THE GRZYBOWSKI FAMILY
CZESŁAWA RACHEL-GRZYBOWSKA
v. LIFE IN SIBERIA
Finally, we reached our destination - exhausted but alive. It was a posiołek (a kind of settlement) situated among impassable forests and swamps. About 650 people were placed in our posiołek. The address was as follows:
Specposiołek Stiepanowka,
Kiziełowski Rajon (then Aleksandrowski),
Permska Oblast (then Mołotowska).
In the years 1934-36, farmers from eastern Ukraine who did not want to give up their land to collective farms were brought here. They were thrown into a clearing in the forest and ordered to stay there. It was they who built the huts but were driven from them before our arrival. The huts were built in pairs out of wooden logs, the gaps filled with moss. It was a breeding ground for bedbugs and other vermin. There was just one room for everything including a cooking stove. I remember that my favourite place was a corner by the fireplace (zapiecek) where I liked to spend my time and slept with my older sister Hela, because it was the warmest there.
After the first night there was panic. I became swollen and blotchy. My mother took me to the doctor, also a prisoner, who said they were just bedbug bites and nothing to worry about. You have to get used to it. This is how our life in exile began.
Mothers with children were allowed to remain in the huts, while teenagers from 14 or 15 years old and adults had to walk for kilometres into the woods to work cutting down trees and floating them down the river. There they lived in barracks and once a month they had a day off to visit their family. Such was the fate of my father and my oldest sister Stenia. Władzio was luckier because thanks to mother's intercession, he became a stable lad for the head of the posiołek - a Russian. Raised on a farm, he knew how to take care of horses. I don't know if he was treated badly or well.
Working in the woods was a real ordeal. There was no proper clothing or tools – a saw and an axe had to suffice. The starving people began to lose strength. The summer, though short-lived, was hot and mosquitoes and midges plagued them. In winter, there were huge snowfalls and frosts. When the temperature dropped below minus 40 degrees, they were allowed to stay in the barracks, which were not much warmer. It was necessary to meet the "norm", otherwise the already minimal wages were reduced.
My father fell ill, and Stenia did what she could, but what could a 17 or 18-year-old girl do? This left an acute shortage of money and our needs multiplied. Among other things, before the upcoming winter it was necessary to obtain clothes adapted to severe frosts and snow. They were “fufajki” (padded jackets) and “walonki” (high, felt boots with soles).
There was a patch of ground next to each hut which my mother turned over and in the spring of 1940 planted potatoes and some vegetables. Some women laughed at my mother for making so much effort, saying before anything grows, we will return to Poland. "Maybe you are right, but I will gladly leave everything for someone else to benefit" my mother replied. Unfortunately, there was no quick return and we had to keep watch at night because we had potatoes stolen before they had even grown. Water was brought from the river that crossed the posiołek. Beautiful marigolds grew next to it. In the summer, we collected and dried mushrooms, which were abundant.
Months passed in this way, struggling to save the family from starvation and to survive, and gradually it became even worse.
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My sister and I had to go to school. I didn't even mind because I always liked to study. But I was surprised when we were fed with propaganda. How grateful we should be to Stalin, who welcomed us and took care of us in his hospitable, beautiful country because it was so bad in Poland. I put myself at risk, because in my childish naivety I asked why I was never hungry while in Poland, and even though it is so good here, there is nothing to eat. Of course, there followed a conversation between my mother and my teacher, however I got away without punishment.
My sister and I went to school as long as we had our shoes from Poland. When these fell apart, we were bought “walonki”, but only one pair because there was no money for two. We then took turns at school. I don't remember if that caused any problems.