Maria Filon, the eldest daughter of a military settler Jan Oleś, and the only one, from a seven-member family, who was left alive after the deportation to Turkestan, comes from Osada Piłsudczanka in the Krzemieniec district. Despite being a little girl, she remembers perfectly that the life in the settlement was not easy and was not a sweet idyll. The beginnings were extremely hard when one had to establish farms and erect buildings.
The settler’s children started their education in a little school in the nearby village of Janowce but from the age of ten attended a school in Białozórka, located seven kilometres from the settlement. Of course, there was no transportation, so in winter, during snowstorms, parents took turns to deliver their treasures to the Białozórka school.
The nearest little church in Białozórka was old, and three years before the war a young parish priest decided to build a new one in a large garden near the rectory. Maria remembers that the foundations were already laid, and the walls were being raised. The war interrupted everything, and she never learned anything about the fates of the parish priest and the teachers. She remembers, of course, some settlers, like: Mr. and Mrs. Marynowicz; Wolski family (Mr. Wolski – godfather to Maria); Popławski family – a childless couple. In the Syklus family there were three children – two boys (one named Józek) and a girl – Bronka. Mirociński's family lived at the edge of the settlement, right next to Szuszkowce village. Mr. Mirociński died before the war, leaving behind a widow with three children: Wanda, Włodek and Bronek. There was also Białas family with three children, but Mrs. Filon can no longer remember their names. And of course, there was Maria’s family – Jan Oleś with wife Rozalia and children: Maria, Władzia, Tadeusz, Dolek and the youngest, Marian.
Wanda Bitner (Krzysztofiak) has written about deportation in 1940 from Piłsudczanka.
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) WOŁYŃ
MARIA FILON (OLEŚ)
OSADA PIŁSUDCZANKA
District (Powiat) Łanowce
Municipality (Gmina) Białozórka
District (Powiat) Krzemieniec