Paths to exile

In the aftermath of WW2, many Polish people ended up in Canada and other western countries. Their path to these ultimate destinations took a number of different routes.

In 1939, Poland was invaded by the Germans from the west on September 1st, and then by the Russians from the east on September 17th. The history that we address on this website starts with the evacuation of the Polish military at the end of the September Campaign, and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of the eastern borderlands of Poland by the Russians.

The purpose of this website is to provide information to descendants searching for the details of their parents' and/or their grandparents' journeys to the west, following the above events.

Our focus

Polish citizens (mostly women, children and the elderly) forcibly taken from their homes by the Russians and sent to forced labour in the Russian Gulag.

Polish forces in the West fighting with the Allies against the Germans:

Polish Air Force in the UK,
Polish 1st Armoured Division in N. Europe,
Polish 2nd Corps in the Middle East and the Italian Campaign,
Polish Navy,
Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

Civilian settlements in the Middle East, Africa, India, Mexico and New Zealand, where Polish women and children spent the war years.

These topics are addressed in the various sections of this website.

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