大象传媒

This is a story of a Polish family that spans the whole of the twentieth century. It presents a tale of ordinary people who are caught up in some of the most important events that have punctuated that century's history, and is therefore a reflection upon it.

The death of my mother and the demise of the Soviet Union compelled me to visit my homeland on a quest to discover my father's final resting place after he diappeared without a trace in January 1940. Unfortunatelymy investigations were not crowned with success. What I did discover over the course of this poignant return to the place of my birth in Belarus (which at that time was part of Poland) were a number of small clues and snippets of gossip I could only grasp at. These "Straws in the Wind" would be the only things left to enable me to reconstruct the most likely events following my father Leon Krajewski's disappearance. The most likely scenario was in fact that the local communist thugs murdered him and then, to cover their tracks, told my mother that father was under arrest.

Determined not to allow my parents' sacrifices to fade away into the mists of time, I resolved to do two things; firstly to erect a suitable monument in my father's memory on the site where he himself had made a gravestone for two of his own children - my sisters (they had died in infancy), and secondly to tell the Krajewski's story - a tale of incredible brushes with death, constant upheaval, selfpreservation and true love.

My story is set against the background of current political events of the day - all of which had direct influence on the fate of my family. The story starts with the birth of my father just before the turn of the century.

Leon Krajewski was born and brouht up in the Eastern Part of Poland under the yoke of the Russian Invader. The advent of the First World War provide a long awaited opportunity for Poles to re-gain their Independence. It is worth noting that; for Poles the war was a rather different affair to the one experienced by the Western Powers like England or America. Dates were different as well were their aims - and their enemies. Leon, a committed patriot, went to war as a young man and fully participated in the re-establishment of the Polish free and Independent State. What followed were years of arduous re-construction to reverse the effects of many decades of Russification in the Polish Eastern Borderlands. Again, Leon was an active participant in this process. Meanwhile, he fell in love and married a local girl Konstancja, and started building a family life of his own.

Unfortunately, the time preordained for Poland's recovery was short. After only twenty years, in 1939 Poland again became the stage for the Theatre of War. This time it was the Second World War - or more appropriately dubbed by some as the Second Part of the First Worl War. Again, like the First World War, the Polish viewpoint was very different compared to that of the Western Powers. Most people outside of Central Europe always think of the Enemy during the Second World War as Hitler's Germany. In the case of Poland, and in particular its Eastern Regions where the Krajewski family lived, the Enemy was indisputably the Soviet Union.

The development of my family and its fortunes were to be abruptly cut short at the begining of 1940. My father was taken from his home by the Communists and promptly disappeared, his whereabouts shrouded in mystery. Within the next few weeks, Konstancje, my mother, and her four young children (I being one of them) who were left to fend for themselves, were deported to Siberia.

The events that followed included journeys to the far reaches of the Globe and involved starvation, illness and death. What is remarkable is, that viewed through my eyes as a child, most events that would be regarded by adults with horror, were seen by me as fascinating adventures. Conversly, my moments of fear and despair were those of a child and not those of an adult and involved separation from my mother. In spite of all the terrible experiences, depravation and suffering,I feel no sense of grievance, anguish or even hatred for the Nation that was the cause of my misfortune. On the contrary, insted of seeking vengeance, I acknowledge that most of the people involved were also the victims of the System. Instead, I feel a sense of camaraderie and compassion for my fellow Slavs - the Russians.

As was mentioned earlier, the Krajewski family was deported to the frozen North of Russia for the purpose of slave labour. In the normal course of events, after making their contribution to the Glory of the Soviet System, they were destined to expire and die of starvation, exhaustion, cold, disease por a combination of all of them. The unfolding international political events however began to turn around in due course. For the first time in what seemed like an age, fortune seemed to be on the side of my family. After a year and a half, Stalin's Russia found itself at war with its hitherto ally the German Reich. The Polish Head of Government in Exile, General Sikorski struck a deal with Stalin enabling most Poles to leave Russia. This would allow Poles to be mobilised and used to fight Stalin's new Enemy.

News of the Amnesty eventually filtered through to the Siberian camps and Polish families, my own included, and many embarked on a long and hazardous journey southwards. What followed for us was a period in Kazakhstan. Life continued to be harsh although there were some signs of activity by the emerging Polish Authorities. One example was a kindergarden organised by the Polish Authorities. I had the good fortune to be placed in this safe haven by my mother with my youngest sister. Soon in the surrounding Kazakh settlements epidemics of typhus started rageng. My mother as well as my brother and my eldest sister fell victims of the disease, but luckily, recovered. There was every possibility that , were it not for the kindergarden which was free of the disease, I as an undernourished child would have fallen victim to to this plague and not be here to tell this tale.

As time progressed Polish Army units were formed and one byone transported across the Caspian Sea to Persia (these days known as Iran). These eventually formed the Polish 2nd Corps which fought in the Middle East, Africa and Italy as part of the British 8th Army.

Some Polish families were allowed to follow, the Krajewskis being one of them. Some were lefrt behind and never managed to cross to the other side of the Iron Curtain. Today, they and their descendants form a series of |Polish communoties in parts of the old Soviet Union. For us, the lucky ones, was a series of journeys across Persia and the Sub-continent of India, coming to rest in a large Polish refugee camp in India near Poona.

Still together with the rest of my family, to my mother's credit, I arrived in England in 1948.

I hope that through this story, people like Leon Krajewski and their families will not be forgotten, and that some small celebration of their lives and their endirancethroughout that turbulent and difficult century, can live on and serve as an insiration to others.

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