Prior to the outbreak of war, the Rzędzian family had lived in the village of Sawino near Tykocin, in the Białystok Voivodeship. After 17 September 1939, the village found itself under Soviet occupation. In April 1940 the Soviets deported Wincenty Rzędzian, his wife Filomena, and their six children—Marta, Józef, Dominik, Alfons, Jadwiga, and Tadeusz—to Siberia. Their two eldest sons stayed in Poland: Piotr with his family, and Kazimierz. The Rzędzian family ended up in Biysk in Altai Krai. They made attempts to maintain contact with their relatives in Poland by the sending of letters addressed to Zofia Frączak. Each item of correspondence bore the note: “For the Rzędzians.” Zofia Frączak was Piotr Rzędzian’s sister-in-law and worked at the post office in Tykocin, which granted her access to the incoming mail. The Rzędzians also kept in touch with the help of people who returned from exile to Poland. This was how they tried to send home a family photograph from Siberia. Dominik Rzędzian made mention of this in a letter to his brothers, written on 9 September 1945: “On 4 September ’45, several families left here—I mean, from Biysk—so we handed one lady the group photograph, so that she could pass it on to you. This lady comes from Bielsk Podlaski. You surely must have received it already. Dad is the only one missing from the photo, because he didn’t want to be photographed.”