Photographs documenting the lives of deportees in Sybir are rare, as merely owning a camera in the Soviet Union was dangerous, and developing film under such conditions was extremely difficult. Nevertheless, some deportees who returned to Poland managed to bring back a few photographs. Most of these images show people engaged in hard physical labour. Although many faces appear to be smiling, it’s important to remember that these images were often taken with the intention of sending them to loved ones – “to lift their spirits”. Photographs showing suffering from hunger, disease, or exhaustion could never have passed Soviet censorship, which is why we do not see such scenes. At times, the only remaining testimony to the true experience of life in Sybir is a solitary grave in the snow…
1954, Igarka, Krasnoyarsk Krai, USSR. Marking logs floating down the Yenisei River. Genowefa Żytowt is first from the left. Photo: unknown author, collection of the Oral History Archive of the KARTA Center and the History Meeting House. Provided by Genowefa Żytowt as part of the “KARTA with Poles in the East” project (record reference: AHM_PnW_2566).1955–1957, Vorkuta, Komi ASSR, USSR. The grave of a deportee in the tundra. Photo by Eugeniusz Cydzik. Provided by Eugeniusz Cydzik as part of the “KARTA with Poles in the East” project.1949, Bultusuk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, USSR. Logging work. Inscription on the back: “Bultusuk, office workers and foremen, year 1949.” Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center.May 1941, settlement of Kajgorodek, Komi ASSR, USSR. Poles deported to the USSR working on timber rafting on the Sysoyla River. On the raft, first on the right: Wanda Radomska (née Danicka, with an axe); the others are Wacław Musiał, Aniela Wojtas, and Anna Obertacka. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Wanda Radomska.May 1940, Ujska Ferma, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR, USSR. Poles deported to Kazakhstan in front of a dugout. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.1941, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR, USSR. A group of Poles in front of “kizyak” (fuel made from dried manure). Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.1941, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR. Deported Poles in the steppe. In the centre is the foreman, Edward Kulczycki (who died of typhus in 1942 in Uzbekistan as a soldier in the 2nd Corps). From the left: Janina “Musia” Piętnicka, Zemła (first name unknown), his daughter-in-law Pelagia, two unknown Russian women, Zofia Wandurska (bent over and partially obscured), an unknown person, Irena Jacyszyn, Lucyna (Lusia) Piętnicka, Jacyszynowa, and another unknown person. Photo taken secretly by a photographer from a regional newspaper in 1941. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.Summer 1941, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR, USSR. A Polish (?) brigade with a camel, Jaszka. Holding the camel is Musia Piętnicka; her sister Lusia sits on the sled, with Russian women beside and in front of her. Standing from the left: an unknown person, Irka Jacyszyn, Zemła (holding a rake), Jacyszynowa, Zofia Wandurska (with a hoe on her shoulder), another unknown person, and Edward Kulczycki. The photograph was likely taken in the summer of 1941 by a reporter from the newspaper Leninkty żoł or Stalinkty żoł. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.1941, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR, USSR. Winter at the Molotov “Central” (1941/1942). Aniela Najwer, Ewa Najwer, Janina Kaczorowska. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.1942, Molotov Sovkhoz, Kazakh SSR, USSR. In Bajgar, part of the Molotov Sovkhoz. From the left, standing: Zofia Wandurska, Andrzej Wandurski, Janina Kaczorowska, Ewa Najwer, Aniela Najwer. On the horizon, the tanks of the sovkhoz’s oil depot are visible. Photo taken in the spring of 1942. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Andrzej Wandurski.1942, Jurginsky District, Omsk Oblast, USSR. Poles deported to the USSR. Mieczysław Rozner is standing first from the left. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Danuta Pawyza. 1950s, Krasnoyarsk Krai, USSR. Deportees at work. First from the left: Weronika Boguszewicz Mirowska, deported from Oszmiany County. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Danuta Miłobędzka. 1950s, Shyroka Zagatovka (?), Krasnoyarsk Krai, USSR. Work in the taiga. Weronika Boguszewicz Mirowska, deported from Oszmiany County, is standing on the left. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center. Provided by Danuta Miłobędzka.20 March 1942, Maukent, Kazakhstan, USSR. Kyrgyz people in front of a house. Photo by Zygmunt Klemensiewicz/KARTA [ref. A 23]. 20 March 1942, Maukent, Kazakhstan, USSR. Kyrgyz man. Photo by Zygmunt Klemensiewicz/KARTA [ref. A25a].20 March 1942, Maukent, Kazakhstan, USSR. Crossing the river. Photo by Zygmunt Klemensiewicz, collection of the KARTA Center [ref. A 26].1940, Settlement 45 – Pierierożdienie, Sierovsk District, Sverdlovsk Oblast, USSR. The first meals being cooked outside the family house. Photo by Bolesław Pełczyński, collection of the KARTA Center, family album provided by Włodzimierz Pełczyński. 1940, Settlement 45 – Pierierożdienie, Sierovsk District, Sverdlovsk Oblast, USSR. The Pełczyński family and their neighbour’s daughter in front of their house. Photo: unknown author, collection of the KARTA Center, family album provided by Włodzimierz Pełczyński.1940, Settlement 45 – Pierierożdienie, Sierovsk District, Sverdlovsk Oblast, USSR. Deportees, workers at the Timber Point. Photo by Bolesław Pełczyński, collection of the KARTA Center, family album provided by Włodzimierz Pełczyński.
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