For the older generation of Poles, the 10th February 1940 is an especially poignant date. From the start of Stalin’s Purges in 1934, throughout the thirties, throughout the forties, and right up to his death in 1953, it is estimated that around four million of his own people died as a result of resettlement to … Continue reading On this day in 1940
Continuing on my journey across once-Polish land and now Ukraine, we also stopped in Mizun, near Dolina at my request. Larger than Michalovka, with brick buildings as well as wooden huts, it had the air of a run-down place, despite the backdrop of beautiful woodland. My parents moved here just before the war (1939) when … Continue reading My visit to the Ukraine 2011 – part 2 – Mizun, near Dolina
In 2011, I was lucky enough to be able to make my own journey to the Ukraine to re-trace where my parents had lived. Visiting my mother’s village was like stepping back in time: small wooden houses, some dilapidated, some supported with lean-to sheds, all surrounded by vegetable plots or small orchards. The surrounding countryside … Continue reading My visit to the Ukraine 2011 – part 1 – Michalovka near Rava Ruska
In Volume 2 of ‘The Journey’, I describe the voyage from Palestine to England with my mother Anastazia. In January 1948 our boat, the SS Samaria, set sail from Port Said in Egypt and two weeks later we docked in Liverpool, having crossed The Mediterranean and negotiated the turbulent waters around the Bay of Biscay. … Continue reading A new life in England
Anastazia Malinska was my mother. I based the character of Anastazia in my novel ‘The Journey’ on her. She was the youngest in a family of five and only a small child when her father and her oldest brother (17) were called to arms in the First World War. The next few years her mother … Continue reading Who was Anastazia Malinska?
Ady Dayman was kind enough to invite me to be interviewed for his show at Radio Leicester. The interview was broadcast earlier this week. He asked me to talk about my book ‘The Journey’ and describe the harrowing details of the experiences my parents endured as they were packed onto cattle trucks with hundreds of … Continue reading My interview with Ady Dayman at Radio Leicester
My generation of Polish children, born during or just after the war, was brought up on our parents’ stories of their dramatic wartime experiences. As I child, I was unable to comprehend exactly what those stories meant in reality. I didn’t understand the horrors they had experienced in their recent past. When I grew up, … Continue reading Why I wrote ‘Stolen Years’ and ‘The Journey’
One of the characters in both my novels ‘Stolen Years’ and ‘The Journey’ is Miro. He is a small child in the first novel and a young adult in the third volume of ‘The Journey’. Miro is based on a real person, who later became my husband – Michael Myers. In the early 1980’s we … Continue reading My husband’s 100 word story
I was invited by Barbara Czyżnikowska to take part in the events organised by Project Polska in Leicester to celebrate the Polish Heritage Weekend (05 & 06 May 2018). As part of the Polish Independence Centennial Celebration this year, Project Polska has been collecting 100 stories in 100 words of 100 Polish residents in Leicester. … Continue reading My Speech for Polish Heritage Weekend – 05 & 06 May 2018
Kazia Myers 