INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

Yesterday (9 February), a ceremony was held in Bydgoszcz to commemorate the eighty-fifth anniversary of the first mass deportations to Siberia. The regional government was represented by Vice-Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski.

After a solemn service at the Church of the Holy Polish Martyrs’ Brothers, the Siberians and their guests laid flowers at the nearby Monument to the Deportees of Siberia, commemorating those deported.

The first of the mass deportations of Poles to Siberia, the most tragic, was carried out by the Soviet authorities at the beginning of February 1940. Nearly 140,000 people were deported on a winter night. These were mainly families of government officials, including judges, prosecutors, policemen, foresters, as well as military personnel, including participants in the Polish-Bolshevik war, and landowners. They ended up in the northern regions of the USSR, around Arkhangelsk and Irkutsk, and in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Komi.

Historians estimate that a total of between three hundred thousand and over a million Poles were deported to Siberia. Many of those deported did not survive the journey, and many never returned from exile.

The Sybiraks’ Association represents the interests and commemorates the fate of Polish deportees to Siberia. In our region, its branches operate in Bydgoszcz, Toruń and Włocławek.

Beata Krzemińska

Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office

10 February 2025