Faraway Soldier's Trail

In Memory of those exiled to Russian Forced Labour Camps and to the soldiers who fought with the II Corps of the Polish Army during World War II. Jan Doma?ski war time memoirs begin with German and then Russian invasion of Poland in 1939; his exile to Russian forced labour camp in 1940; long road to freedom through Russia; joining with the Polish Army and his experiences travelling through several Middle East countries; fighting with Polish II Corps led by General Anders on the Italian front; to post war life in Italy and England; to his eventual emigration to Canada in 1948. During that time he crossed dozens of foreign borders and fought in numerous battles on the Italian front. Similar route was taken by thousands of men, women and children, who were deported, or imprisoned and sentenced to many years of hard labour in the Russian forced labour camps. It is hard to believe that after the war, General Anders and his freedom fighters were labelled as enemies of the state by the Polish communist government. Yet it was so! They were not welcome and some were even prosecuted upon return to Poland. For many others from eastern Poland, known as Kresy, there was no homeland to return to, since it was now under USSR jurisdiction. Jan Doma?ski's wish was that: "May my memoirs, where I described events of the time and the paths that led me through dozens of foreign borders, remain for me and my family as well as many other families who were scattered all over the world after the end of World War II - a litany for an eternal memento."