Hall of Testimonies

Dioniza describes how they learned that they were free to leave, and how they organized the trip south,.

Dioniza describes the work that the adults and the children did at the camp.

Dioniza describes the brutality with which the Ukrainians terrorized them as they searched for weapons. They took her father away, and they heard a series of shots, but thought that …

Dioniza describes what she recalls of the beginning of WWII in her village.

Dioniza describes how the school children attended services at the Ukrainian church, until the Catholic church was built and a priest arrived in the village.

Already on the ship to New Zealand, Mrs Kozera the Chief Scout made plans to commemorate the Warsaw Uprising at a special campfire held in Pahiatua soon after the children’s …

Bernarda describes how she met her husband at the hospital, where he was sent after being injured at Monte Cassino, and they married. She spent some time in Palestine where …

Bernarda describes how people would die and their bodies were left on the side of the tracks, with no proper burial. Her parents would not have survived the trip south, …

Bernarda describes how the Russian people who preceded them to the camp, and were still stuck there, were in the same situation as they were – sometimes their conditions were …

Ewa describes how she met her husband in France, and how she learned of her uncle’s death from released POWs who were in the same camp with him.

Ewa describes how she and her parents lived in Teheran, including the apartment that her father rented for them.

Ewa describes how she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service of the Army and worked in Administration, counting costs.

Ewa describes how they were already at the station, waiting to board a train south, when someone from the farm came to find them and bring a letter from her …

Irena describes how they cooked their meals, what the huts were like, and other details about life in Masindi.

Irena joins the Cadets in Guzar and is assured food, clothing, and a place to sleep. She also locates her Aunt Felicia who joined the Women’s Auxiliary Army service. The …

Irene names all the neighbours that lived on the Military Settlement of Radziwiłłów.

Antoni describes how his mother decided they should find the Polish Army, so they headed south and eventually evacuated to Persia.

Antoni talks about the dog that was his companion while at the camp – a stray Siberian Husky that may have been left behind by those who had preceded them …

Antoni tells how his mother took the family photos and her fox fur to Siberia – she had the fur all through the journey, and still had it when they …

Halina’s mother became more and more ill as they were evacuated to Persia, and she died on the beach in Pahlevi just hours after they arrived there. When she died, …

Halina describes the work she did, as a 12 year old, at the collective farm in Uzbekistan.

Halina describes the German settlement that was located near their village, where she would go to exchange some of their belongings for food.

Halina describes how she would pick berries and then sell them in the nearest town, in order to earn money to buy some food for the family.

Halina describes where they were taken by the Soviets. In contrast with most deportees who ended up in labour camps, they were taken to a small village that formed a …