After the Mass, bouquets of flowers were laid beneath the plaque commemorating the 53rd anniversary of the deportation by, among others, Senator of the Republic of Poland Jan Michalski, Lower Silesian Voivodeship Sejmik councillor Kazimierz Janik, Mayor of the City of Zgorzelec Rafał Gronicz, City Council Chairwoman Zofia Barczyk and Starost of Zgorzelec County Artur Bieliński.
February 10, 1940, is a date deeply etched in the memory of the inhabitants of the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic. Seventy-five years ago, at dawn, the first mass deportation of Poles to Siberian gulags began, officially referred to as “resettlement.” It affected more than 220,000 people—including state officials (such as judges, prosecutors and police officers), local-government activists, foresters, as well as landowners and military settlers with their families. Those deported were sent to the northern regions of the USSR, near Arkhangelsk, as well as to Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Komi.
A large group of Zgorzelec residents shared this tragedy. They were organized in the Zgorzelec branch of the Siberian Exiles Association, led by its president, Jan Matwiejczyk.
Zgorzelec City Hall/ii