(as of 1 April 1941). As a result, I fell further and further behind our group walking to the nearest tent shelter, and I dont know what would have happened to me if my mother had not found me. It had a clubroom, a hospital, and a gym. Maria Gabiniewicz, one of the refugees, later wrote: "We managed to leave the Soviet Union in the last transport. The deportation of Poles by the Russians to slave labour camps in the Soviet Union during This invaluable database has details of many of the deported in the 1940s to Russia / Siberia. Some 4,254 dead bodies were uncovered in mass graves in Katyn Forest by the Nazis in 1943, who invited an international group of neutral representatives and doctors to examine the corpses and confirm the Soviet guilt. In August 1942, two schools were created, for younger (aged 8-15) and older scouts. Cedar, MI 49621-5106. I cannot remember how long it took us to reach port Pahlavi in Persia (now Iran). [62][63] About 600 people died as the result of the Augustw roundup. [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. terrified of heights, so it was a nightmare journey for me. 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. But we ought not to romanticise. 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? As luck would have it, he was at home when the Russian soldiers burst in, which was just as well, because they would have arrested the rest of us anyway, and we would not have had him with us to take care of us. 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 subscriptions of this blog can only be accessed by its author. "[65], To this day, the events of those and the following years constitute stumbling blocks in Polish-Russian foreign relations. Children were taken care of by the Polish Red Cross and residents of Bombay. Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942. The Polish soldiers, after evacuating from Russia to Persia (now Iran) and undergoing health rehabilitation following their ordeal in the Russian camps, entered the war in the West fighting alongisde the Allies on all fronts land, In January 1944, the Polish staff in all East African camps had been reduced. All Polish parties and organizations were disbanded. [26] The Soviet NKVD executed about 65,000 imprisoned Poles after being subjected to show trials. 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. [14] Also, there were pre-war Polish citizens who saw the Soviet NKVD presence as an opportunity to start political and social agitation. Here you can consult our privacy policy. After the first evacuation, Polish-Soviet relations deteriorated and the Soviet government began arresting Polish officials. Soviet authorities implemented a political regime similar to a police state,[51][52][53][54] based on terror. 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. However, in October 1946, the Secretary of State in London pronounced that refugees who could get a job in the area for at least 6 months, or had a sum of money sufficient to sustain themselves, could stay. The housing was primitive: dwellings made of clay, with roofs made of grass and banana leaves. 'Za pierwszego Sovieta'. Polish Children's Camp was financed by the government of New Zealand, with help from Polish Government in Exile, based in London. 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. Soviet propaganda claimed that the unfair treatment of non-Poles by the Second Polish Republic justified its dismemberment. Google Analytics technical cookie used to throttle request rate. Follow me Polish at Heart, 2020. [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. NKVD agents issued Soviet passports to Poles in February-May 1943. Putin on 18-1-23 re siege of Leningrad, "Representatives of many European countries took part in the Siege of Leningrad and committed crimes" History: Red army invaded Poland in concert with Nazi Germany on 16-9-39, executed 25K Polish officers & deported 1.3M Poles to Siberia Red Army troops requisitioned food and other goods. The Pogrom of Ludmiwka: a silenced killing of Jews at the hands of communists, A silenced history: the communist repression against Poles who fought Nazism, a pact of those two totalitarian dictatorships, the handover by the Soviet NKVD to the Gestapo of some 4,000 German communists and Jews who had taken refuge in the USSR, In an article published by the British newspaper The Guardian, the website of the World Jewish Congress published very significant information, "Saved by deportation: An unknown odyssey of Polish Jews", Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, The murder of three Ukrainian soldiers by a Russian mercenary from the Wagner Group, AbramsX: General Dynamics presents the replacement for the M1 Abrams MBT, The day the American M-26 Pershing tank knocked out the Soviet T-34 tank in Korea, A surreal scene: Russian soldiers are captured by Ukrainians while they were sleeping, A detail of the US Army indicating that it is preparing for a long stay in Europe, The story of little Elya, who died of a heart attack in Ukraine at the age of 6, The story of Captain Wilhelm Hosenfeld: a German catholic who helped save Poles, Spain deploys an important Aeronaval Group after the passage of a Russian frigate, NORAD: this is how the great bunker of Cheyenne Mountain was built and this is how it is inside, The 7 communist and 36 Islamic regimes that most persecute Christians in 2023, The three wars of Finland between 1939 and 1945 and its strange situation in WWII, 'The Great Escape': 10 little-known historical curiosities about that excellent movie, The cowardly right and the hysterical left, '27 Minutes', an excellent short film about one of the crimes committed by ETA terrorists. There were a lot of accidents, where , , , , , , , . There we boarded a ship where we were exposed to more appalling conditions. Las cookies de marketing se utilizan para rastrear a los visitantes a travs de las webs. Additional Polish transports arrived in late 1943. 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 After the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, it had been assigned to Germany in the treaty on borders and friendship in September 1939. And so it was that my sister Nadzieja (NB the name means Hope) became a nurse helping to look after the sick and then wounded as she became part of the 2nd Polish Corps under General Anders. He was rescued by his co-workers who dug him out with their bare hands. 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. A Polish Child's WWII Journey. 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. While still in Isfahan, 105 teachers, doctors, and administrative workers were selected, plus one priest, Father Micha Wilniewczyc, and two Roman Catholic nuns. Hamtramck, MI 48212-3437, 8994 S Kasson St A silenced history: the communist repression against Poles who fought Nazism, The handing over of Jews by the Soviet NKVD to the Gestapo. Probably all Poles know about this fact, I myself mentioned those deportations here.I have also mentioned the fate of some of the children who survived Siberia here.But I decided today to tell you about Polish connections with Siberia, which began as early as the 16th century, which is why I present, This was in August 1920, and ever since Some months later we the orphans and civilians were moved to Uzbekistan to a place called Guzar. 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. [16] As the Soviet Union had not signed international conventions on rules of war, the Polish prisoners were denied legal status. Other solders rushed through the house looking for hidden arms. The Polish consulates in the USSR issued in-land temporary passports for those being evacuated: These had to be presented at the border crossings in order to proceed. 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. Following repeatedly impatient loud knocks and shouts to open up, my father opened the front door when a group of Russian solders, with bayonets fixed to their rifles, burst in, ordered arms up, rounded us up and stood us against a wall with rifles pointing at us and searched us for weapons. [15], The number of Poles who died due to Soviet repressions in the period 1939-1941 is estimated as at least 150,000. 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]. XCLOSE. [30] According to Norman Davies,[31] almost half had died by the time the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement had been signed in 1941. On January 15, 1940 the Lww University was reopened; its professors started to teach in accordance with Soviet curricula. 1939 wrzesie 17, Moskwa Nota rzdu sowieckiego nie przyjta przez ambasadora Wacawa Grzybowskiego, "Decision to commence investigation into Katyn Massacre", "The Katyn Controversy: Stalin's Killing Field, "ledztwo w sprawie zabjstwa w dniu 22 wrzenia 1939 r. w okolicach miejscowoci Sopokinie generaa brygady Wojska Polskiego Jzefa Olszyny-Wilczyskiego i jego adiutanta kapitana Mieczysawa Strzemskiego przez onierzy b. Zwizku Radzieckiego. Houses made of clay, in the heart of Africa. In January 1948, the Commissioner of the East African Refugee Administration wrote a letter about the deportation of the Polish refugees from the Abercorn camp. Legacy Google Analytics short-term technical cookie used along with __utmb to determine new users sessions. Many Poles left Iran for India, thanks to the efforts of Polish consul in Bombay, Eugeniusz Banasinski. You must login to comment. (And that is another moment that has always stayed with me). Polish evacuees had to travel by train to Krasnovodsk, where they took a ship across the Caspian Sea to Iran. All organized religions were persecuted. "[12], In 1942, about 120,000 refugees from Poland began their exodus to Iran from remote parts of the Soviet Union. Google Analytics short-term functional cookie used to determine new users and sessions. [28] The wave of arrests and mock convictions contributed to the forced resettlement of large categories of people ("kulaks", Polish civil servants, forest workers, university professors, "osadniks") to the Gulag labour camps and exile settlements in remote areas of the Soviet Union. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not Due to Germany attacking Russia on 22nd June, l941, a Polish-Russian treaty was signed with the exiled Polish Government in London, and a decree of amnesty was issued, allowing for the formation of Polish army on Russian territory with the recruiting point at Buzuluk, in the southern European Russia. Somehow, at some point, my brother Gustaf found me and brought me a piece of bread (his ration for the day I later learned). All enterprises were taken over by the state, while agriculture was made collective.[55]. The next transfer took place in 195559, after Stalin's death. [49], Simultaneously Soviet authorities tried to remove traces of Polish history in the area by eliminating much of what had connections to the Polish state or even Polish culture in general. ), This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 22:55. The Soviet forces murdered almost all captured officers, and sent numerous ordinary soldiers to the Soviet Gulag. Google Analytics long-term user and session tracking identifier. The author of this blog denies to any person or entity of copyright management the authority to charge third parties for reproducing the contents of this blog. REPORT BY A SURVIVOR, MRS. HELENA KNPACZYK [from the archive of The Polish Army Veterans Association (interviewer [6][7] 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. None survived. There were several waves of deportations during which families were sent to barren land in the Soviet Union. Lww University and many other schools were reopened soon, but they were to operate as Soviet institutions rather than continue their former legacy. The second wave of deportations by the Soviet occupational forces across the Kresy macroregion, affected 300,000 to 330,000 Poles, sent primarily to Kazakhstan. La web no puede funcionar correctamente sin estas cookies. Wanda Nowoisiad-Ostrowska, quoted by historian Tadeusz Piotrowski (The Polish Deportees of World War II), remembered that Abercorn camp was divided into six sections of single-room houses, a washing area, a laundry, a church, and four school buildings with seven classes. The journey from Poland to Siberia to Central Asia will be told not only by Asher and Shifra Scharf but also by several other Polish Jews, each detailing a particular leg of the journey. Las cookies no clasificadas son cookies que estamos procesando para clasificar, conjuntamente con los proveedores de cookies individuales. Polish Citizens deported to Soviet Forced-Labor Camps in Siberia Stephen P. Morse, San Francisco Last Name: is exactly starts with contains ends with First Name: is exactly starts with 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. According to the proposed legislation, nobody would receive less than PLN 2,400, or 536 Euro. As a result of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland (as agreed by the Nazis and Soviets in their This book is a collection of individual stories written by survivors of the Polish genocide during the Second World War. In 1941 Joseph Stalin On 17 September 1939 the Soviets invaded Poland with an army of 600,000 that included 24 infantry divisions, 15 cavalry divisions, and nine tank brigades [ii]. ", The Nazis consulted Moscow to deport the Jews to Siberia. The author of this blog is not responsible for the use and purposes that Feedburner gives the data provided. orphanages, separating boys from girls. The NKVD (Russian Secret Police) had the overall command of these gulags, run by a mostly brutal local administator. ", Deportation: a crime against humanity and a war crime. In recognition of my father volunteering, as. one chamber, the ceiling collapsed on him. The Red Army had sown confusion among the locals by claiming that they were arriving to save Poland from the Nazis. . The fourth and final wave occurred in June 1941, deporting 300,000. [17][18] In one notorious atrocity ordered by Stalin, the Soviet secret police systematically shot and killed 22,000 Poles in a remote area during the Katyn massacre. [11] On December 21, 1939, the Polish currency was withdrawn from circulation without any exchange to the newly introduced rouble; this meant that the entire population of the area lost all of their life savings overnight. 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. Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union, Help of Maharaja of Nawanagar for Polish refugees, People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine, 1.1 million Poles (including Polish Jews), Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939-1946), List of Soviet Union prison sites that detained Poles, List of Polish refugees cemeteries in Africa. My mother refused the tempting offer of going to Santa Rosa in Mexico. The eastern half of Poland was annexed by the Soviet Union. Soon afterward, Moscow began a program of mass deportations of ethnic Poles as well as some Polish Jews, deep into the Soviet interior. This was about one in ten of all adult males. That in itself was monstrously hideous, exposing children, women and men to perform their private bodily functions openly. The over-riding feeling was that of perpetual hunger and fear. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. One of the lesser-known aspects of that alliance was the policy of anti-Semitism adopted by the Stalin dictatorship. Tehran was a gate, through which we were sent, in groups, to different parts of the world. Those arrested included Wadysaw Broniewski, Aleksander Wat, Tadeusz Peiper, Leopold Lewin, Anatol Stern, Teodor Parnicki, Marian Czuchnowski and many others. I remember my father was so starlted that he dropped the loaf of bread he was slicing. People kept their own gardens, with vegetables. [37], Deportations, though, continued in June 1944, around 40,000 soldiers and Polish Underground State officials who refused to join the Soviet-controlled Army were relocated to the most remote areas of the USSR. I was just a skeleton, simply skin and bones, and I lost touch with my family for quite a while. The tuition was abolished, as together with the institution's Polonophile traditions, this had prevented most of the rural Ukrainophone population from attending. 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". People were dying like flies. It was here that I went down with severe dysentery and it was here that dead bodies were found in water wells. MY STORY AS REMEMBERED FROM THE DISTANCE OF. Approximately 250,000 Polish prisoners of war were captured by the USSR during and after the invasion of Poland. Don't miss the news and content that interest you. Camp life was organized, there was a school, scouts, and religious life. 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