During the meeting Wojciech Śleszyński, PhD – director of the Sybir Memorial Museum gave Sybiraks best wishes and the actors of the Aleksander Węgierko Drama Theatre in Bialystok: Beata Chyczewska and Marek Tyszkiewicz read a fragment of “Szopka z Tary” (‘Nativity Play of Thara’).
HISTORY OF “SZOPKA Z TARY” (‘NATIVITY PLAY OF THARA’)
In 1905 Antonii Korona was exiled to Siberia. After three years of hard labor, he settled in Tara by the river Irtysh. In 1908, his wife with two children, Maria and Antoni joined him. The life of the Korona family and Polish deportees revolved around the chapel, in which, among others, there was a Polish nursery. There, Mr. Stańczyk and Mr. Pomianowski taught Polish children. This chapel also hosted a nativity scene played with puppets in a boxed stage. In the fall of 1920, the Korona family was forced to leave Tara and in February 1921 they reached Garwolin.
The manuscript of “Szopka z Tary” (‘Nativity Play of Thara’) was handwritten by Maria Gniedziuk and dictated by Mr. Stańczyk. Maria gave the manuscript to Mr. Andrzej Żak, from whom the Sybir Memorial Museum received the gift.
Under these exceptional circumstances, the unusual exhibit was presented for the first time during the New Year’s meeting. Recitation of fragments of “Szopka z Tary” (‘Nativity Play of Thara’) was accompanied by a presentation of photos of the deportees deported by the Irtysh river. During the meeting, Tadeusz Chwiedź — the Chairman of the Bialystok Branch of the Sybiraks’ Association shared his memories of the Christmas Eve in exile: “We shared a little bread, saved and hidden by my mother…”
The lines of the legionnaire (read by M. Tyszkiewicz):
„Losy wrogie nas zagnały w przeciwne strony,
Byśmy wznieśli wzajem na się miecz wyostrzony,
I polały się krwi naszej polskiej potoki,
I buchnęły ze strzech naszych dymów obłoki
Tę krew, Panie, pobłogosław by nasze rany
Nie na próżno nią broczyły w sprawie nieznanej
Niechaj zmyje dane winy – i na Twe słowo
Rozdartą naszą Ojczyznę sprawi na nowo!”
The lines of the Child (read by B. Chyczewska):
„Jezu, małe dzieciąteczko, my wygnańców polskich dzieci
Przyszliśmy tutaj do Ciebie, gdzie Twa jedna gwiazda świeci.
Na tułaczce my zrodzeni, w kraju wiecznych lodów, śniegu
I jak kraj ten obcy smutny, tak nam smutno dni tu biegną
Bo wciąż tęsknim w głębi duszy do ojczystych chatek, sadów
Do pól zlewanych obficie krwią i potem prapradziadów.
My tej ziemi nie widzieli, lecz jej obraz ukochany
Nosim w sercach, gdzie zostanie, raz na zawsze nieskalany.”
