Mikolaj Liczyk

Mikolaj Liczyk was born to Bazyli Sr.and Agata in Kuklicze, eastern Poland, in 1925. 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.

On 10 February 1940, he was deported from Bresc in the Polesie province of Poland to Siberia, along with his parents, siblings, and grandmother. The family 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.

They travelled like this for weeks, and were given some water, stale bread, and watery soup, only a few times. When someone died, their bodies were cast out next to the tracks and left there. Many infants and elders did not survive this journey.

They reached the camp on 4 March 1940 and spent nearly 2 years at the forced labour camp in Szomboziero, Oneski District, Archangelsk Oblast. When they reached the work camp, 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. Children as young as 13 were set to work in the forests – cutting branches from the trees that had been cut down.

Aside from the extreme cold in winter, and extreme heat in summer, they had to contend with hordes of mosquitoes and black flies, as well as infestations of bed bugs in the barracks. There were no medical facilities in these camps, and diseases ran rampant, leading to a high death toll.

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. The family left the camp on 17 September 1941 and journeyed south to find the Polish army that was being formed in the USSR.

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. Then Stalin changed his mind and closed the borders. Those who had not been evacuated were now stuck in the USSR.

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.

Mikolaj joined the Polish 2nd Corps in ORSK, in Czkalowska Oblast, and served as a Rifleman in the 3rd Carpathian Heavy Machine Gun Battalion (Serial Nr in 3 DSK 1923/30). He served in the Middle East and fought in the Italian Campaign.

In 1946, he emigrated to Canada on a two-year work contract. Mikolaj died in Toronto, Canada in 2004, at the age of 79 years.

His brother Bazyli Liczyk Jr. (born in 1923) also joined the Polish 2nd Corps and served as a Rifleman in the 3rd Carpathian Heavy Machine Gun Battalion (Serial Nr in 3 DSK 1923/30). He served in the Middle East and fought in the Italian Campaign. He died in Toronto, Canada on 25 December 1994 at the age of 71 years.

Their parents (Bazyli Sr. and Agata) and siblings (Antonina and Jerzy) spent the rest of the war in a refugee camp in Rhodesia in East Africa. (Their grandmother, Aleksandra, died in Siberia). They joined Bazyli Jr. and Mikolaj in Canada after they had completed their two-year work contracts. The family settled in Toronto, Canada, after the war.