Figure 1.--This press photo of Polish children was taken in Iran during World War II (September 26, 1943). They were Polish children from the families the Soviets deported to Cental Asia. They managed to survive and reach Iran. The caption read, "'Junakas' Polish Boy Scouts in the Middle East, are reviewed by Polish leaders and Sir Harold McMichael (in civilian clothes), British High Commissioner. The Polish children who crossed the Soviet Union to get to their haven in the Middle East are cared for by the Polish Red Cross and their expenses are paid by Polish Government. Almost 250,000 Polish children are in camps from India to Mexico; most of them with no knowledge whether their parents are dead or alive." They seems to have been given British Army uniforms. Notice how the caption is written to obscure the fact that they and their parents were deported by Soviet authorities as part of a ruthless suppression of the Polish people in the areas of Poland occupied by the Red Army (1939-41).

Most World War II accounts of Poland deal with the German invasion and horific NAZI occupation. In fact, Poland was invaded by two countries in 1939, NAZI GErmany and Soviet Russia. Although England and France decalred war on Germany, they did not declare war on the Soviet Union. For many Poles, the Soviet invasion and occupation was also disatrous as the Soviets had the same goal of wiping out Polish nationality. In fact the Soviets at this stage had more experience in repression than the NAZIs and set about repressing the Polish nation more forecfully at first than the NAZIs. [Davies] The murder on Stalin's orders by the Soviet NKVD of the Polish army officers in the Katyn forest was part of this process. The Soviets, however, did not have the added racial dimension that made the NAZI occupation so deadly. The Soviets sett about moving large numbers of Poles in an effort to Russify areas of eastern Poland. (This area had been a matter of a territorial disputeand war between Russia and Poland following World War I.) Many children were caught up into the mass relocations as the Soviets moved whole families into Central Asia and Siberia. Because of the primitive conditions and lack of preparations, many of those transported perished. There are many tragic accounts. One Polish boy, Stefan Wassilewski, remembers being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night by a Russian soldier, herded onto a crowded refugee train along with his mother and younger brother, and transported thousands of miles across Europe to Kazakhstan. He was separated from him family and never saw them again. [Hicyilmaz] Some of the children somehow made it to Allied occupied Iran where the Polish Government in Exile with Allied assistance were able to care for them. Stalin after the NAZI invasion (June 1941) decided to give the 0.5 million surviving Polish soldiers in POW camps the choice of fighting with the Red Army or joining the fight in the West. This was part of the Polish-Soviet Agreement signed with the London-based government in exile (July 1941). The 1.5 million Polish civilans deported by the Soviets were were also released, although we have fee details. The men were released to travel to Iran and eventually joined the British 8th Army in the Western Desert campaign. Children also made theie way West.

Sources

Davies, Norman. Book TV, C-Span 2, October 20, 2004.

Hicyilmaz, Gaye. And The Stars Were Gold (1997).

Created: 12:43 AM 10/10/2008
Last updated: 12:43 AM 10/10/2008