Maria Prejzner with her children. From the Sybir Memorial Museum collection

The Prejzner family was deported on 10 February 1940 from the Ponikła forester’s lodge in the Białystok Forest District. They were sent to the Zlota Gorka hamlet in the Tayshetsky district of the Irkutsk region. Henryk Prejzner with his wife Maria, née Bakun, daughter Irena and son Andrzej were deported. Henryk, a forester by profession, initially worked felling trees in the taiga, loading them onto wagons and floating them down the river. After a few months, he became an assistant to a Russian forester in the administration of his district. After the amnesty was declared, the family moved to the Barnaul area. In 1942, Maria and her children settled in the village of Lebiazhka, while Henryk joined the newly formed General Anders’ Army. He also tried to get his wife and children to join him when leaving with the army. The documents to leave the USSR were to be delivered to Lebiazhka by a corporal, but on the way he sold them to another family. Maria and her children stayed in the USSR and Henryk departed with the army. On the back of a photograph taken in Lebiazhka in 1944, there is a dedication: “to dear Daddy in memory of our separation: Jędruś Irusia Maryśka.” The family reunited on 14 November 1947. Irena Prejzner recalls this day: “in November 1947, Daddy came back from his wartime tromp. We spent the day after his return with Daddy lying down and cuddling us in his strong, warm arms.”