There was a time when large numbers of Poles in the Soviet Union lost their lives simply because of their origin and surname. One of the elements of the “Great Terror” unleashed by Stalin in 1937-1938 was the so-called “Polish Operation”, in which NKVD officers, on suspicion of espionage, mu

On 23 July 1920, the first ship from Vladivostok with Polish children evacuated from Siberia arrived in Tsuruga, Japan. By 1922, a total of more than 700 kids had arrived in the Land of the Cherry Blossom. Their first stops were the cities of Tsuruga and Osaka.

Volunteer Polish units in Siberia began to organise as early as the turn of 1917/1918.

On 31 October 1906 Marian Malinowski set off, as he himself put it, “on a journey into the unknown at government expense.”

On 12 February 1833, Aleksander Czekanowski was born in Krzemieniec in Volhynia. He trained as a geologist, but was not given the freedom to pursue his career as he was sent to Siberia at the age of 30 for taking part in the January Uprising.

“Poles! The hour of vengeance has come. Today die or prevail! Let us go, and let your breasts be Thermopylae for your enemies!”