Bronislaw Wojniak

Bronislaw was born to Ignacy and Tatania in 1932 in Ludzk, Wolyn province (near Lithuania) Poland. The Germans invaded Poland from the west on 1 September 1939, and the Russians invaded from the east on 17 September 1939. They divided Poland between them. In the Russian-controlled area, the plan to ethnically-cleanse the area soon took effect with the first of four mass deportations to Siberia that were carried out in 1940 and 1941.

The family was deported to Siberia (mother, father and three brothers) when Bronislaw was nine years old. They were forcibly taken from their home at gunpoint, by Russian soldiers. They had been given less than an hour to pack what they could, without knowing where they were being taken. They took what they could carry and had to leave the rest behind.

They were taken to the railway station and loaded into cattle cars with 50-60 other people. This included infants, toddlers, children, teens, adults, and seniors. Most of the adults and seniors were women. The cattle car had two shelves at either end, where people could sit or sleep – the rest had to make do with the floor. There was a cast iron stove, but they soon ran out of wood to fuel it. There was also a hole in the floor that served as a toilet.

When they reached the work camp in Siberia, they were told that this is where they would eventually die, but in the meantime, they had to work to earn their daily ration of bread.

In June 1941, Germany turned on its ally, Russia. Stalin then quickly changed tactics and allied himself with the west so that the allies could help him defeat the Germans. This led to the signing of the Sikorski-Majewski agreement that called for the freeing of Poles imprisoned in POW camps and labour camps in the USSR, and the formation of a Polish Army in the southern USSR.

The news of this ‘amnesty’ did not reach every camp, but where it did become known, the men and boys soon made plans to make their way south to join the army. For most, this meant walking thousands of kilometers and only occasionally getting on a train for part of the journey. Many did not make it, and those who did were emaciated skeletons by the time they got there.

General Anders oversaw the army, and he tried hard to get the Russians to provide the food and equipment they had promised. When this became increasingly impossible, he negotiated the right to evacuate the army to Persia, where the British would provide what was needed.

Anders insisted on taking as many of the civilians that had reached the army as possible. There were 2 mass evacuations: in March/April 1942, and in September 1942.

The evacuation took place by ship over the Caspian Sea to Pahlavi in Persia (now Iran). The ships that were used were oil tankers and coal ships, and other ships that were not equipped to handle passengers. They were filthy and lacked even the necessities, like water and latrines. The soldiers and civilians filled these ships to capacity for the 1-2-day trip. When there were storms, the situation got even worse – with most of the passengers suffering sea sickness.

Bronislaw’s eldest brother joined the Polish 2nd Corps. The rest of the family spent the war years at a Polish refugee camp in Africa. Bronislaw was 16 years old when the war ended. He arrived in England in 1948 and was sent to the Marsworth Polish Hostel. His parents and his brother Jozef died there in the 1950s.

Bronislaw started out as a general labourer/builder then found work at Kents in 1956 where he made meters, then became a setter operator and charge hand. He earned good money, and as most young single men, he was able to buy a motorbike, so it was easier to get about. He met Izabela at Hammersmith when she came over from Poland.

Bronislaw died in Dunstable in 2001 at the age of 69 years, but. He was buried at the local cemetery in Dunstable, UK.