On Friday evening, January 10, 2025, the annual New Year’s gathering was held. Among the invited guests were representatives of the Białystok community of Sybiraks, as well as friends of the Museum and representatives of the city.
The guests were welcomed by Professor Wojciech Śleszyński, Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum:
“I would like to warmly welcome you to the Sybir Memorial Museum to the first, already traditional New Year’s meeting. This is a special time when we can sum up the past year and look to the future with hope. First of all, I would like to wish you, may this upcoming year be full of health, peace, joy and may it bring you many opportunities to meet with yours families and friends.”
Marek Tyszkiewicz – deputy chair of Białystok Municipality Council and Jolanta Hryniewicka – president of the Białystok branch of the Association of Siberian Deportees also took the floor wishing everyone a happy new year.
The joint evening began with a play entitled “Orphanage” (Act I) („Sierociniec” Akt I) performed by the Słudzy Jej Królewskiej Mości Theatre Group, directed by Piotr Klinger. The play, in which children played the main part, was an extremely moving story about the fate of Polish orphans saved by Hanka Ordonówna – one of the stars of the pre-war stage. The story transported the audience to 1941, when after the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement was signed, thousands of children left the places of forced settlement in Siberia. Many of them were taken into care by Ordonówna, who looked after them in a Polish orphanage, and soon together they left the USSR and went to Ashgabat. The play was enriched with live music and the beautiful play of light. The audience had the opportunity to listen to soulful melodies from the pre-war period. The music not only emphasized emotional moments, but also played a key role in driving the plot’s tension and narrative. The young artists’ performances were met with appreciation and emotion from the audience, especially from Sybiraks, for whom it was some kind of time travel to painful but important memories.
After the play, Józef Panasiuk, a Sybirak, spoke and told the audience that his story was very similar to the one presented in the performance.
“And yes, I am reminded of all of this. I don’t know how many Poles from orphanages remained, but I am a representative of those Polish orphans there in Siberia.”
The meeting ended with gathering, during which the guests had the opportunity to talk sharing their impressions and emotions after watching the performance.
