Kazik Zając was born in Chorzów. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he was two and a half years old. The summer holidays of 1939 were the beginning of a dramatic odyssey for him, in which he lost his home, his parents and his homeland. The war catapulted him to the other side of the world, to New Zealand. At the end of his life, he was a man full of optimism, serenity and inner strength.

The interview was conducted as part of the project “Bolesław Augustis and Polish Siberian exiles in New Zealand. Query and digitisation of selected archives’ and was co-financed by the National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad ‘Polonica’ and the budget of the City of Białystok.

The project lasted from the 1^st of June to the 16^th of November 2023. It was implemented by the Widok Cultural Education Association, in partnership with the Sybir Memorial Museum and Polish organisations in New Zealand.