Amelia Sieczko’s hair curler

1/09/2022

The photo shows a metal object in the shape of scissors

Amelia Sieczko’s hair curler. From the Sybir Memorial Museum collection

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 random items. Was it of any use to her at the kolkhoz or the logging site? It certainly helped Amelia in one very important way: in the inhuman Soviet world, it allowed her to preserve the remnants of her humanity.

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Amelia Sieczko’s hair curler

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