Testimonies – “Amnesty” for the innocent

Irena describes how the children were dying of disease and malnutrition in great numbers, then Bishop Gawlina came to give the older ones their Confirmation. One girl died right at …

Irena describes living with a young Russian couple in Uzbekistan.

Leaving the camp and heading south

The last families to leave the camp

Memoir written by John ( Jan) Drewniak about his and his family experience in World War 2. In 1941 Jan was conscripted into the Russian Army from his hometown Postolowka …

Describing how her mother decided to risk going south without the proper papers, and how a Russian soldier helped her by explaining what she should do on the train. At …

Going from Northern Kazakhstan to the Polish Army in the South.

Eugenia describes how she kept wanting to save part of her bread so that she could bring it to her starving mother, but she was so hungry herself that she …

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 …

Describing how they found their father wandering around, without any memory of his family. His memory returned when he heard his son call to him.

Describing the train journey south to find the Polish Army, and her father’s enlisting in the Army.

Explaining how she would leave the train in search of food or hot water, and how she was left behind at one of the stations.

Jozefa describes how she and her younger sister ended up in a Russian orphanage, after their mother and sister died in hospital. A Polish Officer found them there and took …

Jozefa explains how she and her sister ended up in a Russian orphanage after they were released from the hospital where their mother and older sister died. A Polish officer …

Jozefa describes how the remaining 4 members of her family – her mother, her 2 sisters and she herself – were taken from the collective farm to a hospital in …

Describing how they would get food whenever there was an Uzbek wedding

My arrest, prison in Minsk, sentence to 5 years hard labour, deported to Sevzheldorlag, a penal labour Gulag camp, release on amnesty and journey to join and fight in WW2-Italy.

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

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, …