Władysława Chytła’s cross

1/09/2022

Stanisława Chytła’s cross. From the Sybir Memorial Museum collection

In September 1939 Władysława Chytła was 17 years old and had just finished the School of Industry and Commerce in Sanok. She went on holiday to Chernavchitsy near Brest-on-the-Bug, where her aunt, whose husband was a military settler, lived. When the Soviets entered, she could not return home as the Soviet-German border ran through Sanok. So, she took a job as a shop assistant. On 10 February 1940, together with her aunt and two cousins, she was deported to Siberia. She did not return to Sanok until 1946…

See also:

Odręczna laurka z orłem w kolorze w kolorze biało-czerwonym

Adolf Saraniecki’s name day card from Poles in Kozhavod, Kazakhstan

Greeting-card given to Adolf Saraniecki, delegate of the Polish Embassy in Semipalatinsk, by his countrymen from Koż-Zawod on June 17, 1942.

Dokument zapisany odręcznie ołówkiem w języku rosyjskim

List of items left by the Klein family on the day of deportation from Białystok, 1940

The Klein family was deported from Bialystok on April 13, 1940. Soviets made a list of items left by the family.

Na fotografii znajduje się centralnie ułożony aluminiowy krzyżyk niewielkich rozmiarów, należący do Władysławy Chytły

Władysława Chytła’s cross

In September 1939 Władysława Chytła was 17 years old and had just finished the School of Industry and Commerce in Sanok. She went on holiday to her family to Chernavchitsy near Brest-on-the-Bug. When the Soviets entered, she couldn’t return home. She was deported on February 1940.

Amelia Sieczko’s hair curler

How could a hair curler be useful to those deported to Siberia? Amelia Sieczko and her family were deported by the Soviets in February 1940 to the hamlet of Zielony Bor in the Vologda region, far north-east of Moscow. She probably grabbed the curler in a hurry and packed it away with many other rand

Renia Jackowska’s teddy bear

This teddy bear belonged to Renia Jackowska. Renia was only 7 years old when she was deported to Siberia with her mother, to the Irkutsk Oblast.

Na obrazku zegarek Walentego Jabłońskiego

Walenty Jabłoński’s watch

This inconspicuous, dilapidated watch was bought by 13-year-old Walenty Jabłoński at the end of the Second World War in a bazaar in Grodno. The Jabłoński family remained in the Eastern Borderlands after the war, and Walenty himself began to study medicine after completing secondary school. Howev

The Szrodecki family’s gorget with the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa

Since the 19th century, this gorget had belonged to the Szrodecki family, the owners of the Kożany estate in Podlasie. According to family history, the gorget was in Siberia for the first time with Konstanty Szrodecki, who was sent to Siberia for his participation in the January Uprising. With the

maszyna do szycia z napędem mechanicznym

A wonderful sewing machine belonging to the Sitarski Family

Years later, the Singer sewing machine became one of the symbols of the 1940–1941 deportations. Out of almost nothing, a skilful seamstress could use it to create miracles, which she might exchange for bread, medicine or warm clothing. Sometimes, however, bad luck or pure chance rendered the mac

Okładka albumu z tytułem: Zielnik Workuty

Flora of Vorkuta – The Herbarium of Piotr Adaś

In the collection of the Sybir Memorial Museum is a herbarium brought to Poland by Jozef Krypajtis. It consists of 102 pages and contains specimens of some 130 species of plants found in the vicinity of Vorkuta, ranging from seaweeds, fungi and mosses to seed plants. The full information in Polish i

Flora of Vorkuta – The Herbarium of Piotr Adaś

In the collection of the Sybir Memorial Museum is an herbarium brought to Poland by Jozef Krypajtis. It consists of 102 pages and contains specimens of some 130 species of plants found in the vicinity of Vorkuta, ranging from seaweeds, fungi and mosses to seed plants. The full information in Polish