70 Years Since I Saw Hell

69 years ago. Marja Zareba was relaxing with her sisters Ewa, Danusza, and Janka. When all was calm trucks roared over the horizon. Eastern Poland was controlled by the USSR at the time so it was no surprise that the Soviets had come, but they did not know for what.

Next thing Marja knew was that her father and military policeman Major Adasz Zareba and her mother Marta were on a train headed east.

The trip through Russia was long and hard, the Soviet officers at this time had performed the massacre at Katyn, where 8,000 Polish officers were shot point blank. This became the point where the Polish people realized the Nazi's were not as bad as the so called 'Red Monsters' of the Red Army.

The Zareba's ended up in what is now Kazakhstan, and were welcomed greatly by the Kirgiz people. At that time it was absolutely forbidden to refer to the people as Kirgiz as it would ruin Soviet pride. The Kirgiz people taught Marja to make real class 'sok' or tea.

After the encounter in Kazakhstan the Russians were betrayed by Nazi Germany and let the Zareba's and other Polish families off to the south to one of the exiled Polish armies in Iran where Marja was educated at the University of Tehran.

Soon after their journey turned to Lebanon and down to Egypt where they found hope. They were going to be taken to the exiled Polish Government near Liverpool, England.

When the Zareba's made it to the camp near Liverpool they worked in the canteen and that's where Marja looked over to a Polish Captain named Antoni Andrszejewski and said 'That is the man I will marry.'

Sure enough it was, Antoni proposed to Marja and got accepted. Antoni moved to Canada and Marja followed. They got married in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Antoni became the commissioner of the Polish Scout group of Canada and worked as a machinist. They raised three kids the oldest Antoni jr. Baszia (Barbera) and Jadwiga.

Antoni passed away on February 11th 1995, on the day of their anniversary and a month after my birth. May he rest in peace.