A short history of the Skotny Family - information contributed by Beata Hanks.

My grandparents were Michał and Rozalia Skotny, they originaly came from Czyżki, a village on the outskirts of Lwów which, before WW2, was part of Poland. They had 10 children, Stasia, Andrzej, Mietek,  my mother Ludka, Tadzik, Marysia, Kazik, Franek, Marian and Joasia.  Andrzej  was killed fighting in the Polish Resistance, we never found out were he was buried.  Luckily the rest of the family survived the ordeal of war, deportations and exile.

The  journey to England was traumatic and harrowing it started on the 10th of February 1940 when the NKVD ( Soviet security service, precursor to the better known KGB) carried out mass deportations of the Polish civilian population to the depths of Siberia. On that day over 100,000 people were displaced. People including my grandparents were given 1hr. to gather up their belongings, whatever they could carry, and were taken to railway stations where they were crammed into cattle trucks just like animals. Men, women, children, young and old, had to endure extreme cold, hunger and fatigue while being transported into exile in various parts of  Siberia, many did not survive the journey.

After a three week journey our family arrived at  Szyczenga, Wołogodskaja Oblast. On March 3rd that year my grandmother gave birth to her last child Józia.  I cannot imagine how it must been for her when you consider the comforts we now have when we have our children.  They lived in primitive accommodation and all had to work in the forest just to earn enough to survive.  The men were chopping down trees and the women and children hacking away the branches. This went on for nearly 19 months.

With the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, came a short window of hope. General Władysław Anders organised a Polish Army in Russia and all able bodied men and women, and in many cases families, that were able to reach recruitment centres signed up and left Russia through Iran to join our British allies in the middle East.  My Grandfather, my mother Ludka and uncles Mietek, Tadzik and Kazik  also joined the Anders army ready to fight for their freedom.

My mother and two of her brothers joined Gen. Anders' army as cadets (Junacy) and were sent to Palestine. Mum eventually was promoted to Sergeant in the WAAF and stationed at RAF Newton in Nottinghamshire.  Her brother Mietek fought at Monte Cassino and, until his death in 2007, carried a bullet near his spine as a memento.

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