Born to Stanisław Polak and his wife, Zofia Maria (nee Goralczyk) Polak, Jadwiga was the youngest girl in the family of five daughters and one son living in in Skałat, Poland.
Young Jadwiga endured WWII's worst moments, including her family being forced out of her Polish homeland at gunpoint by NKVD soldiers (the Soviet Secret Police, which later became the KGB) in the middle of the night on June 29, 1940. The family was loaded into a large cattle car on a very long train with two other Polish families and three Jewish families for a total of 26 people in the cattle car. They slept on rough-hewn boards and used an opening in the middle of the car as the toilet. They were fed only once each day, usually some kind of soup and bread and some hot water. They took the train to the last station at Tynda (Tyndinskiy) in the Yakutek Province. The family was then taken by truck to Aldan; this took two days, and each night they slept on the bare ground with no shelter.
In Aldan, the Soviets took all their belongings, and the family was marched for two days to the settlement of Nerezh, arriving there on August 15, 1940; The journey from Skałat to Nerezh, Siberia lasted almost six weeks. In Nerezh, they stayed in a tent, a number of families per tent, until mid-September when they were moved to a barracks that at one time had housed Soviet political prisoners. The barracks were old log cabins with dirt and grass shoved between the logs to seal the gaps -- they were also filled with fleas and bedbugs which bit the family unmercifully.
Jadwiga and her siblings escaped the Soviet Union in 1942 and traveled to Persia (Iran) where little Jadwiga sadly passed away at a hospital in Tehran, Iran. Unfortunately, the long, arduous journey took its toll on Jadwiga as she had never received proper nutrition, especially milk and other dairy products, so she was in very fragile health. Jadwiga was buried at the Doulab Catholic Cemetery in Tehran, Iran in grave #420.
Jadwiga's cause of death was a dysentery-like disease called "pellagra." May you rest in heavenly peace, Jadwiga. ❤
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Young Jadwiga endured WWII's worst moments, including her family being forced out of her Polish homeland at gunpoint by NKVD soldiers (the Soviet Secret Police, which later became the KGB) in the middle of the night on June 29, 1940. The family was loaded into a large cattle car on a very long train with two other Polish families and three Jewish families for a total of 26 people in the cattle car. They slept on rough-hewn boards and used an opening in the middle of the car as the toilet. They were fed only once each day, usually some kind of soup and bread and some hot water. They took the train to the last station at Tynda (Tyndinskiy) in the Yakutek Province. The family was then taken by truck to Aldan; this took two days, and each night they slept on the bare ground with no shelter.
In Aldan, the Soviets took all their belongings, and the family was marched for two days to the settlement of Nerezh, arriving there on August 15, 1940; The journey from Skałat to Nerezh, Siberia lasted almost six weeks. In Nerezh, they stayed in a tent, a number of families per tent, until mid-September when they were moved to a barracks that at one time had housed Soviet political prisoners. The barracks were old log cabins with dirt and grass shoved between the logs to seal the gaps -- they were also filled with fleas and bedbugs which bit the family unmercifully.
Jadwiga and her siblings escaped the Soviet Union in 1942 and traveled to Persia (Iran) where little Jadwiga sadly passed away at a hospital in Tehran, Iran. Unfortunately, the long, arduous journey took its toll on Jadwiga as she had never received proper nutrition, especially milk and other dairy products, so she was in very fragile health. Jadwiga was buried at the Doulab Catholic Cemetery in Tehran, Iran in grave #420.
Jadwiga's cause of death was a dysentery-like disease called "pellagra." May you rest in heavenly peace, Jadwiga. ❤
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Born to Stanisław Polak and his wife, Zofia Maria (nee Goralczyk) Polak, Jadwiga was the youngest girl in the family of five daughters and one son living in in Skałat, Poland.
Young Jadwiga endured WWII's worst moments, including her family being forced out of her Polish homeland at gunpoint by NKVD soldiers (the Soviet Secret Police, which later became the KGB) in the middle of the night on June 29, 1940. The family was loaded into a large cattle car on a very long train with two other Polish families and three Jewish families for a total of 26 people in the cattle car. They slept on rough-hewn boards and used an opening in the middle of the car as the toilet. They were fed only once each day, usually some kind of soup and bread and some hot water. They took the train to the last station at Tynda (Tyndinskiy) in the Yakutek Province. The family was then taken by truck to Aldan; this took two days, and each night they slept on the bare ground with no shelter.
In Aldan, the Soviets took all their belongings, and the family was marched for two days to the settlement of Nerezh, arriving there on August 15, 1940; The journey from Skałat to Nerezh, Siberia lasted almost six weeks. In Nerezh, they stayed in a tent, a number of families per tent, until mid-September when they were moved to a barracks that at one time had housed Soviet political prisoners. The barracks were old log cabins with dirt and grass shoved between the logs to seal the gaps -- they were also filled with fleas and bedbugs which bit the family unmercifully.
Jadwiga and her siblings escaped the Soviet Union in 1942 and traveled to Persia (Iran) where little Jadwiga sadly passed away at a hospital in Tehran, Iran. Unfortunately, the long, arduous journey took its toll on Jadwiga as she had never received proper nutrition, especially milk and other dairy products, so she was in very fragile health. Jadwiga was buried at the Doulab Catholic Cemetery in Tehran, Iran in grave #420.
Jadwiga's cause of death was a dysentery-like disease called "pellagra." May you rest in heavenly peace, Jadwiga. ❤
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Young Jadwiga endured WWII's worst moments, including her family being forced out of her Polish homeland at gunpoint by NKVD soldiers (the Soviet Secret Police, which later became the KGB) in the middle of the night on June 29, 1940. The family was loaded into a large cattle car on a very long train with two other Polish families and three Jewish families for a total of 26 people in the cattle car. They slept on rough-hewn boards and used an opening in the middle of the car as the toilet. They were fed only once each day, usually some kind of soup and bread and some hot water. They took the train to the last station at Tynda (Tyndinskiy) in the Yakutek Province. The family was then taken by truck to Aldan; this took two days, and each night they slept on the bare ground with no shelter.
In Aldan, the Soviets took all their belongings, and the family was marched for two days to the settlement of Nerezh, arriving there on August 15, 1940; The journey from Skałat to Nerezh, Siberia lasted almost six weeks. In Nerezh, they stayed in a tent, a number of families per tent, until mid-September when they were moved to a barracks that at one time had housed Soviet political prisoners. The barracks were old log cabins with dirt and grass shoved between the logs to seal the gaps -- they were also filled with fleas and bedbugs which bit the family unmercifully.
Jadwiga and her siblings escaped the Soviet Union in 1942 and traveled to Persia (Iran) where little Jadwiga sadly passed away at a hospital in Tehran, Iran. Unfortunately, the long, arduous journey took its toll on Jadwiga as she had never received proper nutrition, especially milk and other dairy products, so she was in very fragile health. Jadwiga was buried at the Doulab Catholic Cemetery in Tehran, Iran in grave #420.
Jadwiga's cause of death was a dysentery-like disease called "pellagra." May you rest in heavenly peace, Jadwiga. ❤
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Inscription
Jadwiga Polak's grave marker inscription includes her grave number (420) at the top, the initials S. and P. on either side of a Maltese-style cross, her name, dates of birth (1939) and death (1942), and "R.I.P."
The letters "S.P." are an abbreviation of the Polish phrase "swietej pamieci," which means "in memory of" or "of holy memory."
Gravesite Details
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