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Russian Labor Camps pre-WWII (in the regions of Poland)


Goszcz 3 | 3
28 Feb 2012 #1
Where can I find information about the round-up of Polish citizens before WWII by the Russians? My father, now deceased, was captured as a young man before the war in Silesia region of Poland and sent to Siberia to work for 3+ years on constructing the railroad between Moscow and Vorkuta. When he was released he joined the First polish Armoured Division and went to Scotland and England. Any information would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.
gumishu 13 | 6,134
28 Feb 2012 #2
there must be some mistakes in the story you were told - there were no pre-war Soviet roundups in no part of Silesia for one simple reason - the Soviets were not there until early 1945

if someone from Silesia ended up in a gulag before September 1939 they must have been living in the then Soviet Union (there was a Polish minority in western Soviet Union) or must have been a communist who was summoned to the Soviet Union only to be incancerated (the fate of most of the top Polish communists before the IIWW )
nunczka 8 | 458
28 Feb 2012 #3
WOW! Interesting
JonnyM 11 | 2,615
28 Feb 2012 #4
There are associations that can help. I suspect you'd find details in Anne Applebaum's excellent book on the Gulag.
gumishu 13 | 6,134
28 Feb 2012 #5
if someone from Silesia ended up in a gulag before September 1939

actually - someone from Silesia could not live in western SU in 1939 - I meant if any Polish person ended up in a gulag it was either Polish communist (Stalin targeted KPP - all who lived in the Soviet Union were arrested - only a handful survived) or a Polish citizen of the Soviet Union (of the said Polish minority in western SU amounting possibly to 500 000)
vodopad - | 5
5 Nov 2013 #6
Hmm, alternatively, he could have been one of the several thousand Polish Soldiers from all over Poland who saw the war was lost and used the opportunity to try to cross in to Hungary/Rumania and was then caught by the Red Army. The GULag was full of just such cases.
BobM - | 1
8 Mar 2016 #7
Merged: People from Poland interned to Vorkuta during WW2

Is anybody aware of records with names of Polish people interned in Vorkuta during WW2


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