Testimonies – Soviet Mass Deportations

This is a memoir of Krystyna's time in Kazakhstan and her eventual coming to New Zealand as one of the Polish children who stayed at Pahiatua.

This is true, that we used all these methods for healing. And then we would remove it along with the skin. I learned how to place “banki”, how to yank …

They loaded us into a lorry, and they took us to the train station. And then we saw that many people are being transported this way – it is not …

They loaded us into a lorry, and they took us to the train station. And then we saw that many people are being transported this way – it is not …

They had a house In Kowru also, so we moved there. And Father, when Warsaw fell, he ended up as a POW. But at that time there were no camps …

They had a house In Kowru also, so we moved there. And Father, when Warsaw fell, he ended up as a POW. But at that time there were no camps …

They had a house In Kowru also, so we moved there. And Father, when Warsaw fell, he ended up as a POW. But at that time there were no camps …

I do not remember when the Russian took Father away. I remember that he was sentenced to death and he was in jail in Stanislawow, and Mother travelled to the …

I remember that in 1939 / 1940, it was a very frigid winter. Our grandparents from Kielc came to visit us. Mother’s parents came. Also two Aunties. But because winter …

The scary part is that we did not know what they were going to do with us. We were in a cattle wagon with wooden bunks that would sleep about …

February 10th 1940. At midnight they came and took father away, and at 2 a.m. they came back and took us. We were not allowed to take anything with us. …

We have to say that we were in cattle cars on the train – there were wooden bunks on two sides, you could fit 8 people on the top and …

We have to say that we were in cattle cars on the train – there were wooden bunks on two sides, you could fit 8 people on the top and …

Everything happened in a similar fashion to my wife’s story – we were loaded into cattle cars & when we were crossing the border we all sang religious hymns – …