Krystyna Bystryk Szczesny

Through Continents Without a Ticket: A Memoir Krystyna Bystryk Szczesny

... Many labels were used to describe us - deportees, slave laborers, exiles, refugees, displaced persons, immigrants. We happily answer to one - SURVIVORS.

Christine was born in southeastern Poland in the city of Halicz. When Poland was brutally attacked in 1939 by Germany from the west and Russia from the east, the Soviet government began ethnic cleansing of southeastern Poland, deporting the residents to Siberia. Christine's family was deported to Kazakhstan along with 250,000 Poles. The Polish government in exile, operating in Britain, formed the Polish Army. Therefore, soldiers and their families were evacuated from Siberia to British held colonies. This began a journey through Persia (now Iran), India, East Africa and England. Many labels were used to describe them - deportees, slave laborers, exiles, refugees, displaced persons immigrants. They happily answered to one - survivors. Christine wrote to tell her children and grandchildren about their heritage and the terrible events that brought them to the United States.