Description
Object description
Polish civilian deported from Poland to Soviet Union, 2/1940-3/1942; refugee in Iran, 1942
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Poland, 1924-1939: family; education; national character of different peoples in Wolyn Voidvoidship of Eastern Poland. Aspects of period as civilian in Poland, 1939-1940: start of Second World War and entry of Soviet Union into war, 17/9/1939; removal of father and his imprisonment by Soviet authorities, 10/1939; fate of father in Sarny Prison, 1939; dispossession of family by Soviet authorities; reaction of authorities to her attempt to obtain a teaching post, 12/1939; how she managed to obtained teaching role; news of mass deportations of Poles to Soviet Union. Recollections of deportation from Poland to Soviet Union, 2/1940-4/1942: lack of time to prepare for deportation, 2/1940; start of train journey to Soviet Union, 2/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: act of kindness from Soviet soldier during train journey; end of train journey at Kotlas; what Soviet villagers told deportees about absence of shops, 2/1940; dropping off of Polish deportees in forest; organisation of logging work; allocation to teaching role; pressure on her to teach atheism and glorification of Joseph Stalin; alternatives to forest work; reasons for poor rewards for forest work; obtaining cleaning job; methods of surviving harsh conditions; co-operating with Soviets to obtain concessions.
REEL 3 Continues: effects of summer weather in taiga; commandant's order that no one was to be beaten; how two men were caught escaping from camp; threat of vitamin deficiency; news of Sikorski-Maisky Agreement after 22/6/1941; reasons why ten per cent was docked from earnings; building of rafts to convey deportees to Kotlas, 9/1941; arrival in Kotlas, 10/1941; train journey from Kotlas to Tashkent; orders in Tashkent to work on cotton growing collective farms; selection of workers; unsuccessful attempt to find work in town in Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic; escape from being forced to be a concubine in Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic; starting cotton picking work in Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
REEL 4 Continues: conditions for family in Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, 1942; news of Polish Army presence at Guzar; aid received from Polish NCOs; death of mother Natalia Jarmulska from starvation at Guzar, 16/2/1942; fight with Collective authorities to take possession of mother's body, 2/1942; corpses awaiting burial at Guzar; work as secretary with Polish orphanage; removal of orphanage to Krasnovodsk on Caspian Sea; fear of being left behind in Soviet Union. Aspects of period as refugee in Iran, 1942: voyage to Pahlevi, 3/1942; reception at Pahlevi; removal of lice; background to finding uncle, 4/1942; dispersal of orphans from Iran to other countries; background to becoming a student at American University of Beirut in Lebanon until 1948. Aspects of period as civilian in Poland, 1939-1940: entry of Soviet Army into Eastern Poland, 17/9/1939.
REEL 5 Continues: what Soviet authorities told Polish population, 9/1939-10/1939; theft of property by local militia; elimination of potential leaders; hearing later confession of Communist propagandist in Soviet Union about his role in Soviet Union.