Dziadura Family

Karol and Katarzyna Dziadura lived in Poland before the war. Karol was a blacksmith and tool maker, who also taught the local young men these trades. Katarzyna was the local seamstress/tailoress, again teaching young people how to draw patterns, cut and sew material to make clothing. Their children were: Eugenia, Wladyslaw, Bronislaw, and Rozalia.. In Poland they had a house they lived in in the summer and another on the same land they owned for the winter. The family also kept a smallholding and were largely self-sufficient.

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 were allowed to take with them only what they could carry, but no documents. They were packed into overcrowded cattle trains and transported to Siberia, where they were forced to endure hard labour, starvation, mistreatment and severe cold. They were housed in wooden barracks and fed only black bread and water.

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 families 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.

Karol was seriously ill by the time they headed south to Kazakhstan and he died during this transportation. They asked for the train to be stopped so they could bury him. They wrapped his body in a sheet and with their bare hands dug a grave into the stony ground.

The family then faced more hard labour, disease and starvation in Kazakhstan. Wladyslaw joined the Polish 2nd Corps, and Bronislaw eventually lied about his age to get into the Army too. Eugenia would have been about 13 years old and her younger sister Rozalia about six. Those who were left were sent to Mongolia to work in cotton fields and more harsh treatment.

Eventually they heard of the evacuation to Iran. They caught a cattle train, but as Katarzyna was climbing up a crate used as a step up into the train, she tripped, fell on the edge of the train floor, and suffered a cut and broke three ribs.

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.

In Iran they were treated humanely, were washed, de-loused, and given clean clothing. They were housed in tents, and the climate was warmer. Katarzyna had developed a wound that wouldn't heal and urgently needed medical assistance.

Katarzyna, Eugenia, and Rozalia were then sent to a Polish refugee camp in India where Katarzyna was hospitalized and where Eugenia and Rozalia were educated and looked after. Contrary to today’s refugee camps around the world, the Polish refugee camps were equipped with schools – elementary, middle school, high school, and a technical school; a YMCA with sports and recreational facilities and a reasonable library; a cinema covered by a roof on stilts but without walls; and an open-air theatre. There was a co-op bakery, and a co-op store sold a modest supply of sundries along with foodstuffs from the settlement’s impressive farm.

When the camp was closed, they moved to England. They arrived in the UK in 1947 and were sent to a camp in Surrey where there were other Poles waiting for allocation to other camps. Katarzyna went into hospital and Eugenia had to be treated for amoebic dysentery.

By then Wladyslaw and Bronislaw had returned from Italy and the family were reunited, but Katarzyna was extremely unwell and not expected to survive. By then Eugenia had met Kazimierz Buczak and had introduced him to her mother in hospital. Sadly, Katarzyna passed away before their wedding in 1948. She died on 23 September 1948. Her death certificate states that she was born on 25th October 1898 in Stolpien, Radziechow, in Lwow province, Poland. Her parents were Andzej and Maria. She died of bronchial pneumonia at the military hospital and was buried in the military cemetery in East Everleigh, Tidworth, Wiltshire.

Eugenia and Kazimierz moved to the Marsworth Camp with their respective families, and Eugenia went to work for Gossard, in Leighton Buzzard and Kazimierz drove lorries for a company in Hemel Hempstead.

They worked hard and saved for a deposit to buy their own home, but council houses were rarely allocated. After 11 years of saving for a deposit, they managed to buy a house in Dunstable and Kazimierz got a job with Vauxhall Bedford Trucks. They finally left the Marsworth Polish Hostel in 1961.