大象传媒

This is my mothers story. Her and her family lived in the Ukraine. Her parents had moved there after the 1st world war. At the time it was part of Poland. They propsered, there were 8 children. My grandfather was a great deal older than my grandmother. He had gone to America in 1905 but returned in time for the first world war. In 1940 some political action had taken place between Germany and Russia and consequently all Polish people living in the Ukraine were to be resettled. One very cold February morning some Russian solidiers turned up at the farm. My grandmother Zofia had been baking bread. They arrived wiht a large sleigh, it had been snowing heavily. They were all told to pack their bags and leave. They were not unkind, and my mother at one point had the opportunity to leave, but she stayed with them. She always remembered the bread slowly rising, and dollops falling on the floor. They left the farm, the animals, and were taken to the nearby railway station. Hundreds were already there, the old, the young, herded onto cattle trucks, on to bunks, just a hole for a toilet. The journey took weeks. Babies and old people died first. My grandmother, quite an heroine, kept order and looked after them all. My mother, the eldest girl, looked after the little ones. Eventually, they arrived in Siberia, a small village called Zapodney. They were given a hut, a cow, some land and were set to work chopping trees. Many died then, there was no training, no proper shoes, just an axe and a saw. It was awful. Somehow, the strongest survived against the odds. The winters were long and dropped to 40 below zero. The summers short sharp and sweet. After three years of living there, they were abruptly told they could leave. General Anders a Polish soldier had negotiated with the Russians and they were free. But to go where? My mother and her father wanted to stay. Eerybody was very worried by what could possibly be ahead. As a family they had to stay together so they chose to go They could not go back. Poland had been ravaged by the Germans. Eventually they did leave and the real adventure began.

Trains were set up for them to go south where they had heard that a Polish army was being set up. As the train sped south, the weather became much warmer, and the forests of Siberia were left behind. They entered the flat plains of central asia. The train eventually stopped at Tashkent, with its gold minarets and history of Genghis Khan. They were told to get off the train, and the refugees were hustled off into the town. They had very little food, apart from what they had brought with them from Siberia. By now they were travel stained and weary. They spent 3 weeks sleeping in the boulevards of Tashkent, constantly being harassed by the police, made to move on and always at risk of being worried and worse. The authorities in Tashkent were desperate to get rid of them and eventually another train was brought forth and again they were all hustled onto it. (to be continued...........)

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