10th February marks the start of the 1st wave of deportation of Polish citizens by the Soviets.
My mother and her parents were actually deported in the 2nd wave of deportations on 13th April and were sent to Kazakhstan.
She never really spoke of the deportations. She mentioned it now and again but never gave any details.
Maybe the book on this website may shed some light on what they might have gone through.
‘The Unsettled Account’
http://www.derekcrowe.com/post.aspx?id=72
Get the Book “Heat of Europe-The Past in Polands Present”, Norman Davies.
In the book he reports that ~ 2.5 million Poles were deported to Siberia by Stalin after they swept into Poland between 1939 and 1941. Davies reports that the bulk of those died and at least a million were dead within the first year of captivity in Russia. This appears to put Stalin ahead of Hitler in total genocide deaths at that point in time.
The Davies’ book was first published in 1984 and therefor largerly based on hearsay.
The total number of deported of all nationalities and ages from the territories of ex. Eastern Poland was about 350.000 people.
Well I will stick with my sources [Norman Davis] which was updated to 2001 with the new addition.
Cool!
I just suggest you make a copy of a page from the book and FAX it to The Polish Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.
Because they are convinsed there were about 320.000 deportstees.
BTW, could you please quote precisely N.Davies writes on “that ~ 2.5 million” and on what page of his 2001 edition book.
Or you could post a page scan.
Link to extract from book:-
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/004430.html
‘When God Looked the Other Way’
From chapter 3
A Knock on the Door
…