Photo: Janina Perwenis (left) with her friends, after 1939. From the Sybir Memorial Museum collection.

Jasia Andruszkiewicz (née Perwenis) was 13 years old when she and her family were deported by the Soviets from Maciejkowa Góra in the Białystok region to the Chelyabinsk region. After two years, the family moved to Kazakhstan. They returned to Poland in May 1946.

“The whole family was deported from Maciejkowa Góra. There were five children: Maria, Stefania, Janina, Czesław and Henryk. And then there were the parents, mum and dad. And the whole family was deported (…). It was in February 1940. A Soviet soldier came. First thing in the morning. It was still dark. A knock at the door. My parents opened the door (…), and the sleigh had already been laid out in front of the house. For it was winter. 40 degrees of frost. So, they told us to get dressed. They told us to take what we could and that they would take us somewhere (…). This military man was a very decent man. He told us what to take. He told us to take plenty of food so that the children would not starve. The youngest brother was 4 years old at the time (…). Mum was at a loss what to pack. The neighbours came and helped. They knew where everything was. They also packed things that could later be sold. There was lots of stuff, but the military officer didn’t mind us taking more than we could (…). He also let me and my brother say goodbye to the other children in the village (…). They took us by sleigh. On the way we slept one night in some school, but I do not remember the name of the place (…). The next day they loaded us into wagons straight away. The wagons stood on the tracks, kind of like cattle wagons.”