
RZEWUCKI Family
Like most military settler families in the Eastern Borderlands of Poland, the Rzewucki family were deported to Siberia on February 10th, 1940. This included the father Bronislaw (b 1898), the mother Marja (b 1903), and their children: Wladyslaw (b 1923), Czeslawa (b 1927), Irena (b 1931), and Tadeusz (b 1934).
Sergeant Major Bronislaw Rzewucki was born in Poland on April 9th 1898. He served in the Polish Army during the First World War, and was consequently granted a parcel of land by the Polish government. As part of the ethnic cleansing of the Eastern Borderlands of Poland, the Russians deported him and his immediate family to Siberia.
In August of 1941, the Polish Government secured the release of all Poles held in Russia in a so-called ‘amnesty’ and the Poles started to form a Polish army in southern Russia under the command of General Anders. Bronislaw enlisted in what would later be called the Polish 2nd Corps. When supplies and assistance from the Russians dried up, the 2nd Corps was evacuated to Persia (now Iran). Bronislaw was then transferred to Beirut, Lebanon where he was in charge of training Polish soldiers up to the end of the war. In 1947, he returned to Poland, where he lived to a ripe old age of ninety years.
Second Lieutenant Wladyslaw Rzewucki was born in Poland on August 20th 1923. After being deported to Siberia with his parents and siblings, he also enlisted in the Polish 2nd Corps. After the evacuation to Persia, he was transferred to Iraq and then to Palestine, where he trained as a lorry driver. He participated in the Italian Campaign including the battles of Monte Casino, Ancona and Bologna as part of the 22nd Transport Regiment.
After the war he settled in England where he earned a degree in technical engineering and worked in a machine shop. In 1948, he sponsored his mother, brother and sisters to come from East Africa to England. On 1 March 1952, he and his family arrived in Canada. He worked in a machine shop in Montreal until his retirement in August 1988. He was a life-long active member of the Polish Veterans Association in Montreal.
Marja, Czeslawa, Irena, and Tadeusz spent the war years at the Polish settlement in Tengeru, East Africa. The children continued their education during the 6 years when they were in Tengeru.
Copyright: Rzewucki family