Welcome to Jan Birkner. Family from Kresy (pre-WW1 Galicia), deported to
both Siberia and Kazakhstan (in 1940-41, I presume).
Jan, to get a quick primer on this (more like "drinking from a fire hose")
please visit our associated site www.AForgottenOdyssey.com and check out the
links page. The history of the 1.7 million Poles deported to Russia and the
Soviet Union for forced labour and death is a shocking and little-recognised
one. That's why our motto is "research, remembrance, recognition".
Again, welcome!
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From: JCBSERV@...
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 18:51:56 EDT
Dear Stefan,
Someone on either the Russian or one of the Polish lists suggested that I join
this group, since my grandmother's family was sent to Siberia. Strangely
enough, my grandfather's family was also sent to the camps, but they went to
Kazakhstan! What a bunch!! No wonder NOBODY in the world knows anything about
either of them!
I have been doing genealogy for about 19 years, researching in Poland,
Ukraine, Prussia , and Denmark, as well as MA and NJ in the US. My heritage
is Polish back to about the 1700s, when a small group of Germans came to
Poland to settle. One of them became a Roman Catholic and married a Polish
girl. All of the rest of my family are from Poland, as far back as I can
find, anyway. Some were in Eastern Galicia, which is now western Ukraine, so
I have been looking there as well. My husband's ancestors are mostly Danish,
except for his maternal grandmother, who was born out of wedlock in East
Prussia. She was given her mother's name, Ewert, and later, her father and
mother married, and had a son.
One of my living cousins was sent to Siberia as a child. She, her parents and
her 2 younger sisters. Her sisters both died, but she and her parents
survived, and came to the US in the 50's some time. I remember her arrival,
but not the year. Of course, at the time, I didn't know the significance of
the phrase, Displaced Person! I spoke with her about 3 years ago, about her
experiences. She said she was only a child then, and children don't really
realize what is going on around them. She had no clear memories of the camps.
Except that when they were released, they were afraid to go back to their
home, and afraid to go deeper into Poland, so they WALKED to Iran. From
there, they ended up in England, and somehow contacted my dad, who worked for
Gdynia America line at the time, and he arranged for their their emigration to
the US.
Jan Birkner
