Czesława Dobrowolska

This interview preserves a victim’s account of deportation from Poland to the Soviet Union in 1940, detailing her separation and reunion with family, forced labor in the Chelyabinsk region, and restriction on Polish cultural and religious life. The victim reflects on food scarcity, displacement to Kazakhstan, and her eventual enlistment in the Polish Auxiliary Territorial Service.

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Metadata

▶ Standardised Metadata

Element	Value
External Title	Interview with Czesława Dobrowolska
Interviewer Name(s)	Not provided by host collection
Interviewee Name	Czesława Dobrowolska
Interviewing Organization	The Imperial War Museum
Date of Interview	1997-06-17
Archiving Organization	The Imperial War Museum
Duration	65
Format	MP3

▶ External Archive Metadata (as provided)

Element	Value
Category	Sound
Related period	1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator	IWM (Production company); Wood, Conrad (Recorder); Piesakowski, Tomasz Konstanty (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date	1997-06-17
Dimensions	whole: Duration 65, Number Of Items 3
Catelogue number	17479
Object Description	Polish schoolchild deported from Poland to Soviet Union, 2/1940-2/1942; private served with Polish Auxiliary Territorial Service in Soviet Union and Iran, 2/1942-4/1942
Content Description	REEL 1 Background in Białystok area, Poland, 1925-1940: family; education. Recollections of period as deportee from Poland to Soviet Union, 1940-1942: arrival of Soviets to deport her family, 2/1940; how she was re-united with her family during deportation, 10/2/1940; train journey to Chelyabinsk area in Ural Mountains, 2/1940; barrack accommodation in camp in Chelyabinsk area; work of family in copper mines and her specific duties; start of schooling for Polish children; suppression of Polish attempts at religious observance. REEL 2 Continues: news of amnesty for Poles, 9/1941; move from Chelyabinsk, to Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, 10/1941; problems with family's food supply; trek through snow in attempt to find Polish Armed Forces in the East. Recollections of period as private with Polish Auxiliary Territorial Service in Soviet Union and Iran, 2/1942-4/1942: background to enlistment in Polish Auxiliary Territorial Service, 2/1942; move to Guzar, Soviet Union; receiving tented accommodation and inoculations; death rate amongst Poles at Guzar, Soviet Union; start of journey to Krasnovodsk, Soviet Union; boarding ship with typhus; state of health during voyage and on arrival in Iran. REEL 3 Continues: fate of family left behind in Soviet Union; uniform issued to Polish Auxiliary Territorial Service in Gulzar, Soviet Union, 1942.