9 months, 74 people, 15,000 km of route, 15 stages — these numbers summarize the bicycle race entitled JednoŚladami Andersa. We had the opportunity to host its participants during another meeting at the Sybir Memorial Museum. No wonder the meeting was held in May due to the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino.

JednoŚladami Andersa is a travel project that involves riding a bike relay following the route of General Anders’ army, which had been formed in the Orenburg Oblast in the middle course of the Volga River since 1941. The project has been initiated and is organized by participants of the Bike Jamboree, i.e. a world bike relay that took place from 2017 to 2019 with the organizational support of the World Jamboree Foundation and the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association.

The Sybir Memorial Museum also contributed to the organization of this undertaking — Piotr Popławski, PhD, Head of the Department of Educational and Cultural Projects, supported the organizers at the planning stage by sharing his historical knowledge.

The participants began their extraordinary journey on November 12, 2022, in Astana, Kazakhstan. They then traveled through the countries that are part of the route of General Anders’ army: Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. The next point on the map was Taranto in southern Italy. In mid-May 2023, the excursion participants took part in the anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Monte Cassino. The relay also visited Edinburgh, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The finale took place on July 8, 2023, simultaneously in two locations: Edinburgh and Gdańsk.

“It was a great adventure for all of us, but also the commemoration of what General Anders did 80 years ago. It was not only a historical adventure, but also intellectual and physical one, because we covered the entire route on bicycles. The most challenging part of organizing this project was logistics, including planning the entire route,” said one of the organizers and participants of the excursion, Zbigniew Popowski, during the meeting.

The challenge was not only moving to the various points of the route, but also passing the bicycles and the symbolic relay baton to the next teams.

“The largest gathering of participants was in Milan, where our relay got separated, and instead of one, this time two batons set off: one went to the East, and the other to the West. This passing of the baton is a kind of bloodstream of all our projects,” Zbigniew explained.

During the meeting, the participants emphasized that a very important part of the project was the historical aspect.

“We drove with a strong historical mission. Based on Norman Davies’ book ”Trail of Hope” and in collaboration with the Sybir Memorial Museum, who later also became the event’s patron, we designed our route so it was as comparable as possible to the one traveled by Anders’ Army soldiers. We tried to follow this route and find places of remembrance. This was our main task,” said Dorota Limontas.

Those, who took part in the excursion managed to reach about 130 places of remembrance. They visited, among others, cemeteries where they found monuments dedicated to the soldiers of Anders’ Army, and burial sites of Poles who died on their way to Monte Cassino.

“All the monuments, cemeteries, plaques in churches, chapels, and other places, we labelled them in particular. This was our idea of a history lesson,” said Dorota. Among all the historical places, the Monte Cassino cemetery impressed us the most. We saw Polish eagles and flags there. These were incredible encounters with history.

The participants of JednośladamiAndersa came across wonderful people along their journey, who turned out to be extremely kind, helpful, and hospitable. They also managed to meet members of the Polish diaspora, for instance, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as participants of the Battle of Monte Cassino.

“There are, of course, very few living veterans of the battle, so all these meetings were, the more valuable to us. We got to meet, for example, Major Stosław Kowalski, who turned 102 years old. Mr. Stosław was one of the first to climb Monte Cassino. During the relay, we also organized a meeting with Marta, the daughter of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński,” said Zbigniew Popowski.

“We had the most meetings with descendants of General Anders’ Army soldiers in Great Britain. We were welcomed with open arms. We managed to visit many places, talk to many people, and listen to very interesting stories,” added Dorota.

During the expedition, along the entire length of it, the participants visited not only historical places, but also tourist attractions. Every kilometer was an opportunity to see something interesting. The expedition was also associated with traveling in different weather conditions. Some parts of the relay were ridden in -25 degrees, others in heat or rain. There were also various malfunctions, such as a flat tire.

“Indeed, there were many challenges during the excursion. For me, the biggest one was coordinating and motivating the participants to keep going,” said Zbigniew with a smile.

People of different ages participated in the relay. The youngest participant was 14 years old, and the oldest was 60.

“We often get questions like who can join us. I usually answer that in fact, anyone. Before the journey, we have the requiting process, a lot of training, organizational meetings, and lots of preparation to ensure that everyone feels confident on the route, but we invite anyone who wants to give it a try,” summarized Dorota at the meeting.

Information about the projects can be found on the website: www.bikejamboree.pl.

The next meeting at the Sybir Memorial Museum will be held on June 13. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office and at: https://tiny.pl/dfjq4