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For what its worth in the book -General Anders and the soldiers of The Second Polish Corps- by Harvey Sarner on page 33 there is this.


'In Autumn of 1941'...'there was utter chaos when the Soviets collected trekkers and began sending them back to camps in the north. Some trekkers lived in train stations waiting for trains that would never come. Many died of hunger and exposure.'


If you like I can scan the page for you. Might also be worth contacting the author? You might try contacting the Hoover institute and ask for any depositions written by the people you mention. I've done this a few times with interesting results.

Just my 2 cents
Chris Calgary



________________________________
From: annapacewicz <annapacewicz@...>
To: Kresy-Siberia@...
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 4:16:55 PM
Subject: [www.Kresy-Siberia.org] Civilian tragedy Totskoye



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Dear group,

I hope that you can help me solve a mystery.

I have two eye-witness accounts of Poles in the Orenburg oblast in winter 1941. I would like to find out more information about this tragic incident.

My father Wladyslaw Pacewicz and also Sybirak Jadwiga Socha (z domu Jablonska, and first marriage surname was Raciborska) both enlisted at Tockoje in the 18th Infantry Regiment, in the 6th Infantry Division. My father enlisted on 1st December 1941. At the end of January 1942 the Division was transferred to Uzbekistan.

Both my father, and Jadwiga, recall that a convoy of 23 - 25 wagons containing Polish civilians travelling to the Polish Army in the Winter of 1942 were kept on the sidings for THREE DAYS with the doors shut, with no food and with no fuel for heating. When the NKVD officer finally opened the door to the wagon both my father and Jadwiga saw the frozen, dead bodies of women and children. One woman was holding her baby ?€" they were all frozen and dead.

Jadwiga recalls the station was CZKA???"W ?€" it was in the Orenburg Oblast (note this has since been re-named Orenburg Station).
Jadwiga recalls that she and small group of other Polish soldiers (about 6 - 7) were living near the station. The Polkownik and the small group of Polish soldiers were a sort of "welcoming committee". They were awaiting a trainload of Polish civilians being transported who were due to arrive at CZKA???"W.

Jadwiga recalls the following names who were with her in the group ?€" they included a female doctor by the name of Dr. Maria Chmurzyna, a female soldier by the name of Kama and a male soldier by the name of Wladek (or Wojtek, but she thinks Wladek ?€" we think my father Wladyslaw Pacewicz) and a Polkownik Gwozdziecki.

The group's role was to wait at the station for trainloads of Polish civilians being transported and the Polkownik couldn't understand why days were passing and this particular train had not arrived. The group was waiting to meet the train and organise food to be given out at the station. When the Russian NKVD were asked about the train, they told the Poles that the train had gone through during the night and must have been missed by the waiting Polish soldiers.

A few days later, the Polkownik was told (in confidence) by one of the Russians whom he had become friendly with that there was a train that had been re-directed to a siding about 2km before the station at CZKA???"W. The Polkownik then made enquiries and, after a while, the train was "found".

When the doors to the first wagon were opened by the Polkownik and the male soldiers, Jadwiga heard the Polkownik scream out "Oh my God" (Oj moj Boze). When Jadwiga and the remaining soldiers who were waiting behind him looked in the wagons, they saw a mass of frozen bodies.

Jadwiga vividly recalls the first body she saw was a mother holding an infant to her breast, and the mother and infant had signs of charcoal around their mouths. She said the male soldiers then ran from wagon to wagon opening the doors and the same sight of masses of dead bodies greeting them as each of the doors was opened.

Jadwiga recalls that the Polkownik officially reported the tragedy to the NKVD and his own superiors and General Anders. Jadwiga recalls the bodies were supposed to have been taken out of the wagons during the next two days.

Jadwiga and the small group of Polish soldiers were told not to speak of the incident to anyone else and definitely not to tell anybody what they had seen. Jadwiga said that within two days, the Polkownik called the small group of Polish soldiers to a meeting, told them he had been given tickets for the group by the Russian station worker who had told him about the train being on the siding. The Polkownik told them they all had to escape from CZKA???"W quickly as their lives were in danger. He told them that they were to be dressed and ready to escape; they were to wait in the dark near the station till a train that was leaving CZKA???"W in the middle of the night was almost due to depart the station at CZKA???"W, then on his signal they were to quickly get into a dark wagon. This is how they escaped with their lives.

Personally, my father recalled the incident of the frozen women and children who had not been collected in time from the station to me many years ago. It was clearly a suppressed memory and on two occasions he recalled it, crying and distressed. He did not mention anything about "escaping" or their lives being in danger.

I spoke to Jadwiga, a 99 year old Sybirak, this week regarding this incident. She still has a very good memory and remembered it vividly and was extremely upset.

Her Wall of Names profile is:

Jadwiga is convinced that Wladyslaw (my father) was one of the small group of Polish soldiers that she was part of waiting at the station. She says that is the only way he would have known about the mass of dead bodies, and she recalls a Wladek being with her group.

Jadwiga's daughter recalls her mother speaking of this tragedy at least 55 years' ago, and on many occasions since then.