Telega Family

Polish 2nd Corps

FRANCISZEK TELEGA

Franciszek Telega was born in Poland in 1917. 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.

Franciszek was a non-commissioned officer in the Polish Army in Lwow prior to the war and fought in the September Campaign. He was captured by the Russians and sent to a POW camp in Siberia.

Released by the ‘amnesty’, he made the perilous trek to the southern USSR to join the Polish army being formed there. He then evacuated to Persia with the army.

He served in the Middle East and in the Italian Campaign in the Polish 2nd Corps, 3rd Carpathian Riffles Division, Anti-Aircraft Regiment. He was an Artillery Sergeant, and his service number was 1917/5.

Franciszek wrote a very detailed diary of his wartime experiences. The diary has been donated to a military archive in Poland. It is hoped that it will one day be translated from the original Polish.

Franciszek emigrated to Canada after the war and, with his wife Stefania, raised two sons and a daughter.

He was a long-time member of the Niagara branch of the Canadian Polish Congress, the Polish Combatants Association (S.P.K.), and a member of the Polish Legion Branch #418.

He passed away in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1985 at the age of 68 years.

STEFANIA TELEGA

Stefania Telega was also a Veteran of WW2. When war broke out in September 1939, she was serving with the Polish Red Cross. In February 1940, she was deported to Siberia with her family.

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.

When they reached the work camp in Siberia, 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.

Released by the ‘amnesty’ in 1941, she joined General Anders Polish Army in Russia. She then evacuated to Persia, Iraq, and Palestine with the Army Hospital, serving as a Polish Army nurse. She was discharged at the end of the war and emigrated to Canada.

Stefania was a member of the Canadian Polish Congress, Polish Combatants Association (S.P.K.) and a member of the Polish Legion Branch #418 Ladies Auxiliary.

Stefania passed away in St. Catharines, Ontario, on 17 December 2003.