Personal Details
| Name: | Franciszek Szczęch | |
| Maiden Name: | ||
| Nickname/Pseudonym: | ||
| Gender: | Male | |
| Date of birth: | 1910-12-13 | |
| Place of birth: | Poland, Stanisławowskie, Rohatyn, Lukowiec | |
| Did this person die during World War ll?: | No | |
| Date of death: | 2007-1-24 | |
| Place of death: | United Kingdom | |
| Cause of Death: | heart failure | |
| Fathers given name: | Marcin | |
| Entry ID: 140717 | Mothers given name: | Teresa |
| Mothers maiden name: | Kantor | |
| Given name of spouse: | Julia | |
| Maiden name of spouse: | Smoter | |
| Given name(s) of children: | Alodia, Zenon | |
| Description: | Alodia (daughter) writes: “My parents Franciszek Szczech and Julia Szczech (nee Smoter) [pictured] did not talk much about the time that they were in Siberia, occasionally they would mention something but if we asked questions they would change the subject.“They were married on 28 August 1939.“My father was in the failed September campaign of 1939. Most of his division that was not killed or arrested tried to escape to Hungary. He returned to Sokal [pictured] where my mother, his new bride, was. People that knew them say that they had never seen a man so in love as my father was with my mother. I understand that the journey was quite perilous and that he was hidden by many kind people both Poles and Ukrainians.“My Father was originally from Lukowiec Rohatyn Stanisławów, but my mother was from near Sokal (I do not know the exact name of the place).“On 10 Feb 1940 there was a knock on the door. My parents, my grandparents, my mothers’ siblings were told that they were going to be deported to Siberia. The commandant of the train apologised for what he had to do but he said he had no option because otherwise his own family would suffer. He gave them time to pack and advised them that any preserved foods they had they should take and small clocks, watches, and mechanical objects: sewing machines, bicycles, would be useful to them to trade for food - money and jewellery would not be useful.“They were bundled on to a cattle train and started the journey north. It was several weeks ‘til they reached their destination. I remember my mother saying that the wc was a hole in the train floor and an armed guard would stand over people as they relieved themselves to make sure people did not jump out. Also every so often the train would stop and people that had died were buried in mass graves.“Finally the train arrived at its destination in Oblast Archangielsk – Wielska (?) and they continued on another130 km to Zrawki (?) - the slave camps. When they finally arrived at the "posiołek" there was one man there: a Ukrainian - he told them he was the only survivor from a previous Ukrainian deportation and that they had to build the camp for themselves but everybody else had died. My parents said that the regime was harsh and very cold down to minus 50 degrees Celsius ( if somebody died in the night people would not remove the body till the morning since it was added insulation). My father was put to work cutting trees some distance away. His food ration was 100gram of bread per day for a worker and if he achieved target it would rise to 300gram per day -greater than the food ration of the whole of my mother’s family - because the old and infirm that were not able to work got nothing. Once per week, he was given permission to walk the 10 kilometres to go to see my mother where he would share his food with my mother’s family. They talked about a soup, kipiatok: basically hot water.“My mother was very unwell - she was dying. There was a Russian Lady Doctor imprisoned who was also an "enemy of the state" who advised my father that if my mother did not get any protein she would definitely die. My father killed the camp commandant’s dog and they secretly cooked it. There was uproar and armed searches. Had my father been caught he would have been shot. At one time, a horse had died and it was buried. People secretly dug it up at night and cooked it. The guards searched but did not manage to find it or who had done it - if they had they would have been shot. One time a man who had several children found a frozen potato on the road - he picked it up and was shot for stealing.“After the amnesty my parents found a piece of newspaper which wrote about the amnesty. They escaped and over several weeks made their way to Szangal (?) to the NKVD HEADQUARTERS. They obtained their release papers and those for my mothers’ family. By the time they got back to the camp most of the family had died from typhus or starvation.“They then made their way south and joined General Anders Army - then the Middle East and Italy.“After the war they ended up in UK though we did go to the USA for a short time. My mother died of a stroke in 1987 at the age of 73, and my father aged 96 in 2007. |
Personal Situation at the outbreak of WWll
| Residence at the outbreak of WWll: | Poland, Lwowskie, Sokal, |
| Kresy Inhabitant Status: | |
| Ethnicity: | Polish |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Education Level: | |
| Occupation at the outbreak of WWll: | |
| Military status at the outbreak of WWll: | Active Duty |
| Military Rank at the outbreak of WWll: |
Deportations and Repressions
| OD: yyyy | Mm | Dd | Do: yyyy | Mm | Dd | Do: Socjalistyczna Republika Radziecka | Oblast | Miejscowość |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 02 | 10 | Russian SFSR | Archangielska oblast' |
| Other Information: |
For those who were repatriated to Poland from the Kresy or the USSR, please provide the following information
| Date of return to Poland: | // |
| Province: | |
| County: | |
| Locality: | |
| Nearest large city: |
For those who stayed in the Kresy area during WWII, please provide the following information
| Province - as at 1939: | |
| County: | |
| City / Place: | |
| Nearest Large City: |
Military Experience
| Służył w | Jednostka | Od: yyyy | Mm | Dd | Do: yyyy | Mm | Dd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish 2nd Corps in Italy (Gen. Anders) | kanonier 3 pułk artylerii przeciwpancernej |
| Other Military Service: | Nr ewidencyjny 3 DSK/Serial Nr in 3 DSK 1910/69 |
| Participation in WWII battles: | Monte Cassino, Italy (1944-01-17 - 1944-05-19) |
| Medals received: | |
| Other Battles: |
Other Wartime Circumstances
| Other Information: | |
| Orphanages: | |
| Civilian Camp in the Middle East: | |
| Civilian Camp in India: | |
| Civilian Camp in Africa: | |
| Please provide information if none of the preceding apply: |
Residence After 1945
| Kraj | Stan | Dzielnica | Miejscowość | Najbliższe duże miasto | Opis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palestine | tel-Aviv | until 1947 | |||
| United Kingdom | London | demobed in uk |