Description
Object description
Polish schoolchild deported from Poland to Soviet Union, 2/1940-6/1941; private served with Polish Armed Forces in the East in Soviet Union and Iran, 1942
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Eastern Poland, 1926-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian in Poland, 9/1939: receiving first news of German invasion of Poland, 1/9/1939; arrival of evacuees from Western Poland onto his farm, 9/1939; troop movements on railway line between Wilno and Lwów; sight of Soviet Army troops entering Poland. Aspects of period as civilian in Poland, 9/1939-2/1940: Soviet authorities investigation of local farmers who served with Pilsudski Army in 1920, 11/1939; banning of Polish language in schools, 10/1939; relations between Poles and Ukranians in area; relations between different nationalities; start of deportations to Soviet Union, winter 1939-1940; father's plans to escape to central Poland. Aspects of deportation rom Poland to Soviet Union, 2/1940-3/1940: arrival of Soviet armed force at family farm, 10/2/1940; items family allowed to take from home, 10/2/1940; assembling of deportees in Dąbrowice, Poland.
REEL 2 Continues: settling down of families in train at Dąbrowice, Poland; change to Soviet rail gauge, Sarny, Poland. 2/1940; conditions on train journey through Soviet Union; nature of northward journey; arrival in Kotlas, Soviet Union, 2/1940; arrival in logging camp, 3/1940. Recollections of period as deportee in Soviet Union, 3/1940-6/1941: start of vitamin blindness amongst children; move to second larger logging camp; nature of logging work; education received in second camp; living conditions in camp; disintegration of shoes, summer 1940; collection of forest berries to counteract Avitaminosis; state of health of deportees.
REEL 3 Continues: death of deportees; lack of effect of Soviet propaganda line on Polish children in school; ex-prisoner status of camp commandant; change of attitude of Soviet authorities after German attack on Soviet Union, 6/1941 including slight improvement in food supply; announcement of Soviet-Polish agreement and that Poles could join an Polish Armed Forces in the East forming in the south of the Soviet Union. Recollections of journey to Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, 1941-1942 difficulties of Poles in leaving Archangel region to head south; financing journey by selling valuables; work on cotton farm and hospitality of local Uzbeks; how his brother got temporarily lost on journey. Aspects of period as cadet with Polish Armed Forces in the East in Soviet Union and Iran, 1942: joining army cadets; contracting dysentery in Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
REEL 4 Continues: journey whilst suffering from dysentery from Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union to Pahlevi, Iran; contrast in conditions between Soviet Union and Iran; issue of British battledress to Polish forces; problems of regaining health in Iran, 1942; recovery with aid of Royal Army Medical Corps doctor in Tehran, Iran.