The names of the kids visible in this photograph will probably be very difficult to deciphered.

The names of the kids visible in this photograph will probably be very difficult to deciphered.

In 1915, during the so-called beshenstvo, the Russians relocated about 3 million people deep into the Empire. In the orphanage in Fastovo in the Kiev Governorate were, among others, children from Ciechanowiec (now Podlaskie Voivodeship). The first on the left in the middle row is Julia Szczepańska. The first on the left in the top row is her brother Aleksander. Sitting in the middle with a book in her hands is their tutor, Genowefa Łostowska from Warsaw.

The Szczepański family (Aleksander with his wife Joanna and seven children), while escaping to the east, managed to stay in Ukraine among Poles who helped families with many children. Julia and Aleksander were placed in an orphanage in Fastovo. In 1917, the family managed to return to Ciechanowiec. With whom else did Julia and Aleksander stay in the Fastovo orphanage?