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Anna Please see message no? 41511? from Nov 7 2010 as shown below from Janusz --- In Kresy-Siberia@..., "Elizabeth Olsson" wrote:
> > The Romer list is new to me too The list was announced in this group in February this year > Janusz ?€" can you explain for us just what the list contains, seeing > as the intro is in Polish. The list contains names and locations of Polish deportees, obtained mainly (if not exclusively) by Tadeusz Romer, at the time (1941) the Polish ambassador to Japan. The displaced Poles were not allowed to send any correspondence to (German- and Russian-occupied) Poland, nor to anywhere in the West. There was no such a ban on post to Japan. Somehow a deportee had an idea of writing to the Polish embassy in Tokyo, informing the embassy about his/her fate and asking whether they could get any information about other family members. One way or another, the idea spread among the deportees, and the embassy received thousands of postcards with names and location. The ambassador asked his staff and family members to make a hand-written list of all the information. Page VII of the introduction says that in January 1941 it become possible to send parcels and money to the deportees from the Far East. Special Social Security sections were created in the Polish embassy in Tokyo and consulate in Shanghai and 745 people received goods (food, clothing, medicine) or money, to the total value of about $12,300 [worth roughly $180,000 today]. And - message no 41517 In Kresy-Siberia@..., Helen Bitner wrote: > I too thank you Janusz, The person we really should be grateful to is Teresa Romer, the ambassador's daughter, who took photos of the book and kindly agreed to let us use it. Hope this helps Frances --- In Kresy-Siberia@..., "annapacewicz" wrote: > > Dear Krystyna, > > Thank you so much for uploading this - it is truly an amazing document. Though my own family are not listed (8,700 out of up to 1.7million so not that surprising) I am just curious if anybody knows, or if the introduction (which is in Polish) explains how and why so many families contacted the Ambassador in Japan? I am surprised the Soviets would have allowed letters to be posted outside of the USSR, to Japan (which was viewed as a potential invader to USSR)? And I wonder if deportees did not contact any other Ambassadors around the world and whether any other lists therefore exist (given the NKVD did not keep these files). > > Thanks again > Anna Pacewicz > Sydney > |
