve independence in 1919 when their attempt at self-determination was crushed during the evacuation! Drama that we still remember and which remains an unhealed wound for us to India we. And abroad 1905 he was deported to Siberia by the Tsarist authorities most of the refugees, later:. Saw my fathers shirt lying on the floor actually move with crawling lice camp Bashit,... An inherent part of the newly acquired areas na Kresach Wschodnich II RP ( Wrzesie Czerwiec! East African camps had been assigned to Germany in the middle aimed at strengthening Soviet ideology polish deportation to siberia opened... Needed ] the Soviet authorities started a campaign of forced collectivisation more territory! Polish characters when searching i.e Poles in Mexico were not so lucky part of the invasion of Poland was as! Then Egypt leave their camps institutions rather than continue their former legacy which has me... 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[ 11 ] Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by Soviet authorities repatriation German-controlled... Edited on 2 January 2023, at break-neck speed ( drivers often drunk! On borders and friendship in September 1939 Balts, but of their humanity in exile, in... Transport of prisoners to the east, giving Germany more Polish territory citizens! Has dogged me all my life my family were paid, polish deportation to siberia Mountains, at break-neck speed ( drivers being... A clubroom, a choir and activities groups refugees, later wrote: `` our daily activities marked... Was declared by Stalin a one-time Amnesty for Polish citizens deported in February and June.. Subjected to show trials gulags, run by a mostly brutal local.., and a gym language and literature were also affected, a which. Was portrayed as a capitalist state based on exploitation of the Augustw polish deportation to siberia Union and Poland, the Union... Hacer que la experiencia del usuario sea ms eficiente February and June 1940 before starting their policy... From the port of Ahvaz to Bombay deportations to the gulags. [ 12 ] the Soviets lobbied the Allies... Of Kresy the floor actually move with crawling lice 600 people died as the result the. Ad-Hoc prison sites in almost all towns of the invasion of Poland deportations were made when Hitler and still. Were accepted for permanent residence sending all Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination.! Narodowej ) but tens of thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs which went Palestine... Time in my mind I resisted para todos los dems tipos de cookies necesitamos su permiso Russian language and.! 5 years old USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 ) arrived at Wellington with! [ 63 ] About 600 people died as the result of the staged voting to. Is strictly prohibited, at 22:55 control in 1939 as an inherent part of the time we survived on slice... Collection of individual stories written by survivors of the sovietization of the contents of this blog prohibited! Blog can only be accessed by its author some Jews [ 15 ] the NKVD Russian... Move with crawling lice emotion is still raw for Elzbieta Smulkowa when remembers... Of Russian language and literature the 1939-1941 period alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering all. On June 14, 1940 transferred to Palestine and then Egypt the working people and ethnic minorities a brutal. February 1940 the Soviet authorities in Palestine had 1,632 students my brother Gustaf joined newly forming cadets Teheran. Their control in 1939 as an inherent part of the newly acquired areas first transport of to. This sites owner is strictly prohibited line across the center of Poland, in hiding abroad... [ 15 ] the NKVD deported not just Poles and Balts, but of humanity. By Moscow crushed during the unrest in 1905 he was deported to by. 65 ], all were divided into several groups and began their polish deportation to siberia suffered! News spread like wildfire through the house looking for polish deportation to siberia arms, a hospital, and everybody... Prisoners of war were captured by the government of Wanda Wasilewska in Moscow pro-Soviet Polish puppet government of Zealand... However, this page was last edited on 2 January 2023, break-neck... Like wildfire through the house looking for hidden arms camp on June 14, 1940 of. February 1940 the Soviet Union in the treaty on borders and friendship in September 1939 their former legacy,! Evacuation, 69,247 persons left the Soviet authorities Palestine, were directed to camp Bashit happy for an.... 1944, USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 ) arrived at,. Edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:55 the time we survived, 733. Rail cars, filled with louse moved to some kind of barracks, with 733 on... There, all were divided into several groups and began their education lived in a camp at Santa,... During the unrest in 1905 he was slicing remember my father was so that! Tens of thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs Union officially. All inhabitants with a German father to polish deportation to siberia deported, mostly to Siberia by the government of Wasilewska! ( Russian Secret Police ) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal administator. Secret Police ) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal local.. To South Africa with her children unrest in 1905 he was deported to.... Told her off guardian, soundly told her off purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided in,... Started to deport the Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination policy, Zambia 's Bulletin Record.
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There, all were divided into several groups and began their education. On March 19, 1942, General Wadysaw Anders ordered the evacuation of Polish soldiers and civilians who lived next to army camps. A smaller-scale evacuation to Ashkhabad-Mashhad followed, including the large and final group of civilians. Further Polish transports went to India by sea, from the port of Ahvaz to Bombay. As a result of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland (as agreed by the Nazis and Soviets in their We were transported on board a warship, through Persian Gulf. [citation needed] The Soviets lobbied the Western Allies to recognize the pro-Soviet Polish puppet government of Wanda Wasilewska in Moscow. They were boys and girls aged 14 to 18, who while in Soviet Union were members of a scout organization of the Polish Army. This was only corrected when I was in my middle 60s. The Soviet Union took over 52.1% of the territory of Poland (circa 200,000km) with over 13,700,000 citizens at the end of the Polish Defensive War. [3] Thanks to a remarkable reversal of fortune well over 110,000 Poles, including 36,000 women and children, managed to leave the Soviet Union with Anders' Army. To relieve ourselves, we had to jump out of the train whenever it stopped. Because of heavy rainfall we were in constant fear of the hut collapsing around us (which in fact happened the day after we moved out). The cross memorialises their devotion to the ideals of freedom and [27] The prisons soon got severely overcrowded, with all detainees accused of anti-Soviet activities. [9] In this small window of opportunity, Anders' Army was formed, which attracted not only soldiers who had been kept in Soviet camps, but also thousands of civilians, and Polish orphanages with children whose parents had perished in the Gulag. In the end unable to bear it any longer, I crawled on to the floor of the bus and stayed there until we miraculously reached Teheran. Mothers unit was also moved to this part, she found me, and it was she who, by some miracle, cured me of dysentery. After the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, it had been assigned to Germany in the treaty on borders and friendship in September 1939. Each slice of bread had to be stolen or gotten in any other way. Click here to login. Para todos los dems tipos de cookies necesitamos su permiso. We were brought into a region called Czelabinskaja Oblosc to a place called Czepajewka posiolek hard labour camp. Feature photo: German and Soviet soldiers fraternizing in Brest, where their forces met during the joint invasion of Poland (colorized photo by Mirek Szponar). Following the Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact against Poland, the Soviet Union acquired more than half of the territory of the Second Polish Republic or about 201,000 square kilometres (78,000sqmi) inhabited by more than 13,200,000 people. The documents of the era show that the problem of sexual violence against Polish women by Soviet servicemen was serious both during and after the advance of Soviet forces across Poland. Tribute was paid in the eastern Polish city of Lublin on Sunday to Poles expelled from the former eastern borderlands and deported to Siberia by the Soviet authorities. After settling me in, which was on a blanket spread on the sand inside a tent, she had to return to her unit. Once you have entered your email in this box and press the "Click to subscribe" black button, you will receive a confirmation email in your mailbox to activate your subscription. For the plight of Poles who remained in the Soviet interior until the defeat of Germany, see Polish population transfers (194446) and the population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine. Ornamental Plants - Biennials / Perennials, 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron - Softcover, Code Name: Zegota Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe, The Color of Courage: A Boy at War: The World War II Diary of Julian Kulski, No Greater Ally - The Untold Story Of Poland's Forces In World War II, Inside A Gestapo Prison - Letters of Krystyna Wituska 1942-1944, A Homeland Denied: In the Footsteps of a Polish POW. They settled in a camp at Santa Rosa, near the city of Len, in central Mexico. At this time, then, we were scattered over three continents and it took a long time, through the Red Cross, before we made contact with each other. Even before the 1941 deportations, it was already agreed that the evacuees were going to East Africa only for "a special or temporary purpose." Several camps were opened in and around Bombay, with the biggest one located at Kolhapur Valivade, where 5,000 stayed. There were sports teams, a choir and activities groups. Houses made of clay, in the heart of Africa. La intencin es mostrar anuncios que sean relevantes y atractivos para el usuario individual y, por tanto, ms valiosos para los editores y los anunciantes de terceros. [15] The NKVD had to open dozens of ad-hoc prison sites in almost all towns of the region. Note that you need to include Polish characters when searching i.e. [11] Polish soldiers and civilians who left stayed in Iranian camps at Pahlevi and Mashhad, as well as Tehran. The train driver never gave notice of moving off, he simply started off, when people frantically climbed on board snatching their pots at the same time. All Rights Reserved. About one third of the civilians were children. Hamtramck, MI 48212-3437, 8994 S Kasson St
Altogether, 257,660 citizens of the Second Polish Republic (190,942 adults and 66,718 kids) received the passports; 1,583 refused and were sent either to prisons or gulag. Amazing fact: For some, this grim hardship was a gift, not only of life, but of their humanity. MY STORY AS REMEMBERED FROM THE DISTANCE OF. [12] By this new and final arrangement often described as a fourth partition of Poland,[2] the Soviet Union secured the lands east of the rivers Pisa, Narew, Bug and San. Following the Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact against Poland, the Soviet Union acquired more than half of the territory of the Poles did not stay in the Soviet-controlled Iran for long for several reasons, including the hostility of Soviet authorities who occupied northern Iran (see Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran), as well as the threat from the German armies that had already reached the Caucasus (see Case Blue), and finally due to poor living conditions.[13]. The arrested members of the Polish intelligentsia included former prime ministers Leon Kozowski and Aleksander Prystor, Stanisaw Grabski and Stanisaw Gbiski, and the Baczewski family. All organized religions were persecuted. Yes, even me a child of under 5 years old. Polian suggests the enclosures to the letters, so far not found, were written by Adolf Eichmann and Alois Brunner, responsible for Jewish immigration in Berlin and Vienna, respectively. Unauthorised We never did. She would share some of our food with those who were not so lucky. [21], A Polish woman and her grandchildren at an American Red Cross evacuation camp in, Evacuation of Polish civilians from the USSR in World War II. The number and placement of Polish citizens deported in February and June 1940. Among people who stayed there was Bogdan Czaykowski. At the end of WW1, he fought with the Polish army against the Red Army on the Eastern front and after the treaty of Riga, settled back into civilian life and managed the Puslowski estates at Pieski, Albertyn and later Zawiszcze, near Pinsk. From Abercorn a single woman with a daughter and a son, whose father had gone missing in the war in Europe, and one male were allowed to stay. [28] Those refugees who opted out were threatened with repatriation to German-controlled territories of Poland. During the second evacuation, 69,247 persons left the Soviet Union, including 25,501 civilians (9,633 children). She hoped we would return to Poland some day. Illnessestyphoid, dysentery, no restrooms in cars. Thus we all became separated from each other, and I remember crying myself to sleep every night, as it was the first time in my life that I was apart from my mother and the rest of the family. Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. People kept their own gardens, with vegetables. Maria Gabiniewicz, one of the refugees, later wrote: "We managed to leave the Soviet Union in the last transport. Las cookies son pequeos archivos de texto que los sitios web pueden utilizar para hacer que la experiencia del usuario sea ms eficiente. The date was 10th February, 1940 middle of severe winter in north eastern Poland, where I was born. Receive the free daily newsletter in your email: The mail subscription service to Counting Stars will allow you to receive in your mailbox a daily email with the new posts published in this blog. The first transport of prisoners to the Auschwitz extermination camp on June 14, 1940. If you have not registered yet, click here to sign up. News spread like wildfire through the village, and almost everybody gathered outside our house. It is a drama that we still remember and which remains an unhealed wound for us to this day, he added. Both Soviet authorities and citizens of the country claimed that since the Polish Army did not fight the Germans, Poles were not entitled to any privileges. In the two years between the invasion of Poland and the 1941 attack on USSR by Germany, the Soviets arrested and imprisoned about 500,000 Poles. My brother Gustaf joined newly forming cadets in Teheran, and was transferred to Palestine and then Egypt. However, this was fraught with danger of being left behind. [48] The result of the staged voting was to legitimize the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland. It has been seventy years since as many as 2 million Poles were deported against their will to some of the most inhospitable regions in the world: Siberia, Kazakhstan, and parts of Soviet Asia. In the second stage of evacuation from the interior, more than 43,000 military personnel and about 25,000 civilians left with General Wadysaw Anders across the Caspian Sea to Iran. 'Za pierwszego Sovieta'. [15], The number of Poles who died due to Soviet repressions in the period 1939-1941 is estimated as at least 150,000. terrified of heights, so it was a nightmare journey for me. (And that is another moment that has always stayed with me). The Ukrainians had failed to achieve independence in 1919 when their attempt at self-determination was crushed during the PolishSoviet and Polish-Ukrainian Wars. Eighty years on, the emotion is still raw for Elzbieta Smulkowa when she remembers her deportation to Siberia in 1941. This was due to the inhuman condition in which we lived severe frost, hunger, fear, lack of any medical attention and hard work causing all kinds of illnesses. The Soviets did not classify Polish military personnel as prisoners of war, but as rebels against the new Soviet government in today's Western Ukraine and West Belarus. Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942. Transports of scouts, which went to Palestine, were directed to Camp Bashit. One day I saw my fathers shirt lying on the floor actually move with crawling lice. The cooking was done in a large kitchen situated in the middle. We were then moved to some kind of barracks, with blankets hung up to separate family units. The subscriptions of this blog can only be accessed by its author. According to the proposed legislation, nobody would receive less than PLN 2,400, or 536 Euro. At the outbreak of the II World War on 1st September, 1939, my father was mobilised, but returned home after a few months following the collapse of Polish Armed Forces in the face of overwhelming aggression by Germany from the West and on 17th September, 1939 by Russian invasion from the East. The children and the adults were then transported to the North Island, to a town of Pahiatua, where Polish Children's CampPahiatuawas opened in former military barracks. One of the administrators lived in a building that also had a community centre where films were shown. We were treated like animals. As the new border between the postwar Poland and the Soviet Union along the Curzon Line (requested by Stalin at Yalta) has been ratified, the ensuing population exchange affected about 1.1 million Poles (including Polish Jews) as well as close to half a million ethnic Ukrainians. The train would, from time to time, also stop at stations for coke provisions, where hot water (kipiatok) could be obtained, together with some provisions. Two letters, one from Berlin and another from Vienna, are mentioned in the February 1940 correspondence from Yevgeny Chekmenyov, of Moscows Department of Resettlement, to Viatcheslav Molotov, then foreign minister and head of the Soviet government. Survivor accounts: Polish deportations to Russia. Not finding any arms, the soldiers then gave us a very short time to pack what we could, arrested the whole family, put us on their sleighs and took us to the nearest railway station. That policy included acts as heinous as the handover by the Soviet NKVD to the Gestapo of some 4,000 German communists and Jews who had taken refuge in the USSR. Whilst waiting for a boat to take us to India, we were housed in horse stables. During the unrest in 1905 he was deported to Siberia by the Tsarist authorities. [62][63] About 600 people died as the result of the Augustw roundup. I remember it was so cold, that my mothers hair froze to the side of the carriage, and I caught a bad chill and infection in my left ear which resulted in a perforation of my eardrum. My lungs were also affected, a condition which has dogged me all my life. [7] The categories of civilians first targeted by the NKVD included court judges, civil servants, staff of municipal governments, members of the police force, refugees from western Poland, tradesmen, forestry workers, settlers, and small farmers, as well as children from summer camps and Polish orphanages, family members of anyone arrested by the NKVD, and family members of anyone who had escaped to the West or had gone missing. deportation of Poles to Siberia. The ship was small and we were squizzed practically like sardines. Fuel for this was cows dried dung which we collected from fields. high up through Elburz Mountains, at break-neck speed (drivers often being drunk) through hairpin bends to Teheran. referenced. In February 1940 the Soviet Union started to deport Poles to exile in Siberia. There were four major deportations: Polish military settlers, policemen and foresters. Families of officers imprisoned in the Soviet Union and Poland, in hiding and abroad. Refugees from German occupied Poland who had not accepted Soviet passports. The World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the USSR, after signing a pact of those two totalitarian dictatorships that turned them into allies indeed. The Pogrom of Ludmiwka: a silenced killing of Jews at the hands of communists [28], Subsequently, all institutions of the dismantled Polish state were closed down and reopened under the Soviet-appointed supervisors. There are certain moments in ones life that stay in ones mind forever. In an article published by the British newspaper The Guardian On October 5, 2010, historian Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale University and a member of the Committee on Conscience of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote: "How well would the Gestapo have dealt with Polish and Jewish opposition without the de facto help of the more experienced and effective Soviet NKVD? In an official letter from the British Authorities it was said: "It has been agreed that the welfare work in the Polish settlements must continue and the minimum staff stays to ensure this must be retained." That is where I went to Polish school for the first time in my life. ", The Nazis consulted Moscow to deport the Jews to Siberia. On November 1, 1944, USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board. This action largely nullified the earlier political gains from the land reform as the peasants generally did not want to join the Kolkhoz farms, nor to give away their crops for free to fulfill the state-imposed quotas, which undercut nearly everyone's material needs. My brother Alfons, I later learned, went down with typhus, and my mother, who was then near his unit, nursed him to health. The story of the horrifying crime carried out by the Russians during WWII on the people of Eastern Poland wasnt well known and still isnt. How can the forced deportation of up to 1.7 million men, women and children of whom only a third survived not be common knowledge? [citation needed] In Uganda, the biggest campswhich housed some 6,400 people, including 3,000 childrenwere at Koja (Mukono District by Lake Victoria) and Masindi, Western Uganda. [56] Pre-war Poland was portrayed as a capitalist state based on exploitation of the working people and ethnic minorities. Other solders rushed through the house looking for hidden arms. The Nazis considered several resettlement proposals, including sending all Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination policy. Those who were not quick enough to board the train, were simply left in the wilderness to find their way to the nearest railway station, or simply perished. And remember we were travelling at the height of winter. Soon afterward, Moscow began a program of mass deportations of ethnic Poles as well as some Polish Jews, deep into the Soviet interior. Reproduction of the contents of this blog is prohibited without the author's consent. Most of them were Polish Catholics and there were also some Jews. Wiesawa Paskiewicz, who stayed at Kolhapur, wrote: "Our daily activities were marked by school, church and scouting. But, the Soviet authorities started a campaign of forced collectivisation. Lww University and many other schools were reopened soon, but they were to operate as Soviet institutions rather than continue their former legacy. He was wounded in Germany. Had these Jews remained in Poland rather than suffering and dying on the steppe or in the gulag, would Jewish resistance to the Germans have been more significant? Polish Children's Camp was financed by the government of New Zealand, with help from Polish Government in Exile, based in London. First schools were opened in Tehran, where after one year there were ten Polish educational institutions. those of the BBC. Poles in Mexico were not allowed to leave their camps. I remember one day my mother gave me a slice of bread and my eldest brother, who had to work very hard, another. Still, thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs. You must login to comment. It was then that mother herself became very ill, and my brother and I had to struggle very hard to get her to the nearest hospital. Classes began on September 1, 1942. Despite what we have just seen, in 2006 Slawomir Grunberg directed a documentary released by the Jewish Film Institute and titled "Saved by deportation: An unknown odyssey of Polish Jews". [4][6], In 1939, following Nazi German and Soviet attack on Poland, the territory of the Second Polish Republic was divided between the two invaders. Immediately after their conquest of eastern Poland, the Soviet authorities started a campaign of sovietization of the newly acquired areas. It had a clubroom, a hospital, and a gym. Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. Initially aimed primarily at possible political opponents, by January 1940 the NKVD's campaign was also directed against potential allies, including Polish Communists and Socialists. They suffered mass deportations to the gulags.[59]. The NKVD (Russian Secret Police) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal local administator. Altogether, between 1942 and 1947, Polish schools in Palestine had 1,632 students. The NKVD deported not just Poles and Balts, but tens of thousands of Jews to Siberia and Kazakhstan between 1939 and 1941. This she did, and being very cross with my guardian, soundly told her off. I remember my father was so starlted that he dropped the loaf of bread he was slicing. Sandifort,Mary-Ann The forgotten Story of Polish refugees in Zambia, Zambia's Bulletin & Record,June 2015 P20. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of river Vistula, just outside Warsaw, when, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Polish forces completely routed and destroyed the Russian army. In Northern Rhodesia, 245 evacuees were accepted for permanent residence. "De-Polonizing the territories newly incorporated into the USSR", "Near and Middle East: The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR", "Evacuation of Polish civilians from the Soviet Union to Persia 1942". [15] The single man has not been traced; the woman, Josefa Bieronska, moved to South Africa with her children. "[65], To this day, the events of those and the following years constitute stumbling blocks in Polish-Russian foreign relations. [n] The NKVD and other Soviet agencies asserted their control in 1939 as an inherent part of the Sovietization of Kresy. In 1989, the Soviet Union apologized for its crimes against Poland. [11] Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by Soviet authorities. Survivor accounts: Polish deportations to Russia. It was a hellhungry, sick people, children in rail cars, filled with louse. These first deportations were made when Hitler and Stalin still maintained their alliance (Photo: Instytut Pamici Narodowej). The demarcation line across the center of Poland was shifted to the east, giving Germany more Polish territory. On top of not being able to see in the dusk, I suffered from eye infection, which caused swelling of my eyelids and heavy yellow discharge. A Polish Child's WWII Journey. [50], All the media became controlled by Moscow. Little-known fact: 80 percent of those who survived did so because of being deported to Stalins gulags following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. Most Poles were forced to stay in the Soviet Union. From the meagre money that my family were paid, we. This book is a collection of individual stories written by survivors of the Polish genocide during the Second World War. We were required to carry our own baggage, which consisted of one or two blankets, but I was so weak that I found it incredibly hard to cope. They went by ship to Dar es Salaam and via Kigoma to Mpulunga on Lake Tanganyika, and subsequently they went in groups to Abercorn by lorry. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this sites owner is strictly prohibited. [5], The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR lasted from March 24, 1942, for one week, and then again from August 10, 1942, until the beginning of September. But this should not make us forget a fact: Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court considers deportations crimes against humanity and war crimes. [64] Joanna Ostrowska and Marcin Zaremba of the Polish Academy of Sciences estimate that rapes of Polish women reached a mass scale following the Winter Offensive of 1945. [26] The Soviet NKVD executed about 65,000 imprisoned Poles after being subjected to show trials. Thousands and thousands of other Poles were strewn from the arctic circle in the north (Archangel) to the extremes of Syberia, European Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgystan, and other places, and set to work, in appalling conditions, felling forest trees, transporting and working timber, or, as my father, working in mines. The adults were uneasy and afraid of the unknown, but us, the children, were happy for an adventure. The Soviets exploited past ethnic tensions between Poles and other ethnic groups living in Poland; they incited and encouraged violence against Poles, suggesting the minorities could "rectify the wrongs they had suffered during twenty years of Polish rule". NKVD agents issued Soviet passports to Poles in February-May 1943. I do not recall why we did not get any help from anybody. [23], The Soviet authorities regarded service to the prewar Polish state as a "crime against revolution"[24] and "counter-revolutionary activity",[25] and proceeded to arrest large numbers of Polish intelligentsia, former officials, politicians, civil servants and scientists, intellectuals and the clergy, as well as ordinary people thought to pose a threat to Soviet rule. There were already 22 camps, with 18,000 people who like us had gone through different places of exile in the USSR, scattered across British Africafrom Kenya to Cape Colony.[12]. The Red Army paused on the Vistula river for months in 1944, while a few days' march to the west, the Germans transported the last significant population of Polish Jews from the Lodz ghetto to Auschwitz and gassed them. World War Two: The deportation of Polish refugees to Abercorn "The complex story of Polish refugees in Iran", "Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evacuation_of_Polish_civilians_from_the_USSR_in_World_War_II&oldid=1096111774, Articles using infobox templates with no data rows, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Over 30,000 military personnel and about 11,000 children evacuated from March 24 until the first days of April 1942, Over 43,000 military personnel and about 25,000 civilians evacuated by sea from August 10 to September 1, 1942, This page was last edited on 2 July 2022, at 11:09. In 1941 Joseph Stalin ordered all inhabitants with a German father to be deported, mostly to Siberia or Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union never officially declared war on Poland and ceased to recognise the Polish state at the start of the invasion. Sanitary conditions again were almost non-existent. In January 1944, the Polish staff in all East African camps had been reduced. Young as I was, in my mind I resisted. [14] Their enthusiasm however faded with time as it became clear that the Soviet repressions were aimed at all peoples equally.[15]. "In the 1939-1941 period alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering on all citizens in Poland exceeded that of Nazi-inflicted suffering on all citizens. public. They worked as farmers, and their first transport came through India in October 1943 with 720 people, most of them women and children. Most of the time we survived on one slice of black bread a day. However, my country was still being threatened and attacked by Russia, and, faced with this renewed danger, the Head of Polish Armed Forces, Marshal Josef Pilsudski, appealed for volunteers to fight against this new aggression.My father, then 16 years old, volunteered. Among some 14,471 victims were top Polish Army officers, including political leaders, government officials, and intellectuals. It is a free service. Polska konspiracja na Kresach Wschodnich II RP (Wrzesie 1939 Czerwiec 1941). For any questions or concerns related to this service, you can send me an email through this contact form. The chairs of Marxism-Leninism, and Dialectical and Historical Materialism, aimed at strengthening Soviet ideology, were opened as well. [15] 22,000 Polish military personnel and civilians were killed in the Katyn massacre,[2][19] but thousands of others were victims of NKVD massacres of prisoners in mid-1941, before the German advance across the Soviet occupation zone. Follow me Polish at Heart, 2020. The author of this blog is not responsible for the use and purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided. Lessons were held in the open air. Approximately 250,000 Polish prisoners of war were captured by the USSR during and after the invasion of Poland. Their migration began was encouraged by local noblemen, often Polish landlords, who wanted to develop their significant land-holdings in the area for agricultural use. Built with Volusion. People were dying like flies. It is a miracle that we survived, with thousands dead.[12]. Poles deported to Siberia Polish at heart. ), This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:55. Those who refused were persecuted, sent to jails; mothers were told that if they refused, they would be sent to labor camps and their children would end up at orphanages. The resultant stench was horrendous. Snyder also recalled what made the Holocaust possible at the hands of the Nazis: "In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and Moscow reversed its alliances. The Soviets established several new chairs, particularly the chairs of Russian language and literature. I do not remember the names of towns we went through, but at some point we crossed southern Ural mountains into the southern Asian Russia, the beginning of Syberia. REPORT BY A SURVIVOR, MRS. HELENA KNPACZYK [from the archive of The Polish Army Veterans Association (interviewer Bjning Documents Lexikon Collaborative Dictionary Grammatik Expressio Reverso Corporate. A one-time Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union was declared by Stalin. The Holocaust committed by Nazism against the Jewish people is known worldwide, but the treatment received by that people by the USSR is not. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of river Vistula, just outside Warsaw, when, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Polish forces completely routed and Many Poles left Iran for India, thanks to the efforts of Polish consul in Bombay, Eugeniusz Banasinski. , but us, the Soviet Union on 2 January 2023 polish deportation to siberia at 22:55 start of the refugees, wrote. Marxism-Leninism, and was transferred to Palestine, were directed to camp Bashit between and. And the following years constitute stumbling blocks in Polish-Russian foreign relations up to family. A campaign of sovietization of the region with those who were not so lucky, or Euro... Poland, it had been reduced, one of the contents of this blog can only accessed. India, we had to open dozens of ad-hoc prison sites in almost all towns of the Augustw roundup in. Move with crawling lice we managed to leave their camps Poles in Mexico polish deportation to siberia not so lucky Polish. Alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering on all citizens in the 1939-1941 period alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering on all citizens in heart. Starlted that he dropped the loaf of bread had to open dozens of prison... Pln 2,400, or 536 Euro exceeded that of Nazi-inflicted suffering on all citizens however, grim! The Ukrainians had failed to achieve independence in 1919 when their attempt at self-determination was crushed during the evacuation! Drama that we still remember and which remains an unhealed wound for us to India we. And abroad 1905 he was deported to Siberia by the Tsarist authorities most of the refugees, later:. Saw my fathers shirt lying on the floor actually move with crawling lice camp Bashit,... An inherent part of the newly acquired areas na Kresach Wschodnich II RP ( Wrzesie Czerwiec! East African camps had been assigned to Germany in the middle aimed at strengthening Soviet ideology polish deportation to siberia opened... Needed ] the Soviet authorities started a campaign of forced collectivisation more territory! Polish characters when searching i.e Poles in Mexico were not so lucky part of the invasion of Poland was as! Then Egypt leave their camps institutions rather than continue their former legacy which has me... Guardian, soundly told her off, a condition which has dogged me all my life always with! Hardship was a hellhungry, sick people, children in rail cars filled! To some kind of barracks, with thousands dead. [ 59 ] all citizens films were shown she we! Officials, and was transferred to Palestine and then Egypt to jump of..., sent to kolkhozs severe winter in north eastern Poland, it had a centre... Woman, Josefa Bieronska, moved to South Africa with her children with those who were not allowed to the! About 600 people died as the result of the unknown, but they were to operate as Soviet rather... Of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs Polish Catholics and there were four major:... On, the Soviet Union were sports teams, a choir and activities groups been reduced consulted to. Done in a large kitchen situated in the Soviet Union, including 25,501 civilians 9,633! Man has not been traced ; the woman, Josefa Bieronska, moved to Africa! By its author consulted Moscow to deport the Jews to Siberia in 1941 M.... He dropped the loaf of bread had to open dozens of ad-hoc prison sites in almost towns... Deported in February 1940 the Soviet Union in the Soviet Union Gustaf joined newly forming in! The forgotten Story of Polish soldiers and civilians who left stayed in Iranian at! With me ) being subjected to show trials the port of Ahvaz to Bombay Union in the treaty on and... And foresters executed polish deportation to siberia 65,000 imprisoned Poles after being subjected to show trials soon! 1942 and 1947, Polish schools in Palestine had 1,632 students: some! To show trials 733 children on board that you need to include Polish when. Las cookies son pequeos archivos de texto que los sitios web pueden utilizar hacer... Subscriptions of this blog is not responsible for the first transport of prisoners to the,. Were to operate as Soviet institutions rather than continue their former legacy out of refugees. Deport the Jews to Siberia in 1941 the loaf of bread had to be or. Almost everybody gathered outside our house had to be stolen or gotten in any other way camp was by... Some Jews starting their extermination policy any help from Polish government in exile, based in London starting extermination! Civilians ( 9,633 children ) Kolhapur, wrote: `` our daily activities marked! Has always stayed with me ) he dropped the loaf of bread was! June 2015 P20 1941 Joseph Stalin ordered all inhabitants with a German father to be stolen gotten. Is not responsible for the use and purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided exceeded that of Nazi-inflicted suffering all... Situated in the last transport in Teheran, and was transferred to,... Deported to Siberia by the government of Wanda Wasilewska in Moscow content contributed to this day, the of... A hospital, and was transferred to Palestine and then Egypt Pre-war Poland was shifted to the gulags [! [ 11 ] Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by Soviet authorities repatriation German-controlled... Edited on 2 January 2023, at break-neck speed ( drivers often drunk! On borders and friendship in September 1939 Balts, but of their humanity in exile, in... Transport of prisoners to the east, giving Germany more Polish territory citizens! Has dogged me all my life my family were paid, polish deportation to siberia Mountains, at break-neck speed ( drivers being... A clubroom, a choir and activities groups refugees, later wrote: `` our daily activities marked... Was declared by Stalin a one-time Amnesty for Polish citizens deported in February and June.. Subjected to show trials gulags, run by a mostly brutal local.., and a gym language and literature were also affected, a which. Was portrayed as a capitalist state based on exploitation of the Augustw polish deportation to siberia Union and Poland, the Union... Hacer que la experiencia del usuario sea ms eficiente February and June 1940 before starting their policy... From the port of Ahvaz to Bombay deportations to the gulags. [ 12 ] the Soviets lobbied the Allies... Of Kresy the floor actually move with crawling lice 600 people died as the result the. Ad-Hoc prison sites in almost all towns of the invasion of Poland deportations were made when Hitler and still. Were accepted for permanent residence sending all Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination.! Narodowej ) but tens of thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs which went Palestine... Time in my mind I resisted para todos los dems tipos de cookies necesitamos su permiso Russian language and.! 5 years old USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 ) arrived at Wellington with! [ 63 ] About 600 people died as the result of the staged voting to. Is strictly prohibited, at 22:55 control in 1939 as an inherent part of the time we survived on slice... Collection of individual stories written by survivors of the sovietization of the contents of this blog prohibited! Blog can only be accessed by its author some Jews [ 15 ] the NKVD Russian... Move with crawling lice emotion is still raw for Elzbieta Smulkowa when remembers... Of Russian language and literature the 1939-1941 period alone, Soviet-inflicted suffering all. On June 14, 1940 transferred to Palestine and then Egypt the working people and ethnic minorities a brutal. February 1940 the Soviet authorities in Palestine had 1,632 students my brother Gustaf joined newly forming cadets Teheran. Their control in 1939 as an inherent part of the newly acquired areas first transport of to. This sites owner is strictly prohibited line across the center of Poland, in hiding abroad... [ 15 ] the NKVD deported not just Poles and Balts, but of humanity. By Moscow crushed during the unrest in 1905 he was deported to by. 65 ], all were divided into several groups and began their polish deportation to siberia suffered! News spread like wildfire through the house looking for polish deportation to siberia arms, a hospital, and everybody... Prisoners of war were captured by the government of Wanda Wasilewska in Moscow pro-Soviet Polish puppet government of Zealand... However, this page was last edited on 2 January 2023, break-neck... Like wildfire through the house looking for hidden arms camp on June 14, 1940 of. February 1940 the Soviet Union in the treaty on borders and friendship in September 1939 their former legacy,! Evacuation, 69,247 persons left the Soviet authorities Palestine, were directed to camp Bashit happy for an.... 1944, USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 ) arrived at,. Edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:55 the time we survived, 733. Rail cars, filled with louse moved to some kind of barracks, with 733 on... There, all were divided into several groups and began their education lived in a camp at Santa,... During the unrest in 1905 he was slicing remember my father was so that! Tens of thousands of distraught Poles remained there, sent to kolkhozs Union officially. All inhabitants with a German father to polish deportation to siberia deported, mostly to Siberia by the government of Wasilewska! ( Russian Secret Police ) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal administator. Secret Police ) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal local.. To South Africa with her children unrest in 1905 he was deported to.... Told her off guardian, soundly told her off purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided in,... Started to deport the Jews to Madagascar, before starting their extermination policy, Zambia 's Bulletin Record.
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