extracts
Mother and we children remained at home until 10th February 1940, but during all this period we endured frequent visits from different Ukrainian gangs who robbed us of everything we had possessed. Before our departure just one cow was left. In the very early hours of that morning we were taken from home to the school, which served as a collecting point, and from there to the railway station in Luboml. Here we were loaded onto cattle trucks and taken on a three-week journey into the unknown, literally until the rail track ran out. The rest of the way to our destination - posiolek Seregda - we completed, on foot, through very deep snow. This meandering lasted over another two weeks. It's true that there were a few small horses with sledges, but these were reserved for the weak. Easter occurred as we journeyed and to this day I can see an elderly couple treading through the deep snow, their prayer books in their hands and singing the Easter hymn, 'Today, for us, a joyful day has dawned'. That moved us to tears. Both of them died in the posiolek, which we reached in the second half of March 1940. There we began a completely new existence. We all worked at felling trees and, in season, floating wood down the river, the name of which I don't remember, but it flows into the Dvina. Because I was under age and physically very feeble I was employed in the nursery with a few children in my care.
Journey into Exile
WLADYSLAWA KOWZAN (PRZYBYLSKA)
Osada Sztun - Luboml