Letter from exile Eleanor Bielski in Kazakhstan Page 1
Juliusz Aleksander Roman Bielski (then aged 78 years) and his wife Eleanor Maria Jadwiga (nee Jablonowska) were deported from Lwow in April 1940 to Semipalatynsk Oblast, Station Angestobe, Zarminskij Rajon, Sowjoz Krasnyj Skolowod. This is page 1 of a 2 page letter from Eleanor. The handwritten portion of the typed letter is signed by "Gusia" (Eleanor's daughter, Jadwiga), saying that the typed text was transcribed from a letter handwritten by her moth.
Count Jerzy Krasicki
During WWII
Kazakhstan
Semipalatynsk Oblast
Letter from exile Eleanor Bielski in Kazakhstan Page 2
Juliusz Aleksander Roman Bielski (then aged 78 years) and his wife Eleanor Maria Jadwiga (nee Jablonowska) were deported from Lwow in April 1940 to Semipalatynsk Oblast, Station Angestobe, Zarminskij Rajon, Sowjoz Krasnyj Skolowod. This is page 2 of a 2 page handwritten letter from Eleanor back to a friend still in Lwow. It refers a "Gusia" (her daughter Jadwiga) and children (Jerzy Krasicki and his brother).
Count Jerzy Krasicki
During WWII
Kazakhstan
Semipalatynsk Oblast
Letter from exile Eleanor Bielski in Kazakhstan Page 2
Juliusz Aleksander Roman Bielski (then aged 78 years) and his wife Eleanor Maria Jadwiga (nee Jablonowska) were deported from Lwow in April 1940 to Semipalatynsk Oblast, Station Angestobe, Zarminskij Rajon, Sowjoz Krasnyj Skolowod. This is page 2 of a 2 page letter from Eleanor. The handwritten portion of the typed letter is signed by "Gusia" (Eleanor's daughter, Jadwiga), saying that the typed text was transcribed from a letter handwritten by her moth.
Count Jerzy Krasicki
During WWII
Kazakhstan
Semipalatynsk Oblast
Letter from exile Eleanor Bielski in Kazakhstan
Juliusz Aleksander Roman Bielski (then aged 78 years) and his wife Eleanor Maria Jadwiga (nee Jablonowska) were deported from Lwow in April 1940 to Semipalatynsk Oblast, Station Angestobe, Zarminskij Rajon, Sowjoz Krasnyj Skolowod. After deportation nobody in Lwow knew where they had been deported to. This telegram identified their address. It was sent to Marys Bielska - wife of their son Adam Bielski. Adam escaped from Lwow to Hungry and fought in the Polish Army, first in France and then in the UK.
Count Jerzy Krasicki
During WWII
Kazakhstan
Semipalatynsk Oblast
Drawing of Antoni Stelmach
Drawing of Antoni Stelmach - Drawing made by a fellow prisoner in the Soviet camp.
Antoni Stelmach
During WWII
Russia
Map of route TO and OUT OF the USSR
Map of route TO and OUT OF the USSR - The journey of the Stelmach family
Antoni Stelmach
During WWII
Russia
Drawing and Description of Posiolek 45 in USSR
Drawing and Description of Posiolek 45 in USSR
Antoni Stelmach
During WWII
Russia
Alicja R Edwards Art Work – Candle in window
Illustration showing a candle in the window
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Alicja R Edwards Art Work – Hunger
Illustration depicting the hunger of the deportees.
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Alicja R Edwards Art Work – Out of box cars
Illustration showing the deportees waiting outside the cargo wagons
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Alicja R Edwards Art Work
Painting by Alicja R. Edwards, showing the preparation of a number of cargo trains that will be used by the Soviets to transport Polish people from the Eastern Borderlands to Siberia.
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Poland
Alicja R Edwards Art Work – Cart
Illustration showing deportees being transported to their place of exile in the USSR
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Alicja R Edwards Art Work – Deportation
Nightmare of 13th April 1940 - two Soviet soldiers with bayonets wake the family, on Friday 13th April 1940 at 2:00 am
Alicja Edwards
During WWII
Poland
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 12
The majority of deportes, over 1000, worked as tree fellers for very poor money and even poorer food.
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 11
Eventually he reached posiolek Vitunino and was overjoyed when he found his family. They lived in a room, about 6m x 4m, which they shared with 2 other families. Each room had a brick stove for heating and cooking. Along the walls were bunk beds on which people sat. slept and ate.
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 10
There was deep snow and it was very cold. He was only wearing thin clothes so after a few days he had a temperature and noticed that he'd lost the soles of his shoes and his toes were numb with frost!
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 9
Journey through Taiga to Posiolek Vitunino, Archangel Province, 1941
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 7
He spent the summer working at the camp and in September received permission to travel to Archangel and then to Kotlas to join his family. He travelled by train and then by boat on the River Dvina. After Christmas he had to complete his journey by foot.
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 6
From the wagon they looked out in terror at a tall wooden fenced enclosure with an observation tower at each corner. The palisade itself was formed from sharp-pointed posts each 3 metres in height! Telesfor was devasted to find out that none of his family members were here.
Janusz Skarzyński
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 5
They travelled for over 2 weeks through Kiev, Moscow and Gorkiy
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 4
A few days later they were loaded into cattle trucks with wooden bunks on both sides of the door, an iron stove in the centre and with a hole cut into the floor to serve as a toilet. 50 people were squashed into this wagon!
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Russia
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 3
Telesfor was 14 when he was deported in Feb/March 1940. He had been away at school in Pinsk when his family was taken on 10th Feb. He was taken to Rowne, first to a large synagogue full of people, mostly women and children. They were guarded by a sheepskin-clad Soviet soldier who wore a strange pointed cap and held a rifle fixed with a long thin bayonet.
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Poland
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 1
The illustrations in the book were drawn by Telesfor Sobierajski and the texts are taken from his own story, one of many included in "Stalin's Ethnic Cleansing".
Telesfor Sobierajski
During WWII
Poland
Telesfor Sobierajski drawing 8
Drawing of workers in the Siberian forest. Telesfor's story can be read in "Stalin's Ethnic Cleansing".
During WWII
Russia
Cattle cars to Siberia
Cattle cars to Siberia
Russia
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc34
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc34 - public domain
Sprawiedliwość Sowiecka, by S Mora and P Zwierniek, Włochy 1945
During WWII
Poland
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc33
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc33 - public domain
Sprawiedliwość Sowiecka, by S Mora and P Zwierniek, Włochy 1945
During WWII
Poland
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc30
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc30 - public domain
Sprawiedliwość Sowiecka, by S Mora and P Zwierniek, Włochy 1945
During WWII
Poland
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc29
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc29 - public domain
Sprawiedliwość Sowiecka, by S Mora and P Zwierniek, Włochy 1945
During WWII
Poland
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc28
Sprawiedliwość Soviecka_Ryc28 - public domain
Sprawiedliwość Sowiecka, by S Mora and P Zwierniek, Włochy 1945
During WWII
Poland