On Sunday, September 14, as part of the upcoming 86th anniversary of the Soviet aggression against Poland and World Sybirak Day, a special guided tour of the permanent exhibition was held, featuring the presence of the Sybiraks themselves.
This year, visitors had the opportunity to hear the moving stories of Józef Panasiuk and Julia Jabłońska.
In the room dedicated to life in exile, Józef Panasiuk, born in 1934 in Dolsk, Polesia, recounted how, in February 1940, he and his nine-member family were deported to Noszul in the Komi Autonomous Republic, where he soon lost his mother and three siblings to typhus.
“We, the youngest children, were taken from the camps to Russian diet domy (orphanages). I stayed there with my brother and youngest sister,” he recalled.
His father, along with the two eldest children, left the USSR with Anders’ Army and later died in Italy. Józef Panasiuk returned to Poland in June 1946. In 1954, he left the orphanage and moved to Białystok, where he still lives today and remains an active member of the Association of Sybiraks.
Next, Julia Jabłońska, born in 1952 in Kazakhstan, shared her story. Her parents, Bolesław Jabłoński and Stanisława Witwicka, like thousands of Polish families, were resettled to Kazakhstan in 1936, following the liquidation of the Julian Marchlewski Polish National District (in the Ukrainian SSR).
“An earthen house – some of you may know what it looks like – has no foundations. The walls were built directly on the ground with a makeshift roof, and there was no floor. I was born in such an earthen house,” she said.
Julia Jabłońska completed her schooling in Kazakhstan and later graduated from university in Russia. She returned to Poland with her sister and mother only in 2005. Today, she lives in Białystok and is an active member of the Association of Sybiraks.
Listening to eyewitness testimonies is always a deeply moving experience. The memories of individual people remind us that history is, above all, a story about human lives.
We sincerely thank our dear Sybiraks for their time and for sharing their personal experiences with our guests. We also thank everyone who joined us for this touching lesson in history.
