Helena Krycka was deported by the Soviets in September 1946 to the Komi ASRS from Friedland in Prussia, where the Germans had sent her for collaboration with the Home Army. As an ‘enemy of the people’, a Soviet court sentenced her to 10 years in gulags with no right to return to her country and no right to receive letters. She worked in labour camps Kniazhpogost, Kotlas, Mezhog, Inta, Lemju. In March 1955, after finishing her sentence, she was sent to Inta in the Soviet Republic of Komi. She was only able to return to Poland when the ‘thaw’ in the USSR took hold.
The photograph depicts two unrecognised women, Helena Krycka’s colleagues, perhaps co-inmates in one of the camps where she was held? On the back of the photograph is a dedication: ‘In memory of our dear Helena, memories of the far north. Vercia and Marysia 17 III 1955’. Who are Vercia and Marysia? What draws attention is the modest elegance of the two women and their careful hairstyles. Could it be that the photograph was already taken in the wild?