| This site is
connected to 'A Forgotten Odyssey', a recent
documentary film by Jagna Wright and Aneta
Naszynska. It deals with the forgotten tragedy of
1.7 million Polish citizens of various faiths and
ethnicities (Polish, Ukrainian, Belorussian,
Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish) deported from eastern
Poland (Kresy) in 1940-42 to special labour camps
in Siberia, Kazakhstan and Soviet Asia. Some
120,000 of these escaped through Persia in 1942
as soldiers of Anders Army and their families -
and eventually made their way to the West because
their pre-war homeland was consigned by the
Allies to remain under the hated Soviet regime. |
|
| The
circumstances of their odyssey and the tragic
history of the Polish citizens under Soviet
occupation during the war was hushed up by the
Allies during the war to protect the reputation
of the Soviet Union, an important ally in the war
against the Nazis. After years of courageous
suffering, followed by heroic efforts fighting at
the side of the Allies in Africa, Italy and
Europe, the staunchly anti-communist Polish
soldiers were prevented from even participating
in the Allied victory celebrations. |
| Unfortunately,
it is only now, 60 years later and when the
survivors are old and many have died, that this
tragic story is being rediscovered and publicised
by the descendants of the survivors. If this site
can play a small role in that effort, it will
have been an important achievement. |
|
