T H E H I S T O R Y O F K R E S Y
Osady - Military Settlements 1921-1940
Translation from the book
Z Kresów Wschodnich R.P. Wspomnienia z Osad Wojskowych 1921-1940
(From: The Eastern Borderlands of Poland, Memories of Military Settlements 1921-1940)
Pub: Ognisko Rodzin Osadników Kresowych (OROK)
(Association of the Families of the Borderland Settlers)
London, UK. 1992 and 1998 (out of print)
ISBN 1 872286 33 X
Province (Województwo) TARNOPOL
ANTONINA (ZYCH) NOWAKOWSKA primo voto ZAPIÓR
OSADA CEZARÓWKA, PROSZOWA, SODOWKA and GREGULEC
My father, W. Zych, was a military settler on the Cezarówka Settlement in the Province of Tarnopol. About 10 - 12 military settlers lived there but no civilians. There was no organised life at our settlement. There was a school up to year five in the Ukrainian village nearby. There was no church, shop or medical centre in our settlement.
In 1939, I married S. Zapióra, a settler from the Proszowa settlement. My husband was the son of a military settler who died very early on and it was my husband who was officially recognised as a settler; thus, I was not only the daughter but also the wife of a settler who had inherited land from his father.
The Proszowa settlement was also small with only 10 - 11 settlers. There was an Agricultural Association which housed a 5-class school, a shop, a chapel, and a meeting room.
There was no medical centre, fire service or any other amenities. There was another settlement next to Proszowa, the Sodowka Gregulec Settlement. It was also small and there were no associations or organisations there, nor was there a school, chapel or shop etc.
The settlers from all the settlements were forcefully deported to Russia on 10 February 1940. My little daughter Krysia was two and half months old at the time. While at the ‘posiołek’ [Ed. note: camp in Siberia inhabited by deportees], she had gone through typhus, malaria, whooping cough, and scarlet fever, after which she is a person with a disability to this day. She has a lower limb disability, suffers from epilepsy, and has a mental handicap. My husband died in Italy in 1944 (my second husband, A. Nowakowski, was not a settler).