Deported with her family (step-mother, 2 brothers and a sister) to Siberia, she and her sister and 1 brother survived and were able to leave Russia under the 'amnesty'.  Her brother, Boleslaw, joined the Polish Second Corps and served in the Middle East and in the Italian Campaign.  Her sister, Janina, spent a year at the children's hospital in the Middle East and was then sent to Santa Rosa in Mexico.  Maria was sent to Tengeru in East Africa, then joined the Polish WAAFs in the UK.  Eventually, the siblings would reunite in Canada, and locate their father in post-war Poland.

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