Kresy Family
R E C O L L E C T I O N S
Family Histories
The unjustifiable and scandalous forced deportations in 1940-1941 by the Soviet Union of the Polish people living in the Kresy was just the beginning of at least a further six years of enforced travels until the end of the Second World War finally enabled them to begin to settle down and return to some form of normality, albeit very few actually went back to Poland.
Two inhumane and brutal years were suffered in ‘posiolki’ or gulags in the vast wilderness of the Siberian steppe, other isolated areas of north-eastern Russia or the deserts of Kazakhstan before Stalin, realising that he needed soldiers to help him fight the war against Germany, granted the Poles a so-called ‘amnesty’ which enabled General Anders to organise two major evacuations of both military and civilians and, thus, deliver his countrymen from “Soviet Paradise”.
Sadly but not unexpectedly, the evacuations for some proved to be too much and many Poles who had survived Soviet imprisonment and oppressive enslavement were too bereaved, too weak, too malnourished and too ill to make it, and tragically died on route, albeit with freedom in sight.
Experiences of this type of existence and of the daily need to fight for survival inevitably left individuals traumatised and, in some cases, indelibly scarred for life.
After the war, there were those who needed to or wanted to and were able to talk about their experiences but there were also those who were unable to. On these following pages, we have included a number of histories which have been penned by either the victim him-/herself or a member of their family, and each for very individual and personal reasons.
Borsuk Agnieszka (nee Lichwa): the story of her enforced travels as a child
Galgan Helena: Family deported to Kazakhstan in 1936
Bitner-Glindzicz Family: Excerpts from 'A Song For Kresy
Gierka Jan: a 21-year-old soldier who died during the Battle of Monte Cassino
Kalicki Helena (nee Miluk): deported as a four-year-old, describes her eight years of exile
Lipinski Romuald: a deportee and soldier of 12 Podolski Lancers, Polish 2nd Corps
Rymaszewska Aleksandra: the girl with a limp who survived deportation to become a stalwart of the Oldham Polish community
Stankiewicz Family: Sons recall their parents' history
Stepek Family: The family describe life in Kazakhstan after 'the Amnesty'
Szyman Zofia: A Life Remembered
Wojturski Family: Dominik Allen writes about his great grandfather and other family members
Jerzy Gradosielski: PoW in Siberia, Sapper 5KDP, a hero of the Battle of Monte Cassino
More Personal memoirs on our Canadian colleagues' site: https://www.polishexilesofww2.org/memoirs