Irena Mrówczyńska Z Kowla przez Syberię na Dolny Śląsk... Dorastanie na zsyłce

TL;DRAbstract

In the latter half of 1941, over 100,000 Polish children lived in an area extending from Arkhangelsk to Nakhodka Bay; in the Altai Krai and the Soviet Socialist Republics of Central Asia. Among them there were a growing number of orphans in exile. There is no detailed information concerning the fate of these Polish orphans, who were placed into Soviet instructional and educational institutions, so-called “diet domy”. Most of the institutions taking in Polish children treated them as Soviet citizens but did not report this fact to any Polish institutions responsible for their care and wellbeing. Moreover, given their ‘Soviet’ status, the orphans had neither the right nor the occasion to contact the Polish embassy in Kujbiszew or any of its representatives. And for the younger children, their stay in these so-called “diet domy” usually resulted in instant Russification and Sovietisation. Irena Mrówczyńska’s account describes her childhood memories of pre-war Kowel, the children in exile

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper