Gallery – Forever in the West

My uncle Jozef "Jozio" and his mother Julia Pacewicz in Poland 10th July 1963. Jozef missed the deportation of his family to Kazakhstan on 13th April 1940. He tried to join them on the wagons at Rowne station but was held back by Red Army soldiers. He fled to family in Krzemieniec and in early 1945 was drafted into the 8th Dresden Infantry Division of the Polish People's Army. He remained in Poland after the war, settling in Krosno. His mother Julia Pacewicz (nee Paradowska - my grandmother) was deported to USSR with her two remaining children. After release she was a refugee in Koja until 1949. She settled in Great Britain. This photograph was taken on a visit to her son in Poland in 1963.

Anna Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz in the Polish Navy. He volunteered as a 13 year old in USSR and served from 1942 - 1945 on ORP Piorun and ORP Garland. This photograph was taken sometime after the war. Wladyslaw was demobbed from the Navy in 1947 and settled in Scotland.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

United Kingdom

Polish navy

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz in Scotland. He was deported to Kazakhstan on 13th April 1940 as an 11 year old. After release with Anders Army he served in the Polish Navy, settling in Scotland after the war.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

United Kingdom

Scotland

Polish navy

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz in Scotland. He was deported to Kazakhstan on 13th April 1940 as an 11 year old. After release with Anders Army he served in the Polish Navy as a cook, settling in Scotland after the war.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

United Kingdom

Scotland

Polish navy

This photograph was taken in the early 1990s when my father Wladek was reunited with his uncle Staszek. They had not seen each other since my father was a child in Wołyn. Wladek was deported from Rowne to Siberia in April 1940 and after release with Anders Army joined the Polish Navy, settling in Scotland after the War. Staszek, from Krzemieniec (my father's mother's brother) fought in the September 1939 campaign in the 43 Pułk Piechoty in Dubno. In 1944 he was enlisted in the 1st Polish Army (Berling's Army under Soviet command). He fought right through the campaign and the Battle of Berlin and was highly decorated for bravery. In 1946 he was "repatriated" with his family (his wife and children chased from their home by UPA) to Legnića in Silesia.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

Ruja, Silesia

Polish navy

Wladek Pacewicz in the 1990s at the Polish Navy museum in Gdansk. Wladek served in the Polish Navy from 1942 after escaping the USSR with Anders Army. He had always wanted to visit Westerplatte, where the first shots of WW2 were fired.

Anna Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

Gdansk

Polish navy

Julia Pacewicz (nee Paradowska) reunited in Poland in 1961 with her sister-in-law Tekla Paradowska (nee Dobrowolska). They were from Krzemieniec in Wołyn and were separated in 1940 when Julia and two of her children were deported to Kazakhstan. Julia remained exiled in the West. Tekla and her daughter Helena narrowly escaped with their lives from UPA bandits in 1943 who tried to break into their home and murder them. In 1946 they were repatriated, with Tekla's husband Stanisław Paradowski (Berling's Army) to Legnića in Western Poland.

Anna Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz in the 1990s at the grave of his brother Jozef in Krosno Poland. They were separated in April 1940 when Wladek was deported to Kazahstan with his mother and sister. Their father was killed in Katyn. Jozef escaped deportation, later to be conscripted into the Red Army. He remained in Poland after the War.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

Krosno

Paradowski siblings reunited in Poland approx 1961. Seated in the middle from left to right: Manya Paradowska, sister Julia Pacewicz (nee Paradowska), Tekla Paradowska (nee Dobrowolska). Standing behind from left to right: Helena Nawicki and husband (daughter of Stanisław and Tekla Paradowski), Stanisław Paradowski (with moustache), Jozef Pacewicz (Julia's son), Marysia and husband (Helena's sister). Children at the bottom are Staszek and Tekla's grandchildren. They were separated when Julia was deported to Kazakhstan with two of her children in 1940. She remained exiled in the UK and this was the first time she was reunited with her family, including her son Jozef who remained in Poland.

Anna Pacewicz

After WWII

Poland

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz. He was deported to USSR and served in the Polish Navy. He settled in Scotland after the War.

Wladyslaw Pacewicz

After WWII

United Kingdom

Polish navy

Interviewed by Bob Komar

Jozefa Kapera

After WWII

United Kingdom

Jozefa to the right of the veteran in uniform

Jozefa Kapera

After WWII

United Kingdom

Jozefa and friends in a Nissan hut

Jozefa Kapera

After WWII

United Kingdom

Jozefa: early days in the UK

Jozefa Kapera

After WWII

United Kingdom

Jozefa: wedding portrait

Jozefa Kapera

After WWII

United Kingdom

Wiktoria Visas – page 2 of 3

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Issued my Ministry of the Interior, France

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

France

Wiktoria Visas – page 3 of 3

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

German ID document, 1960

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Germany

Hanover

Attesting to the fact that Wiktoria is a Polish refugee under the protection of the IRO

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

France

issued by the International Refugee Organisation in Paris

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

France

Wiktoria’s letter to her parents

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Issued in 1950

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Australia

Melbourne

Regarding end of financial aid to refugees.

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

France

International Certificate of vaccination against Small Pox

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

France

Paris

Letter of Citizenship, Australia

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Australia

French Visa – page 1

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

French Visa – page 2

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Wiktoria Visas – page 1 of 3

Wiktoria Bielicka

After WWII

Andrzej Garlicki at Ottawa SPK event 2011

Andrzej Garlicki

After WWII

Canada

Ontario