Poland in Canada

On September 21st, 2021, during the commemoration of the 81st anniversary of the first mass deportation of Polish citizens to Siberia members of Ottawa’s community were awarded Sybir Deportee Cross:

Mrs. Alice Basarke

Mr. Andrzej Dąbrowski (posthumously, father of Ms. Basarke)

Mrs. Joanna Erland

Mrs. Maria Gajdecki

Mr. Mieczysław Król

Mrs. Krystyna Makomaski

Mr. Rafał Przednowek

Mrs. Helena Tkaczewski

On behalf of the President of the Republic of Poland, the decorations were awarded by Ambassador Andrzej Kurnicki.

Commemorative certificates were offered to honor Ottawa’s citizens of Polish heritage who are survivors of the mass deportations to Siberia and other parts of the former USSR during WWII by MP Chandra Arya.

History of mass deportations

Less than five months after invading and occupying Poland on September 17, 1939, by agreement with Nazi Germany, on February 10, 1040 the Soviet Union began the first of its mass deportations of Polish citizens from their homes in the eastern borderlands. By June of 1941, the Soviets had sent hundreds of thousands of people in sealed freight trains to their network of slave labour camps in the far north, across the vast expanse of Siberia, and to Kazakhstan. Among the deportees were soldiers and military veterans, clerks, police officers, forestry and railroad employees, teachers and civil servants, along with their entire families, all of them deemed “enemies of the state” by the new occupation authorities.

Many of the deportees died during the journey, while the survivors arrived at their destination to live in inhuman conditions in the camps of the Soviet Gulag. They endured enslavement, suffered disease, starvation, and intolerable oppression. Many perished, thousands never returned to their homeland.

In July, 1941, in exchange for support from the Western Allies (of which Poland was one), the Soviets signed the Sikorski-Maisky pact, agreeing to release their Polish prisoners. However, they provided no transportation or provisions, and the prisoners were left on their own to find their way out of camps.

Over one hundred thousand deportees, soldiers and civilians, crossed the vast frozen expanse of Siberia, or the arid deserts of Kazakhstan, hoping to find the newly formed Polish army. Those who succeeded were then evacuated to seek  safety in Polish refugee camps in the Middle East, India, Africa, Mexico and New Zealand. For most, it became a permanent exile since they could not risk returning to a Communist Poland under Moscow’s control.

 

The decoration Sybir Deportee Cross was established on October 17^th, 2003 in order to recognise and commemorate the sufferings of Polish citizens deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Northern Russia from 1939 to 1956. The cross memorialises their devotion to the ideals of freedom and independence. The Sybir Deportee Cross is awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland. The Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression contributes to implementation of the Act, receiving, recording and verifying motions of the award of that decoration.

Sybirak's Day

On September 27^th, 2013, the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament - Sejm of the Republic of Poland - adopted a resolution establishing September 17 as Sybirak's Day in order to pay tribute to all Poles deported to Siberia, other territories of Russia and the Soviet Union. “The Sejm of the Republic of Poland commemorates those who died there, those who managed to return to their homeland, those who settled in various parts of the world, and those who remained in their place of exile, where they cultivated Polishness” states the resolution of the Chamber adopted by acclamation.

Statement in the House of Commons of Canada

On February 1^st, 2021 Mr. Chandra Arya, Member of Parliament for Nepean, made a statement in the House of Commons to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the first mass deportation of Polish citizens to Siberia during World War Two. Mr. Chandra Arya referred the Members to this largely unknown WWII tragedy emphasising that ”more than one million people were forcefully displaced. Many died from disease, starvation and the terrible conditions. Most never returned to their homeland”.

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Cover photo: Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East (@ PAP/Piotr Nowak)

The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East is a monument in Warsaw, Poland which commemorates the victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and subsequent repressions. It was designed by Maksymilian Biskupski in 1991, construction began on 18 August 1995, and it was officially unveiled on 17 September 1995 - the 56^th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of 1939.