In June, two major deportation operations took place, in 1940 and 1941, targeting citizens of the Second Polish Republic. During the latter, the Białystok region suffered particularly heavily. Every fourth Polish citizen deported during this operation came from our region.

The main commemorative ceremony was held at the Monument-Grave of the Unknown Sybirak. The memory of the deportees was also honoured at the Memorial to the Polish Golgotha of the East and at the Monument of the Sybirak Mother, located in front of the Sybir Memorial Museum.

Among those attending were Michał Gąsowski, Deputy Voivode of Podlaskie Province; Wiesława Burnos, Deputy Marshal of the Podlaskie Voivodeship; Rafał Rudnicki, Deputy Mayor of Białystok; representatives of the uniformed services; delegations from public offices and institutions; and, above all, Sybiraks themselves.

Jolanta Hryniewicka, Chair of the Białystok Branch of the Association of Sybiraks, spoke about the importance of preserving the memory of the deportations:

“We must remember these deportations; they continued even into the 1950s. Many people died during the journey. They were thrown from the railway wagons without a cross, without a grave, and that was the hardest thing for those who continued travelling into the unknown,” she recalled.

To mark the 86th anniversary of the mass deportations, the Sybir Memorial Museum prepared a special commemorative programme. It included the educational workshop “They Came at Dawn” and a guided tour of the permanent exhibition “That Summer, We Were Taken from Our Homes”, dedicated to the deportations of June 1940 and 1941. 

In this way, we strive not only to remember the events of the past but, above all, to pass this memory on to future generations.