Deportations of Poles inside the russian Union - 1 export 10th February 1940.

Magdalena Dzienis-Todorczuk, Marcin Markiewicz: Wagony went east . Thing about russian deportations from 1940–1941

For the inhabitants of east Poland, the business period of the “first Soviet” is mainly associated with mass deportations inside the russian Union. This brutal form of collective repression by the Bolshevik occupier affected hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens.

As a consequence of russian aggression against Poland on 17 September 1939, east areas of the Republic were within the borders of the russian Union (so-called Western Ukraine and Western Belarus). For Poles surviving there, this meant facing a fresh authority, which in all way sought to nationalize and to destruct Polish citizens. The methods utilized by the Soviets were very diverse: the sovietization of education, the promotion of laity education, the compulsory passportization which took distant their erstwhile citizenship from Poles. It was accompanied by panic and arrest. The physical elimination of those who, contrary to everything, did not want to forget that they were Poles was an essential component of the sovietization of the inhabited lands.

The 4 deportations from 1940–1941 were so not an end in itself, but were to destruct traces of Polish statehood in occupied areas and their unification with the russian Union. The exports included the Polish elite, which was part of the society most aware of its nationality and nationality. Deportees were treated as "a counter-revolutionary element", destabilising russian order in occupied areas. The removal of the intellectual and cultural elite was so a prerequisite for effective sovietization and full annexation of the Kresów.

Tragedy in 4 Acts

The first shipment began at night from 9 to 10 February 1940. The Soviets prepared very carefully for it. During 1 of the conferences preceding the action, it was stated that it would be "an enormous, liable work requiring large attention and serious approach and ruthless mobilisation of forces and opportunities." It was aimed at civilian and military settlers and forest protection workers and their families – a full of about 140 1000 people. They were located in 115 settlements in 21 republics, countries and regions of the russian Union – mainly where the forest manufacture prevailed (the archangelic, the sordid, the confederate and western regions of the Komian Autonomous Socialist russian Republic and the Krasnoyaric Country). little than a period later, on March 5, 1940, the Political Office of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist organization (bolsheviks) ordered the execution of 14,854 Polish officers and policemen from POW camps in Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostashkov, and over 7,000 in prisons in Belarus and Ukraine.

The second deportation, launched on 13 April 1940, included government officials, police officers, teachers, political activists and landowners. It is estimated that about 61,000 people were exported at the time. Especially dramatic were the destiny of close interned officers, as in the case of the Chodorowski household from Knyszyn, Białystok. The Reserve Lieutenant, Dr. Józef Chodorowski, served in the spare staff of the 3rd territory infirmary in Grodno, got into russian captivity in Baranovich. The same destiny happened to his older brother Bronisław (also Lieutenant of the Polish Army) who worked as a vet in the Święciany until the outbreak of the war. Both of them died in Katyn a fewer days apart. In April 1940, their parents were deported to Kazakhstan – they drove to exile while their sons were murdered. In 1946, only a sick parent returned to the country.

The 3rd deportation action of 29 June 1940 included mostly alleged runners, or escapees from the German occupation, of which 2 thirds were Jews. Many intelligence representatives, including doctors and people of science, became victims of this export, and the number of people exported was around 80 thousand. They went to Siberia, mostly into the circuits of Archaelic, Sverdowski, Nowosibirski, Komi, Maryska, Jakucka and the Altaic Country. This export was somewhat different from the erstwhile one: deported for respective days to the sites of the formation of transports and they were assured that they would return to the land occupied by the 3rd Reich.

The last, 4th deportation began on 20 June 1941 – on the eve of the outbreak of the German-Soviet War. The action was aimed at families and individuals associated with previously deported population groups. This deportation besides included Baltic and Moldovan republics. A full of 90 000 people were exported, of which more than 22 000 from Western Belarus. The exiles went to the Krasnoyarski Country, the Altasian Country, the fresh Siberian Region and Kazakhstan. It is hard to estimation the number of people exported during the last deportation: researchers say that they may have been between 31 and 52 thousand.

Voluntary under a gun

The deportation script was always similar: beating the door with rifles with flasks in the mediate of the night, screaming, beating, rushing while packing, crying women and children, eating dogs. This image most frequently appears in the memories of the deported. In the case of the first outburst of the situation, frost increased, reaching minus 40 degrees Celsius in February 1940, and during the removal in June 1940 – terrible heat. Within a twelve minutes, people lost their full lives:

"On February 10, 1940, it was the day I parted with what I loved," she recalled. – With an encavious revolver on his head, the father signed a paper that it was from good and unforced will that we would be resettled elsewhere. I will not describe what happened in the 20 minutes we had to meet. It was Saturday, and mom just put bread in the oven... so it wasn't on the road. He pulled the ham out of the chamber from the engender's father, saying that there was quite a few everything there, but not to forget the saw and the axe to take. My dog, Burek, the favourite I utilized to run with in the fields erstwhile I was a kid, he ate terrible. He was so upset, I thought he'd break off the chain and throw himself at those who came to hurt us. “Sworch” – a terrible word – heard and shot.”

The deportations carried out alleged NKVD operating triples, operating according to peculiar instructions. Each of the 3 had 2 or 3 families assigned to take out. Upon entering their homes, the officers announced the decision to decision out and then conducted a search for weapons. Then a registry of assets left by the exported was to be drawn up. The separate guidelines explained what the families could take with them: clothes, underwear, footwear, bed linen, tableware, monthly food, tiny economical tools, money and trunk needed for the packed possession. However, all instructions were valid only on paper. Deportees were ordered to pack in a large hurry, and stunned and terrified people frequently did not think logically. Many of them failed to take anything with them. In the memories of the deportees, there is frequently a message that much depended on the attitude of the officers. 1 of the sybires mentioned:

“Soldiers have ordered us not to object or to ask questions to pack the most needed things in 2 hours. [...] we moved in fear and sense of immense confusion.”

Another remembered that “when individual found a better soldier, even a small something was allowed to be taken. They didn't let us, we only had what we were wearing." 1 of these better soldiers, as 1 deportee recalls, “came up to his parent and pointed out the trunk standing next to him, he whispered “Take warm things for children”.

The exiles were waiting for a journey of up to a fewer weeks. In the cattle cars they drove, there were bunks, iron stoves, and alternatively of toilets – holes in the floor. No water, no hot meals, no medical care. lice and bugs spread rapidly in transports. There was a terrible squeeze, especially during the heat. These demeaning conditions of human dignity frequently resulted in the death of the weakest: the sick, the children, the elderly.

However, the journey was only the first act of the drama of the exiles. As shortly as they arrived, the housing conditions that were laid down by the deportees proved to be a shock.

"Two-level bunks were built along the walls of the barracks, about 2.5 m long and nearly 170 cm wide. On the 3 sides, they were darted [cut down] boards about 30 cm wide, forming a kind of crate without 1 side. It was a standard, most likely regulated by any top-down government regulations, the area of the home – a lair for 4 people. Families that were made up of 3 persons were accommodated by a single individual or individual in a household of five.”

– described Zbigniew Fedus, then under ten. Many of the exiles were housed in earthlings and leprosy, tight and practically unfit.

"It was so dirty. Walls unbleached, wiped out by clay, volleys filled with lice, and bugs in walls. On the first night we were so bugged and lice wrapped around and bitten that the youngest sister got fevers," 1 of the exiles recalled.

Read the article Magdalena Dzienis-Todorczuk, Marcin Markiewicz Wagona went east . Thing about russian deportations from 1940–1941 on the portal stophistory.pl



Angelika Blinda: "Famine overcomes fear". How Polish people were able to supply a household in Siberian exile
Between 1940 and 1941, thousands of Polish families left their homes as a consequence of mass deportations carried out by russian authorities in east Poland II. The ZSRS exported to the area had to face hunger, disease, and death.

“Our destiny has already been fulfilled”

For deported Poles, the minute of leaving the household home was the beginning of an unequal conflict for survival. Many of them, especially children and old people, did not endure the harsh conditions and died on the journey. Those who managed to last after reaching the site were located in stripes, collectives, and owls.

The common denominator seen in the accounts of people deported is the constant feeling of hunger. It changed people not only physically but besides mentally. The thoughts of the Siberians focused mainly on surviving another day, however, to make it possible to get something to eat for themselves and their loved ones.

In the most hard situation were the mothers of tiny children, especially newborns, due to the fact that they lost food due to malnutrition and exhaustion. Milk was not an easy available product. They tried to usage replacements – they were given to children to suck diluted honey, flour or buns, but in many cases they did not let them to be saved.

“How could mothers make surviving conditions, it is hard to know”

The basis of the food of the deportees was clay, black bread, which was at the same time – alongside the soup – a wage for the work done. Its allocation varied according to the region, employment and standards developed, and the portions received were not adequate to feed the full family.

Hard work, hunger, and illness led to advanced mortality rates for both children and adults. It was all day that mattered, so there were various ways of fighting poverty. any – if the chance was right for it – attempted to steal, thus risking beating, imprisonment, or even death. So those working in the stables stole animal food, especially potatoes and poppies, which could be chewed for a long time and not be hungry.

In writing about everyday life in Siberia and its problems, however, the function of women – wives, mothers and daughters – who tried to guarantee their close minimum existence as far as they could. This required large creativity, as well as cognition of local plants and how to prepare them. As a result, Sibirekas were able to prepare meals with a variety of products that were more or little satisfying their appetite and adding energy.

Read the article Angelika Blindy "Famine Overcome Fear". How Polish people were able to supply household life at Siberian exile on the portal stophistory.pl



Sabina Potochak: transportation to Siberia
When something happens, individual beats up, it's like I'm being beaten by an engender.

Today is the 50th anniversary of our katorga. I'll describe the shipment. Daddy was taken first. He did not have a good time to enter the house, and here already the NKVD officers took him. The others came in an hour.

They say, "Open up, or we'll knock the door down!

We opened it. There were 5 of them with guns. They ask where the father is. Mommy says they took him.

They to Mummy: – Tell the truth, or we will kill you!

We kids started crying. We were so scared. We saw our teacher killed. Her eyes were ripped out, her fingers cut off, and so they left by the road.

The next day, we went to sleep with the neighbors, the Wreckers, and we were there.

And here's the first at night, they knock and say, "Open up!

They ask where the Paradovians are.

They answer: – Paradovians are here.

We hear: – Dress up!

We thought they'd kill us due to the fact that they had guns. 2 cars pulled up. They wouldn't let us take anything, just what they were wearing and after 1 feather, due to the fact that the brother was small.

Little kids on cars, get in, and bigger kids on foot. Frost was minus 35 degrees. They drove us to cattle cars, packed a full wagon, and the pains stood and rushed us. erstwhile all the transport was loaded, they took us. Hungry. Cool. If they wanted, they threw us something and put a bucket of cold water. They've taken us six weeks to the Volgorod oozing. And then the Russians from the collective farm, erstwhile they recruited us, gave us a submarine. And they took us 2 weeks with these horses. They'd shove us into the pigsty for the night, and there'd be another submarines coming in the morning. Kids so tiny. If it's frozen, it's the enkavudist by the legs and into the snow like a dog threw away. That's how we got to the Krutaj Ospy.

There were terrible lagers. Very long. On the 1 hand, feeding and mossing and on the other. And through the mediate of the hallway. And small ovens. Cold, hungry and crying. They'd better kill us if we survive. We went to sleep. And in those bunks, the bugs and lice bit. The next day they called us to the cafeteria. They gave a small clay soup, almost all water. And an order on what to do. We gotta comply, or we won't get to eat.

They gave the children 10 sheets of bread each, those who worked got 20 and a small more of that soup. And let's get to work, in the woods. My eldest sister was 15. She got an axe and a saw. I want him to do it. And we, with our another sister, who was 12 years old, and I, 9 years old, and with us, an elder of the brothers, 7 years old, were to burn branches. The youngest brother was 5 years old. My moms put her in the kitchen to wash soup boilers and smoke in the oven. Cop soup rinds, too, that we're incorrect to have them in the morning. We got up at 1:00 a.m. And we went to the kitchen with Mommy. I had to light her up with a spruce bulb, due to the fact that there was no light. You cut your spruce sticks earlier and lit it on fire. erstwhile you walked into that cafeteria, rats were flying like cats. I kept crying due to the fact that I was so frightened of them. Then the Russian cooks came and cooked soup so people would eat something and into the woods. They were going back to those cold and scary camps for the evening. They smoked in the ovens, all night long, and the holes were in the walls through and through. They gave us our clothes out of bags. Get your feet out of the birch. erstwhile you came to the barracks, the legs were white. We've been rubbing them red, or they'll frost off. God, how did we last there?!
for:
https://ipn.gov.pl/en/history-z-ipn/137719,Deportations-Polakow-w-glab-Union-Soviet.html
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