Rozalia was born to Franciszek Gavor and Marianna (nee Camoit) on 24 March 1924, in Kolonia Stanislawowka, Sokal region, Lwow province, Poland. She completed Grade 6 in Stanislawowce; then took classes in tailoring at the Polish settlement in Africa. She then completed 12th grade at Wheable Collegiate in London.

 

On February 10, 1940 the Russians took millions of Poles to Siberia. A second round-up took place in April 1940, at which time the family was sent by train to Arkhangelsk. The last 200 km were on foot through the forest. In the boxcar on the train there was a small stove and a hole in the floor for a toilet. They travelled for three weeks to reach the station at Rowdzin. There were 75 boxcars in the train and in each box car there were about 50 people. They were starving. People were dying like flies. Rozalia ’s two sisters, Zosia and Kasia died on the train. The dead bodies were thrown out of the boxcar, without ceremony or burial.

 

Once in Siberia, they had to make their own shelters out of wood and that is where they lived. They burned wood for heat. At night you could see the shining eyes of wolves in the forest. The wolves were afraid of the fire and Rozalia’s father scared them away. There were already some buildings at their final destination. They had been built in 1935 to house Ukrainians. Only two Ukrainian men survived. There were 100 people in each building, and they slept on the floor since there were no beds. Later the Poles made beds out of grass.

 

They worked every day. Her brother cut wood. There was a lot of snow, and you had to dig out the lower branches to cut them. They had to throw the branches in the huge bonfires in the forest. Rozalia was only 16 and did not have the strength for the work. They all came down with smoke blindness. They spent nearly two years in Siberia with 30 grams of bread for those who worked and nothing for those that did not. Then they learned that they were being set free. So Rozalia, her father, mother, brothers and sisters travelled 200 kms to the train station. Her brother Wladyslaw had cancer and died. He was buried under a tree, rather than in a mass grave. Her sister Aniela’s husband, Michal, joined the Polish army. Her younger brothers (Mieczyslaw & Stanislaw) joined the cadets. Brother’s Jozef and Franciszek joined the Polish Army and fought at Monte Cassino. Franciszek was a sapper.

 

At the train station there was a huge hall where they could warm up. It was wall-to-wall people. Some even slept outside up against the wall. Down the tracks they found an old boxcar. They put a stove inside it. The Gawor family moved into the boxcar. They tried to kill off the lice by boiling their clothes. They couldn’t get onto any trains because they were all full of Russian soldiers on their way to the front. After a while their boxcar was attached to a train and they travelled to Uzbekistan, where they were sent to work on collective farms. They had to carry manure in bags to the fields. They did this all-day long. They didn’t get paid - they just received some food. They lived in mud huts.

 

Their father went to join his sons who were in the army. They crossed the river Bystra. They arrived at Dzalabat where the Polish army was being formed. There was no running water, just a stream. They needed someone to wash clothes, so Rozalia volunteered.

 

They crossed the Caspian Sea and went to Pahlevi in Persia (now Iram). There they had to throw their old clothes in a fire and have a disinfecting shower. They were given fat lamb to eat. Everyone was sick with dysentery. A lot of them died. They lived for a year in Tehran. Not far away there was an American base where they sometimes got soup.

 

From Tehran they went to Africa. They were 6 years in Africa. Rozalia attended a tailor’s school and learned to sew. Life was good in Africa although there was little bread. Africans don’t eat bread but eat a lot of bananas, figs, corn, pineapples and coffee. While in Africa, Rozalia caught malaria. It was so hot that you could not walk without shoes. In 1948 they went from Africa to England. Rozalia was in England for 5 years until 1953.

 

In 1953 she left England for Canada with her husband and two children. In London, Ontario she went to the employment office and the only available job paid 50 cents per hour. She took the job and worked there for 26 years.

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Rozalia was very active in the SPK and helped to raise money for the SPK building. In 1961 she was the first President of the Ladies Auxiliary. Rozalia and her husband also helped raise the funds to build the Polish church. She was an active volunteer at the London Inter-community Health Centre for 25 years

 

Rozalia passed away in London, Ontario, on February 9th, 2020 in her 96th year.

 

 

 

Copyright: Wolczyk family

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