A sybirak (, plural: ''sybiracy'') is a person resettled to Siberia. Like its

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

counterpart '' sibiryák'' the word can refer to any dweller of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, but it more specifically refers to

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

imprisoned or exiled to Siberia or even to those sent to the

Russian Arctic The Extreme North or Far North (russian: Крайний Север, Дальний Север) is a large part of Russia located mainly north of the Arctic Circle and boasting enormous mineral and natural resources. Its total area is about , ...

or to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in the 1940s.

History

Russian and Soviet authorities exiled many

to Siberia, starting with the 18th-century opponents of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

's increasing influence in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

(most notably the members of the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now part of Ukraine) in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish� ...

of 1768-1772).Norman Davies, ''Europe: A History'', Oxford University Press, 1996,
Google Print, p.664
/ref> Maurice, Count de Benyovszky was deported and emigrated to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. After Russian

penal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

changed in 1847, exile and penal labor (''

katorga Katorga ( rus, ка́торга, p=ˈkatərɡə; from medieval and modern Greek: ''katergon, κάτεργον'', "galley") was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoner ...

'') became common penalties for participants in national uprisings within the Russian Empire. This led to sending an increasing number of Poles to Siberia for ''katorga'', when they then became known as ''Sybiraks''. Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Siberia. Most of them came from the participants and supporters of the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

of 1830-1831 and of the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

of 1863–1864,Jerzy Jan Lerski, Piotr Wróbel, Richard J. Kozicki, ''Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996,
Google Print, 538
/ref> from the participants of the 1905-1907 unrest and from the hundreds of thousands of people deported as a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Around the late 19th century a limited number of Polish voluntary settlers moved to Siberia, attracted by the economic development of the region. Polish migrants and exiles, many of whom were forbidden to move away from the region even after having finished serving their sentence, formed a vibrant Polish minority there. Hundreds of Poles took part in the construction of the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

. Notable Polish scholars studied Siberia, such as

Aleksander Czekanowski Aleksander Piotr Czekanowski, or Aleksandr Lavrentyevich Chekanovsky (russian: Александр Лаврентьевич Чекановский, 24 February 1833 – 30 October 1876) was a Polish geologist and explorer of Siberia during his exile ...

Jan Czerski Jan Stanisław Franciszek Czerski (russian: Иван Дементьевич Черский; 3 May 1845, in Swolna – 25 June 1892, nr. Kolyma) was a Polish paleontologist, osteologist, geologist, geographer and explorer of Siberia. He was ex ...

Benedykt Dybowski Benedykt Tadeusz Dybowski (12 May 183331 January 1930) was a Polish naturalist and physician. Life Benedykt Dybowski was born in Adamaryni, within the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire to Polish nobility. He was the brother of naturalist ...

Wiktor Godlewski Wictor Godlewski (30 December 1831 – 17 November 1900) was a Polish nobleman, explorer, and naturalist. After spending time in Siberian labour camps following his participation in the January Uprising, he began to study the natural history of t ...

, Sergiusz Jastrzębski, Edward Piekarski (1858-1934),

Bronisław Piłsudski Bronisław Piotr Piłsudski (; ; 2 November 1866 – 17 May 1918) was an ethnologist, who researched the Ainu people after he was exiled by the Tsar Alexander III of Russia to the Far East. Piłsudski pioneered research into Lithuanian cro ...

Wacław Sieroszewski Wacław Kajetan Sieroszewski (24 August 1858 – 20 April 1945) was a Polish writer, Polish Socialist Party activist, and soldier in the World War I-era Polish Legions (decorated with the Virtuti Militari). For activities subversive of the Rus ...

, Mikołaj Witkowski and others. The term ''Sybiracy'' might also refer to former exiles, such as those who were allowed to return to Russian-held Poland following the

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

of 1857 . The group, popular among the youth in the period preceding the outbreak of the

, supported the idea of

organic work Organic work ( pl, praca organiczna) was a phrase adopted from Herbert Spencer by 19th-century Polish Positivists to denote the concept that the nation's vital powers should be devoted to labour ("work from the foundations"), rather than to fruitle ...

. However, during the January Uprising it ceased to exist as some of its members supported the ''Reds'', while others supported the ''Whites''. Among the most notable members of the group were

Agaton Giller Agaton Giller (Opatówek, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, 1831 – 1887, Stanisławów, Austro-Hungary) was a Polish historian, journalist and politician. He and his brother Stefan Giller played notable roles in the Polish independence movemen ...

, Henryk Krajewski, Karol Ruprecht and Szymon Tokarzewski. About 20,000 Poles lived in Siberia around the 1860s. An unsuccessful

uprising of Polish political exiles in Siberia The Baikal Insurrection ( pl, Powstanie zabajkalskie or ''Powstanie nad Bajkałem'', russian: Кругобайкальское восстание), also known as the Siberian Uprising, was a short-lived uprising of about 700 Polish political priso ...

broke out in 1866.

Soviet era

At the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens, most of them in four mass waves. Some sources claim as many as 1.5 million deportees.Polian (2004), p. 119.Piesakowski (1990), pp. 50-51. The most conservative figuresPiotrowski (2004). use recently found NKVD documents showing 309,000Cienciala (2007), p. 139.Polian (2004), p. 118. to 381,220. Soviet authorities did not recognize ethnic Poles as Polish citizens. In addition, some of the figures are based on those given an amnesty rather than those deported, and not everyone was eligible for amnesty. Therefore, figures based on official evidence might be an underestimation.Jolluck (2002), pp. 10-11.

References

Bibliography

* Applebaum, A. (2004). ''GULAG A History'', Penguin, . * Cienciala, M. (2007). ''Katyn A Crime Without Punishment'', Yale University, . * Davies, N. (1986). ''God's Playground A History of Poland Volume II'', Clarendon, . * Ferguson, N. (2006). ''The War of the World'', Allen Lane, . * Gross, J. T. (2002). ''Revolution from Abroad'', Princeton, . * Hope, M. (2005). ''Polish Deportees in the Soviet Union'', Veritas, . * Jolluck, K. (2002). ''Exile & Identity'', University of Pittsburgh, . * Krupa, M. (2004). ''Shallow Graves in Siberia'', Birlinn, . * Malcher, G. C. (1993). ''Blank Pages'', Pyrford, . * Mikolajczyk, S. (1948). ''The Pattern of Soviet Domination'', Sampsons, low, Marston & Co. * Piesakowski, T. (1990). ''The Fate of Poles in the USSR 1939~1989'', Gryf, . * Piotrowski, T. (2004). ''The Polish Deportees of World War II'', McFarland, . * Polian, P. (2004). ''Against their Will'', CEU Press, . * Rees, L. (2008). ''World War Two Behind Closed Doors'',

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

, .

External links

Kresy-Siberia.org Kresy-Siberia Foundation and Virtual Museum
dedicated to research, remembrance and recognition of Polish citizens exiled to the Soviet Union during World War II

Website dedicated to the Sybiraks

Polish deportees in the USSR
List compiled in 1941 by

Tadeusz Romer Tadeusz Ludwik Romer (December 6, 1894 in Antonosz near Rokiškis – March 23, 1978 in Montreal) was a Polish diplomat and politician. He was a personal secretary to Roman Dmowski in 1919. Later he joined the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affai ...

, the Polish ambassador to Japan

History

Soviet era

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Further reading