Halina (Myszak) Babinska - Mother dies in Pahlevi
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, …
Halina (Myszak) Babinska - 12 year old works at Kolkhoz
Halina describes the work she did, as a 12 year old, at the collective farm in Uzbekistan.
Halina (Myszak) Babinska - German settlement in N Kazakhstan
Halina describes the German settlement that was located near their village, where she would go to exchange some of their belongings for food.
Halina (Myszak) Babinska - Picking and selling berries
Halina describes how she would pick berries and then sell them in the nearest town, in order to earn money to buy some food for the family.
Halina (Myszak) Babinska - Unusual circumstance of village not kolkhoz
Halina describes where they were taken by the Soviets. In contrast with most deportees who ended up in labour camps, they were taken to a small village that formed a …
Halina (Myszak) Babinska - Mom had prepared ahead
Halina describes how her mother had expected that they would be removed from their home and had prepared two suitcases with the necessities that would be required.
Michał Ziemba - Describes the death of his brother
Describes how a bomb fell on his brother during the battle, cutting off his leg. His brother insisted that he should run and save himself, so he did. When he …
Jadwiga (Wojniłowicz) Zawadzińska - Daily life in the camp
Jadwiga (Wojniłowicz) Zawadzińska - Polish Hospital
Jadwiga (Wojniłowicz) Zawadzińska - English Lessons
Jadwiga (Wojniłowicz) Zawadzińska - Polish Church
Jadwiga (Wojniłowicz) Zawadzińska - Polish Refugee camp in Valivade, India - high school
Alfons Mrzyk - Return to Pszczyna
Marian (ps. Matuszewski) Tomaszewski - Defence of Przemysl
Marian describes how his scout troop was enlisted to defend Przemysl, and then Lwow.
Marian (ps. Matuszewski) Tomaszewski - Escapes on a train in the wrong direction
Marian describes how he was hoping to cross the Romanian border, in order to join the Polish Army in exile, but ended up hopping on a freight train that went …
Marian (ps. Matuszewski) Tomaszewski - Changing back to his real name
Explaining how he changed back to his real name after joining the Polish Army in Russia. He needed a witness to confirm that this truly had been his name, and …
Zofia (Dudek) Kogut - Caught a rooster and cooked it
During their time in Kazakhstan, they had to do whatever was possible in order to find food. Once, a rooster wandered into their hut, and they quickly killed it and …
Zofia (Dudek) Kogut - Mother lost in the woods overnight
While in Siberia, her mother once went looking for mushrooms in the woods with another lady, and they became lost. They did not find their way back until morning. Had …
Zofia (Dudek) Kogut - Bedbugs and work in Siberia
Describing the various measures they took to get rid of the bedbugs. Also describing the work in the forest, including the branches that the school children would gather and burn …
Jerzy Wiktor Bockenhein - Grandmother dies and 10 year old sister buried her
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 …
Jerzy Wiktor Bockenhein - Children would steal bread from the wagon
Describing how the children would sneak pieces of broken bread from the delivery wagon. (Note: Jerzy has had a stutter since the start of the war, when a bomb landed …
Jerzy Wiktor Bockenhein - Building a brick wall from snow
Explaining how the collective farm was 50 km from the Chinese border, with very harsh winters, and the Poles were forced to make bricks from the snow and build a …
Jerzy Wiktor Bockenhein - Christmas dinner in a can and ice in the house
Describing how his mother cooked some wheat in a can for their Christmas Eve dinner. Also describes how the hut they lived in would be buried in snow right to …
Władysław Niezgoda - Amnesty and leaving the camp
Describing how they learned of amnesty and how they organized to leave the camp, as well as the challenges along the way.