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Marysia (tallest) and sister Zosia in Tengeru 19/03/1944
aged 13 & 17
Marysia's father Josef also took part in the Polish - Bolshevik war and was given land in the Kresy - he moved from Poznan to a farm on the polish settlement "Osada Starznica Polska" near to Obrow and Jaksza 27 km west of Pinsk in Polesie. He was married to Ksenia (b1888).
Village sign for Jaksza in Russian (Oct-2009)
Turkeys crossing in Obrow and Geese in Jaksza - Oct 2009
There are 3 sisters Marisia (b1926) , Zosia (b1930) and Wladzia (b1924) . There was also a younger brother Tadeusz (b1928). They were born in at the farm in osada Straznica Polska.. [click for more details Jaksza/Pinsk]
Osada Straznica Polska would have been in the immediate fields on the right of this sandy lane heading back to Jaksza on the horizon in the trees.
This picture taken close to the 164 north of Straznica on the map below. There is a cemetary close to this point.
View from edge of Obrow looking towards Straznica which would have been in the green field in the distance
Their mother Ksenia b 1888 (picture above) used to go to the market in Janow.
On sunday they would go to church in Ohowo.
Father Josef (picture below) liked to dress well - pictures below show him wearing different suits which were well tailored.
Josef died when he was 30 following an accident that lead him to catch pneumonia -he is buried in Ohowo.
Cemetary in Ohowo
On Feb 24th 1940 as part of the "Osadnik" deportations they were deported to Kotlas before being dispersed into in the northern wastes of Russia in Oblast Archangel, province of Plesetsky, near to Yemsta (Jemca) some 390 miles (630km) north west of Kotlas to specposiolek Ostrowskij.
The www.Karta.org.pl database of the repressed details the family deportation and release dates. ( Database ID's 248707 to 248710 )
There can be transcription errors in this database - Zosia (Maria-Zofia) has been transcribed as Maryna (this can be corrected)
Below the details for Ksenia shows release day of Sept 5th and that they headed for Aktyubinsk (Aktobe) in Kazakhstan.
With the Amnesty they were freed on 5th September 1941 - by this time Tadzik and Ksenia were very weak and with winter begining to set in it was not an ideal time to set off on a 2500 mile journey to the south.
They were all "Free" . Weak and severly undernourished they all managed to get to Kazakhstan. Typhoid dysentery and other illnesses were rampant. They struggled to get enough food and here Tadzik past away. None of them were going to survive on what little food they could get so they decided that Wladzia would take the young sisters Marisia and Zosia to the orphanange where they would be looked after and get better rations. Wladzia then returned to her mother. Striken with grief after loosing Tadzik, Ksenia also past away a short time later. By this time the Marisia and Zosia were in transit to Uzbekistan and the British sphere of influence - Wladzia (18 yrs. old) was now alone.
Picture - Zosia, Wladzia and Marysia - Wladzia visits Zosia and Marysia at the orphanage - Zosia and Marysia by now have been shorn on health grounds.
Wladzia in Russia 1942 or 43
Marysia and Zosia managed to get to Uzbekistan . (see the main Odyssey page "Taszkent-Krasnovodsk to Pahlavi" for more details ) They were now under the protection of the British - where do you send 1,000's of refugees fleeing from Russian Gulags ? The British had colonies in Africa and India so Marysia and Zosia with other orphans were sent to Africa.
Wladzia made her way back to Poland where she settled in Sulecin near Slubice/Frankfurt border-crossing in the new Polish territories that had previously been in Germany.
Maria ansd Zosia appear on the Red Cross List of evacuation from Persia in 1942
They were sent to Tanganyika in East Africa to a camp "Tengeru" principally for orphans.
This was one of the largest of 22 camps in Africa with approximately 4000-5000 people.
It was under the slopes of Mt Meru (Volcano) 4,566 mts daughter of Mt. Kilimanjaro near the village of Arusha -
Kilimanjaro lies 40 miles to the east.
Picture below of Tengeru with view towards snow capped Mt. Kilimanjaro and typical huts where they lived initially. Looks very idyllic!
Out of the picture to the left and much closer is Meru Mt.
Later on they built longer dormitories that Marysia moved into.
Small round huts made way for larger longer dormatories.
The girls were placed in age groups and attended school.
Marysia attended the "Gimnaszjum Krawieckiego w Tengeru" (Tailoring College) many of the group pictures have this stamped on the back.
Krawiecki class picture below - Marysia front row - third.
And here's the Sewing Machine Class - Marysia became a key machinist later on in England working in "Tadlon" Handbags with her future husband Jurek.
Clothes were provided by charities from America.
They did have uniforms for special occasions.
This uniformed group has everyones signature on the back - recognise anyone else?
They would also go on regular outings to distant places and to the slopes of Mts.Meru and Kilimanjaro
Marysia remembers regular trips to a very large Polish farm some distance away where they would help out.
She has lots of pictures of the groups climbing amongst very large and unusual trees.- one shown below
Picture below shows Marysia 4th from right amongst the Acacia trees on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.
The Polish Farm
Tengeru is now an agricultural research centre. Madeline Marczak visited Tengeru in 2010 and George and Gillian in 2013.
See separate pages in his section.
This site details a recent visit to Tengeru in 2002.
http://poetrania.blogspot.com/1995_10_01_archive.html
Three years after the war Marysia and Zosia made their way to England by rail jouneys - via Italy and France rather than by ship.
They initially they settled in Rochdale where there was work in the cotton mills.. Below pic with latest audio technology.
After the war Wladzia was repatriated back to Poland and moved to Sulecin in the new lands given to Poland - previously in Germany. Picture below shows Wladzia in Sulecin dated 7th Sept. 1948.
Zosia met Bernard Opeldus who played in a band and they married.
Jurek recalls at another Polish ball Zosia found herself dancing with Jurek. She told him that she was already married to one of the players in the band but that she had a nice sister- and so Jurek met Marisia and they married in October 1951.
Picture above taken Christmas 1952 with babes Christine and George - better times
Three sisters together in Sulecin Poland.
Above - picture taken outside Wladzia's home in Sulecin 2009
Footnote to those who died in Uzbekistan
Saturday/Sunday issue of " Nasz Dziennik" No. 88 ( 2801) had an article by Father Zdzislaw J. Peszkowski, chaplain of the Katyn Families wrote an article about the blessing of a cemeteries in Guzara. The article is in Polish and I will attempt to translate the highlights:-
" This past Friday a special pilgrimage went to Uzbekistan to visit the cemeteries of Polish Soldiers from General Anders's Army. All those who lost their near and dear ones in this "inhuman land" will bow their heads in prayer and contemplation. 65 years ago in this place Polish Army was forming from these Poles captured by Bolsheviks since 1939.Graves of our soldiers and their families and those who were gathering here from all corners of USSR, in hope to be in the Polish Army, are scattered all over the steppes and deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. With crosses they marked the trails.
On Polish Cemetery in Kirmine there is a monument- a cross- with writing on it:
Niech nikt nad grobem tym nie placze,
Niech nikt nie szlocha skargi slowem,
Uwiezion tylko proch tulaczy,
Duch tworzy z nami Polske nowa.
Over these graves let no one cry,
Let no one sob with accusing word
In here is captured only exiles dust
Their spirit is building new Poland with us.
Some time ago bishop Gawlina during his visit with the Polish Army in the East bowed his head by their cross.
The soil of Uzbekistan holds the ashes of our countrymen.The members of the pilgrimage started their visits from Tashkent, where in a Polish Church there is a commemorative plaque with an epitaph :-
Panu Bogu w Trojcy Swietej Jedynemu i Matce Najswietszej z wdziecznoscia za cud ocalenia z domu niewoli uratowane przez Armie Gen. W. Andersa dzieci polskich rodzin deportowanych w latach 1940-1941 w glab ZSSR.
To One Lord God in the Holy Trinity and to Most Holly Mother in gratitude for the miracle of deliverance from the house of slavery by the saviors, the Gen. Anders's Army [we] the children of Polish families deported in the years 1940-1941 in to the abyss of USSR.
They will also pray at the Polish graves in Guzara where there are 697 graves, in Kirmine -619graves, in Szachrisabad - 246 graves, Kitab - 205..."
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