Three Polish immigrants received the Siberian Cross on Sunday, in recognition of enforced deportations of Polish citizens to Northern Russia, Siberia and Kazakstan from 1939-1956.
The medals were pinned on Stefania Wojtkow, Marian Wiacek and Frank Dreksler in a ceremony at the Royal Canadian Legion, attended by about 60, including Republic of Poland consul general Krzysztof Czapla and Canadian Polish Congress president Kazimierz Brusilo.
The 20th century deportations were among the last of a series of aggressions, occupations and invasions Poland has endured over the last 1,000 years.
“We have living proof of what Poland as a country went through,” said Brusilo, referring to the recipients of the medal, awarded to survivors still living as of January 2004.
“For hundreds of years when Russia dominated Poland, whenever someone disagreed, they sent them to Siberia,” said 81-year-old Wiacek, who was 10 when he was deported. “We were the last generation that went through that.”
His family survived the experience, and in the ensuing years, travelled through Iran and Pakistan before reaching a Polish refugee settlement in Uganda in 1942. Wiacek joined a military school in 1944, went to England in 1947 and married Danuta Biniedea in 1963. They moved with their three children to Canada in 1975, and Wiacek retired to Kootenay Lake in 1997.
“I never expected to get a medal for suffering in Siberia,” he said. “It’s so unexpected.”
The Siberian Cross is a third medal for Wojtkow, who previously earned a Second World War and King George VI Defence medals, and she was modest about receiving it.
“It’s nothing new, but I didn’t expect such a big day.”
The seventh of 10 children, Wojtkow was born in 1921, and deported when she was 17. She joined the Polish forces when Russia became an ally of Britain, and travelled throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. In Edinburgh, she was employed with the Signal Corps, sending and receiving Morse Code, and handling secret messages.
Wojtkow was honourably discharged in 1948 and came to Canada in 1952, before heading to Creston to meet longtime pen pal Stanley Wojtkow, who owned five acres between 20th and 25th avenues.
Following his passing in 1984, Wojtkow remained in the home they built in 1976, and is now a member of the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors.
Dreksler was born in 1930 and deported with his parents and three sisters in February 1940 to northern Russia, where they logged trees. Like Wiacek, they travelled through Iran and Pakistan, before arriving in Kenya.
His family arrived in Halifax in 1949, and Dreksler eventually began working at a mill in Cranbrook before retiring to Creston in 1988.
As with the others honoured on Sun-day, he is happy to call Canada home.
“We’re grateful to Canada for accepting us,” said Dreksler. “Also, we’re proud to be Canadians now.”