Testimonies – “Amnesty” for the innocent

Krystyna retells the hardships of her mother and grandmother’s journey from USSR to Persia, being packed in wagons, starving and having to eat grass and dogs to survive.

Jan describes how he and his brother Tomasz kept up their health in Turkmenistan by catching and eating turtles.

Irena describes how their father suddenly died on the train, on the trip south, hours after her mother was left behind at one of the stations.

Irena describes how a former neighbour from the Kresy was a witness to her mother having died in Buchara, Uzbekistan.

Stan explains how his father’s decision to take the family south was a mistake. In the north, they had access to mushrooms and berries in the forest that helped them …

Stan describes how his brother Wojciech died on the train and his body was thrown onto a cart – the family have no idea where he was buried. The next …

Wanda describes how the families grouped their valuables in order to pay for transportation to the southern USSR.

Regina describes how, by pure chance, her father found them in the camp in Teheran

Czeslaw explains how he and a friend were wrongly accused of having escaped from a work camp, and an NKVD officer defended them against this accusation.

Describing how frightening it was to board the ship, and how they ended up crawling up. Also describes the voyage to Pahlevi.

On the journey south to join the Polish Army, they met up with a Polish youth who had been conscripted into the Russian Army, and her father decided to save …

Jan describes how his 17 year old brother, who had gone to get food for the family, tried to jump onto the train that was moving away from the station, …

Jan describes the journey over the mountains, in the back of lorries, and how he would have frozen to death if a kind lady had not lent him a blanket.

Maria explains how they heard about the ‘amnesty’, describes how her family built a raft to take them down the river, and how her father saved her from drowning.

Describes how the younger, healthier soldiers were given money and transportation in order to scour the Uzbek countryside, looking for Polish citizens among the villages, so that they could provide …

Describing how she would have been shot by the Soviets, for stealing a railway tie, if it had not been for some quick thinking on the part of a fellow …

Czeslaw describes how they lived while they were at the collective farm.

Tadeusz describes the work they completed at the camp in Siberia, and the how they made their way out after ‘amnesty’.

Describing how they made their way south from Kazakhstan, and the train collision that happened on the way.

Describing how they learned of amnesty and how they organized to leave the camp, as well as the challenges along the way.

Describes how he, his mother and his grandmother were all in hospital with typhoid. He was lying in the bed with his mother, and she was in a worse state …

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, …

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

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 …