Liliana Wasilewska

Liliana Wasilewska (nee Jurewicz) was born on 20 March 1927 in Warsaw. She w as one of three daughters of Stefan and Bronisława Jurewicz. The war broke out when she was on vacation in Huculszczy with her mother and sisters.

In December 1939, Liliana and her mother Bronisława, and sisters Hanna and Renata, arrived in Lwow, where their father Stefan joined them for Christmas by illegally crossing the border. He was soon arrested and sent to Vorkuta in the Komi Republic.

In June 1940, Liliana, her mother, and her sisters were deported to Siberia, to the Chwojna settlement near Aldan. Liliana started elementary school there.

In 1944, the authorities agreed to let her father join his wife and daughters at Chwojna. After refusing Soviet citizenship, the family was arrested and moved to a collective farm near Saratov – a major port on the Volga River. Bronisława and Hanna worked at a school and Stefan in the office.

They were repatriated to Poland in June 1946 and lived in Warsaw. Liliana emigrated to Chicago in 1974.

Liliana Wasilewska passed away on 5 March 2026 in Chicago, a few days before her 99thbirthday.