Bolesław Makowski - Reaching Polish Army
Describing how he reached the Polish Army in Uzbekistan.
Bolesław Makowski - Underground set forest fires
Describing how they would start fires in the forest in order to get triple bread rations.
Bolesław Makowski - Work 5 years for a goat
Describing how the commandant of the camp told him he could get a goat after 5 years of hard work.
Bolesław Makowski - Czudak the horse
Describing how he was assigned to work with a sleigh and a horse called Czudak, and also describing the woman who was in charge of the stable.
Bolesław Makowski - Sharing food in Siberia
Describing how people would share anything but food, and when someone did share their food, it was a mark of extreme courage.
Bolesław Makowski - the camp store
Describing the strange and limited contents of the camp store.
Bolesław Makowski - millions of bedbugs
Describing the infestations of bedbugs
Bolesław Makowski - getting water when train stopped
Describing how none of the locals thought it was strange to see them being marched along by armed soldiers.
Elzbieta (Komar) Watrach - Bombing in Tarnopol
Describing how the building they lived in was bombed, and how she was so frightened that she had trouble breathing and she developed a stutter.
Elzbieta (Komar) Watrach - Mother was jailed
Describing how her mother went to the town to sell their belongings, and was arrested and jailed on her return.
Elzbieta (Komar) Watrach - Train accident_Mother injured
Describing the train accident that occurred on the way to Krasnowodsk, and how seriously her mother was injured. In order to board the ship, friends disguised her mother by sitting …
Leokadia (Muchowska) Opioła - Girl Guides in India
Describing her experiences as a Girl Guide in India, and having to spend 3 days on her own in the jungle to earn the 3 Feathers Badge.
Leokadia (Muchowska) Opioła - Amnesty Trip south
Describing how difficult the trip south was, and how many families were separated on the way.
Leokadia (Muchowska) Opioła - Brother escaped and stayed behind
Describing how her brother escaped and stayed in Poland (the Russians did not realize he was missing). Two of her aunts offered to take the youngest child, but her mother …
Tadeusz Kay-Kwiecinski - TKK
Henrzk Bartul gave his permission to use this interview (email to KMS dated Oct 17, 2011)
Ludwik Hajduk - Life in the Junaks
Describing the bi-weekly medical tests, as well as the frequent haircuts. They would save the hair clippings and stuff leather balls with them.
Ludwik Hajduk - Mother dies in Uzbekistan
His mother died, shortly after receiving a letter from her husband saying that they will soon join the Polish Army. She was buried next to her son Kazimierz in a …
Ludwik Hajduk - Helping KOP soldiers
Describing how his father sheltered KOP soldiers on his property, helped bury their arms, and obtained civilian clothing for them. They tried to escape the Soviet-controlled area of Poland in …
Zbigniew Rosiński - Arriving in Siberia
Describing the trip to the labour camp in Siberia.
Zbigniew Rosiński - Joined his parents on the train
Describing how his parents were arrested and then deported, and his insistence on joining them on the train
Eugenia (Piotuch) Smolnicki - Tried to save bread for her mother
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 …
Kazimiera (Gerech) Kolodziej - Army forming in USSR
Describing the train journey south to find the Polish Army, and her father’s enlisting in the Army.
Kazimiera (Gerech) Kolodziej - Finding father alive
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.
Maria (Załuska) Strońska - Prayers in Guzar
Describing how important religion was to the deportees.