extracts
In June 1941 the news broke that the Germans had declared war on the Soviets. In July the Sikorski-Majski agreement was signed concerning Poles deported to or imprisoned in this horrible country. Of course the happiness was overwhelming, but how was one to get out from the Siberian taiga to the south of the country, where the Polish army was being formed? Boys of military age set off first. My father, to whom energy returned, began to take care of matters connected with departure and the confirmation of our freedom. A reserve of provisions was assembled. We set about acquiring sledges, on which we could load what remained of our possessions and Milunia wrapped up well against the cold. Families in groups began to depart. And so we set off as well, though we didn't fly out as daddy had predicted, rather did we trudge on foot the 200 kms to Kotlas - that being the nearest railway station. Of course the journey was very strenuous. In two separate places we came across political prisoners in the Gulag. What a fate for these people - one's heart bled for them. Despite its being winter, they wore only rags, and tatters, their feet bound in rags their hands frost-bitten. In conversation one could easily recognise that these were educated people. What was absolutely certain was, that none of them would ever emerge from that place, because their sentences stretched from 30 to 40 years. They were building roads and, because they had lorries, on both occasions they gave us lifts on these vehicles for as far as they could.
False Freedom
RÓZENA GORDON (REICH)
Osada Szwolezerów, District Równe