A sybirak (, plural: ''sybiracy'') is a person resettled to Siberia. Like its

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

counterpart '' sibiryák'', the word can refer to any dweller of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, but it more specifically refers to

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

imprisoned or exiled to Siberia or even to those sent to the

Russian Arctic The Extreme North or the Far North is a large part of Russia located mainly north of the Arctic Circle and boasting enormous mineral and natural resources. Its total area is about , comprising about one-third of Russia's total area. Formall ...

or to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

in the 1940s (post

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

Russian and Soviet authorities exiled many

to Siberia, starting with the 18th-century opponents of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

's increasing influence in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

(most notably the members of the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation (; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (''szlachta'') formed at the fortress of Bar, Ukraine, Bar in Podolia (now Ukraine), in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian C ...

of 1768–1772). Maurice, Count de Benyovszky was deported and emigrated to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. After the Russian Empire's

penal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is esta ...

changed in 1847, exile and penal labor (''

katorga Katorga (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited a ...

'') became common punishment for participants in national uprisings within the empire. This led to sending an increasing number of Poles to Siberia for ''katorga'', when they then became known as ''Sybiraks''. Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Siberia. Most of them came from the participants and supporters of the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

of 1830-1831 and of the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

of 1863–1864, from the participants of the 1905-1907 unrest and from the hundreds of thousands of people deported after the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Around the late 19th century, a number of Polish voluntary settlers moved to Siberia, attracted by the economic development of the region. Polish migrants and exiles, many of whom were forbidden to move away from the region even after having finished serving their sentence, formed a Polish minority there. Hundreds of Poles took part in the construction of the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

. Notable Polish scholars studied Siberia, such as

Aleksander Czekanowski Aleksander Piotr Czekanowski, or Aleksandr Lavrentyevich Chekanovsky (, 24 February 1833 – 30 October 1876) was a Polish geologist and explorer of Siberia during his exile after participating in the January Uprising. He took part in and later le ...

Jan Czerski Jan Stanisław Franciszek Czerski, also known as Ivan Dementievich Chersky () or Yan Dominikovich Chersky (; – ), was a Polish, Belarusian, and Russian paleontologist, osteologist, geologist, geographer and explorer of Siberia. He was exi ...

Benedykt Dybowski Benedykt Tadeusz Dybowski (12 May 183331 January 1930) was a Polish naturalist and physician. Life Benedykt Dybowski was born in Adamaryni, within the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire to Polish nobility. He was the brother of naturalis ...

Wiktor Godlewski Wictor Godlewski (30 December 1831 – 17 November 1900) was a Polish nobleman, explorer, and naturalist. After spending time in Katorga, Siberian labour camps following his participation in the January Uprising, he began to study the natural histo ...

, Sergiusz Jastrzębski, Edward Piekarski (1858-1934),

Bronisław Piłsudski Bronisław Piotr Piłsudski (; 2 November 1866 – 17 May 1918) was a Polish ethnologist who researched the Ainu people after he was exiled by Tsar Alexander III of Russia to the Far East. Piłsudski considered himself Polish, Lithuanian ...

Wacław Sieroszewski Wacław Kajetan Sieroszewski (24 August 1858 – 20 April 1945) was a Polish writer, Polish Socialist Party activist, and soldier in the World War I-era Polish Legions (decorated with the Virtuti Militari). For activities subversive of th ...

, Mikołaj Witkowski and others. The term ''Sybiracy'' might also refer to former exiles, such as those who were allowed to return to Russian controlled parts of Poland following the

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

of 1857 . The group, popular among the youth in the period preceding the outbreak of the

, supported the idea of

organic work Organic work () was a phrase adopted from Herbert Spencer by 19th-century Polish Positivists to denote the concept that the nation's vital powers should be devoted to labour ("work from the foundations"), rather than to fruitless national uprisin ...

. However, during the January Uprising it ceased to exist as some of its members supported the Reds, while others supported the Whites. Among the most notable members of the group were

Agaton Giller Agaton Giller ( Opatówek, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, 1831 – 1887, Stanisławów, Austro-Hungary) was a Polish historian, journalist and politician. He and his brother Stefan Giller played notable roles in the Polish independence moveme ...

, Henryk Krajewski,

Karol Ruprecht Karol may refer to: Places * Karol, Gujarat, a village on Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, west India ** Karol State, a former Rajput petty princely state with seat in the above town *Karol Bagh, neighbourhood of Central Delhi, Delhi, India **Ka ...

and Szymon Tokarzewski. About 20,000 Poles lived in Siberia around the 1860s. An unsuccessful uprising of Polish political exiles in Siberia broke out in 1866.

Soviet era

At the start of

the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens, most of them in four mass waves. Some sources claim as many as 1.5 million deportees. The most conservative figures use recently found

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

documents showing 309,000 to 381,220. Soviet authorities did not recognize ethnic Poles as Polish citizens. In addition, some of the figures are based on those given an amnesty rather than those deported, and not everyone was eligible for amnesty. Therefore, figures based on official evidence might be an underestimation.

References

External links

Kresy-Siberia.org Kresy-Siberia Foundation and Virtual Museum
dedicated to research, remembrance and recognition of Polish citizens exiled to the Soviet Union during World War II

*{{in lang, pl}
Website dedicated to the Sybiraks

Polish deportees in the USSR
List compiled in 1941 by

Tadeusz Romer Tadeusz Ludwik Romer (6 December 1894 in Antanašė near Rokiškis - 23 March 1978 in Montreal) was a Polish diplomat and politician. Life and career He was a personal secretary to Roman Dmowski in 1919. Later he joined the Polish Ministry of For ...

, the Polish ambassador to Japan Deportation History of Siberia Poland–Soviet Union relations Soviet World War II crimes in Poland Polish prisoners and detainees Polish diaspora in Siberia

History

Soviet era

See also

References

Further reading

External links