F A M I L Y R E S E A R C H L I N K S
Deportation Records
IPN Index of the Repressed (Indeks Represjonowanych)
This invaluable database has details of many of the deported in the 1940s to Russia / Siberia.
Note that you need to include Polish characters when searching – i.e. ą, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź.
Once you’ve identified a location of deportation, you can enter the place of deportation in the search to obtain a list of all the deported to that location. This can be very helpful when searching 'memoires' of the deported.
The database is available here.
Some users may find it easier to use the Steve Morse interface in this database. The fields are marked in English and it can also be used to download information in bulk. eg names of all deportees in a special settlement.
If you speak Russian you may be able to find additional information on the Russian Memorial database and here.
Hoover Archive - deportee reports
Following their release and evacuation to the Middle East, deportees were encouraged to document their experiences. Thousands of these fascinating reports are stored at the Hoover Archives at Stanford University and are available digitised in the Polish National archives.
Hoover School Children reports
The archive includes 1,745 reports describing their deportation written by children studying in military Cadet schools in the Middle East. The reports are filed by school or home location in Boxes and Folders.
The following files contains an index of the reports, together with a link to the relevant Box and Folder of the archive. Once you get to the start of the Folder, you need to then view the reports one by one, till you find the one you're looking for. You can then download a copy of the reports.
PDF version of School Children report index
Excel version of School Children report index
Adult Reports
The archive includes 10,620 reports written by Poles in the Middle East. The archives contain a card file with the names of those who have written a report, together with a number of the report. The card index is available here
Here is an example of one of the reports available in the Hoover archive.
Release Certificates
The archive contains release certificates issued to some of the deportees by the Soviets. These certificates are written in Russian and are sorted alphabetically. They can be viewed here starting at document 800/41/0/-/152
“Chronicles of Terror” testimony database
Many of the Hoover reports have been transcribed and translated. Its worth searching by name or location to find reports by deportees who may have travelled the same route. Search here.
Deportation Trains
The Russian Memorial group has located lists of deportation trains showing departure, destination, and numbers of deportees. You can download the lists here.
A map of Polish railway lines and stations, and a map of Soviet wartime railway lines are available on our Maps page.
A full list of detailed soviet railway maps from 1943 is available here.
Read more about Russian railway wagons
Other deportation lists
There are many useful archival lists and research links on polishexilesofww2.org
Polska Walcząca (Poland at War newspaper)
Addresses of Polish military families in the Soviet Union (Adresy Rodzin Wojskowych w ZSSR)
Published in 1943. The list is available here
The file is very large, so will take some time to download, but can be searched once downloaded.
The above list was copied from the archives of the Polish Library, POSK, Hammersmith, London, UK