Wspomnienia z Kołymy Kazimierza Żurawieckiego

Abstract

In 2010 in Rome, while the archives of the Hospice of Saint Stanislaus were enumerated and reordered, the memoires of Kazimierz Żurawiecki were found. The book entitled A Change Is Coming. Memories of Kolyma gives an account about his stay in Kolyma camps. Żurawiecki limited the scope of his memories solely to the report of his stay in Kolyma, completely leaving aside other periods. His records include valuable historical material, which is fully compliant with the factography known from other sources and studies. Many plots described by him appear also in the reports of other prisoners of Kolyma camps. Following 17th of September 1939, Lwów found itself under Soviet occupation. Żurawiecki, who was involved in the underground activity within the organization of ZWZ-2, was arrested and sentenced for 10 years of reformatory labour camps in 1940. After the transport, which had lasted a few months, Żurawiecki arrived to Kolyma in June 1941. After his stay in a transitional camp near Magadan, he ended up in a camp situated close to a gold mine. Due to the so-called “amnesty” for Polish citizens, in October 1941, Żurawiecki sailed away from the Kolyma. In the February of 1942, Żurawiecki was accepted to the 9th Infantry Division (part of the Polish army of General Anders). The fate of Żurawiecki was identical to the fates of others General Anders’ soldiers, having been led through Iran, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt to Italy to arrive in Great Britain. Żurawiecki was a member of the 3rd Carpathian Riflemen Division, created as a result of various reorganizations of this unit. The combats ended by the seizing of Bolonia on 21st of April 1945. Żurawiecki arrived to Great Britain on 1st of January 1948, after having stayed for 2 years in Rome. At the end of the 40’s, he left for Argentina and settled down in the city of Mendoza. That is where he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1962.