"Migrations in the 20 th century and their consequences – ways forward for history lessons within a European context"

The inhabitants of S*dowa Wisznia set out on 
their journey, as did those who had found a place to live there in the chaos of the war. The 
wagons were surrounded by armed guards, whose purpose was to protect us from barbarians 
and ensure we were not murdered on the way. We were held up for quite a while at the frontier 
barrier at Medyka, which was now the Polish-Russian border. The Russians searched the 
wagons, allegedly for weapons. They took this opportunity to rob us of everything we had, from 
things of value - if anyone still had something hidden - to all our documents (...) All the refugees 
gathered in Przemy*l, which was where the population of East Galicia, Podole and Wo*y* had 
assembled, waiting for rail transport to the west. We waited for two months.
29
It was painful for everyone to leave their parents' home and everything they held near and dear: 
Finally, the day before we were due to leave arrived. It was early in the morning. The sun was 
shining "to order", as if in a novel. After a last look at the house, the orchard and the lilac in 
front of the house, we pulled away in our cart, drawn by a wretched little horse. An indifferent 
Ukrainian was standing on the threshold. We could not see him because of the tears in our 
eyes, which welled up; and we felt choked. We had been living there for so many years.
Memories of our happy childhood, the sad times we went through and our house flashed across 
our minds in rapid succession. I still cannot banish the image of my house from my tear-filled 
eyes.
When we reached the station we unloaded our luggage and placed it in a very long line of boxes 
and people waiting along the tracks. ... We waited at Stryj station, out in the open, for two 
weeks. The transport did not come. People cursed, but there was no point in going back home, 
as the Ukrainians were already living in our houses. We waited ... It rained ... Finally, we 
decided to bribe the stationmaster to get him to speed things up and provide the transport. We 
collected food and drink, such as vodka. The next day our transport arrived.
When the train came we were speechless: the wagons were simple coal trucks, some high, 
some low, and had no roofs. Nevertheless, people ran to them, happy that something was now 
finally happening and the waiting was over.
30
When they finally arrived at their destination they looked for vacant housing or an uninhabited 
farm, but only those who got there first were lucky. As a rule, the expellees found a place to 
settle by moving out into the surrounding area from the railway stations at which they had been 
unloaded, until they discovered somewhere to stay. However, in many cases resettlers from 
central Poland had already secured for themselves the best houses, flats and farms. They had 
been induced to go west (or, to be more accurate, to the "wild west") with the promise that 
everyone from central Poland would be given a farm. These resettlers therefore really did come 
of their own free will in the hope of a better life. They often made a spontaneous decision to 
settle somewhere and took what they needed to start afresh from the property the Germans had 
left behind. In many cases, they did not want to stay permanently, but only to make some 
money and then take the cattle, machinery and anything of value to central Poland. At the end 
of 1945 there were more than 700,000 of them, and they were the largest group among the new 
arrivals.
29
K. Tyszkowska, "Das Los der Umsiedler". From the history competition "Repatriierte - die polnische 
Ansiedlung im Westen und Norden Polens", Wroc*aw 1993, p. 13.
30
"Pami*tniki osadników Ziem Odzyskanych", Pozna*, 1963, pp. 197-198.

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The most disadvantaged among the resettlers were the so-called 
sybiracy
, a term used to 
describe the Poles who had spent the war as deportees in detention camps in the northern and 
eastern regions of the Soviet Union. They differed in many respects from the other Polish 
settlers. Even in post-war Poland, their poverty could not be overlooked. Their six-year exile 
had robbed them of everything, including their health. In many cases they were only individual 
members of a family and orphaned children, and they arrived completely debilitated. The 
political situation was also extremely unfavourable for them, because the Soviet Union, the main 
cause of their misfortune, was now Poland's great ally and protector. In addition, when they 
arrived in 1946, the intact and well-equipped flats and houses that had been vacated by 
Germans were no longer available. Many were accommodated with other settler families. The 
propaganda was wrong, and the new places for them to settle in did not constitute a Promised 
Land full of good prospects for the future.