Identity portfolio

By: Katherine Juszynski

Family tree:

This is a Smith and Wesson, it is the kind of gun my grandpa had.

This is Warsaw, Poland in 1940.

• What year was it? 1940

• What time was it? 5:00am

• What was the date? February 10

• Was it cold? Yes, it was very cold

• What happened at 5:00am? 4 Soviet secret police came and banged on the door, dog was barking and they hit dog with rifles

• What was the dog’s name? Drysiu

• How old was he? About 5 or 6

• Was he on a chain? Yes, he would’ve hurt • them if he wasn’t on a chain

• Was he ok after they hit him with rifles? Yes, he was tough and was fine

• Where were your parents? They were sleeping, I was the only one awake

• Did they come down after the police got inside? Yes, then the police shoved them against the wall, put guns to their heads

• What did they say? Give me your guns, parents said we don’t have any, they said if they found any they would shoot parents

• Did you have any? Yes, kept his hidden on roof, didn’t know if parents had any

• Where did you get the gun? Polish police gave it to him not long before

• What kind of gun was it? Smith and Wesson, 6 bullets

• What about your sisters? They locked all 4 sisters in a room and they were screaming

• What did you do while they checked for guns? He went with them because he was the oldest son

• How long did it take for them to check? Long time, they checked farm, basement, upstairs, downstairs, front yard, backyard.

• What animals did you have in the barn? Horses, cows, pigs, chickens

• What happened to the animals when people were deported? People who weren’t deported took care of them

• Was there anyone else in the house? Yes, his grandma was sleeping

• Why didn’t they lock her in the room? They decided to let her stay because here time was coming anyway

• Did they find the guns? No, didn’t find them

• Did they let your family go? Yes, took parents off gun-point and took sisters out of room.

• Then did they leave? They said your have 30 minutes to get out of house, get anything you can.

• Why did you have to leave? We were being deported

• Were you scared? Yes, but he was prepared because he knew it was coming, Russians had been deporting people before. Dad had been in 2 wars before and wasn’t scared

• Where were you being deported? Siberia

• How old were your sisters? 2, 4, 6, 9

• What did you take with you? Anything we could, shoes, hat, coat.

• Where did you go after that? Took us to the school whole day until they picked up all the people to be deported.

• Did you get to stay at school? Stayed overnight at school.

• How old were you? 13

• How many people were deported? About 1 million Poles were deported and another million were deported 6 months later

• Did your grandma come with you? No, she was getting very old

• How did you get to Siberia? We were on a train for 6 weeks

• Is there anything else I need to know to make this a good story? I think you have all of the information!

One Moment Can Change Everything.

The instant there was a bang on the door, I knew exactly who it was. The ruthless faces of the two Soviet secret police standing outside our door sent a tingle up my spine. Considering it was 5:00am and I was the only one awake, I opened the door as inaudibly as I could. I watched as another two approached the house. The puke green color of their jackets disgusted me. The fancy double-litzen Prussian collar bars on their coats was probably meant to impress people with their authority, but it made me think even less of them.

Drysiu’s strong, booming barks didn’t intimidate them the slightest bit. They smacked my sister’s dog with rifles as he barked, and continued walking. He didn’t back down though, he stayed impregnable and held his ground. It gave me a sense of pride that he could completely ignore the

guns being walloped into his face and continue barking. Just thinking of the damage he could’ve done if he weren’t on a chain gave me a shudder.

The thumping of my parent’s feet relaxed my body. Assuring me that I wasn’t alone. The ruckus overwhelmed me. They slammed my parents against the wall, knocking the wind out of them. They gasped for air as the police thrust them into the wall. Their attempt to take a deep breath was no use. My mother was in such shock; she couldn’t have taken a single inhalation even if her life wasn’t flashing before her eyes.

“Give me your guns,” the gruff roar of a secret police threatened everybody in the room.

“We, we don’t have any,” the quiver in my mom’s voice sent a twinge of sorrow through my chest. Be strong, Mom. Hang in there. They can smell fear, stay calm. I wished she could’ve read my mind. She might have tried to be calmer if she knew

what they would do to us if they found out we had guns. You’re going to be ok; it’s all going to be ok.

Two of the secret police strode down the stairs with my four sisters in their stalky arms. They tossed them into a room and rapidly locked the door. I could hear the screams of hysteria being muffled by the door. A wave of sympathy washed through my body as I thought of my four sisters being trapped in that room, with no understanding of the lives at risk. I wished they could have just been normal girls, and go to school, and play.

The insipid faces of the police gave me the feeling that they had done this many times before, and were indifferent about how families felt during a situation like this. I stared at my helpless parents, panting, trying to catch their breath. What if they do find our guns? My sisters won’t have any parents! They will always be living in the shadow of fear after this experience. I knew I shouldn’t have been

panicking, but I couldn’t help but think of all of the possibilities. I pushed the thought aside, because it was giving me a knot in my stomach. My father, who was used to the war and things like this happening, was fine. However, my mother was shaking uncontrollably.

“Hey, you, oldest son!” the brusque voice of the Soviet secret police showed that he had no sympathy for us. “If we find so much as one gun on this property, we shoot them.” He shoved his finger in the direction of my parents. I would have been nervous if I didn’t know this was coming. I kept my Smith and Wesson very well hidden on the roof, loaded with 6 bullets, in anticipation that this would happen. I had gotten the gun from Polish soldiers not long before. The Russians had been checking Polish homes for guns for the past couple days, and it was just a matter of time until it happened to us. I was confident that they wouldn’t find my gun, but I wasn’t too sure where my parents

kept theirs, or if they had any for that matter. I wasn’t positive that they even knew I had a gun, considering I was only 13. I heard one last screech from the room my sisters were contained in, before I was abruptly shoved out of the house.

I followed the secret police around the house and farm while they checked for guns. They snooped around the farm and the basement, and the first and second floor. They decided they would let my sleeping grandma stay in bed, they knew her time was coming anyway. After checking the whole house, they released their grips on my parents, lowered the guns, and let my sisters out of the room.

“You have 30 minutes to get out,” and with that, they were gone, showing absolutely no emotion.I knew right then that we were being deported. My sisters would never have a normal life. We would never see Poland again.

Research notes:1.Smith and Wesson was the type of

gun Grandpa had2.Soviet secret police wore green

jackets3.They wore double-litzen Prussian

collar bars

This is what the Soviet secret police wore.

Bibliography:“Jacket, M1986 Parade Dress: Stabsgefreiter, DDR (Wachregiment F. Dzierzynski.)” IWM, 2012 <http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/ item/object/30090619>

“NSZ - National Armed Forces (pol. Narodowe Siły Zbrojne)” National armed forces, 2008-2010. <http:// www.nationalarmedforces.com>

“World War II” World Book - Student. Pudong secondary, 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012 <http:/ www.worldbookonline.com/ student/ article? id=ar610460&st=world+war+2>

“Russian Soviet Communist KGB Chest Badge - USSR secret police force.” Etsy, 2012. <http:// www.etsy.com/ listing/108450962/ russian-soviet-communist- kgb- chest- badge>

1.How has working on this project helped you learn about your family’s history and given you a better sense of your identity?

Interviewing my grandpa made me realize how emotional this is for him. I was able to hear him tell me about the experience in a very personal way.

2.Why do you think doing a project like this is important?

It gave me an understanding of what life was like for my relatives, and gave me a connection to their history. Writing this story helped me try to understand how they had to live.

3.What part of this project did you enjoy the most? Why?

I enjoyed interviewing my grandpa because it gave me an understanding of how hard it was to live in his situation and how hard it is for him to talk about.

4.What specific challenges did you face during this project and how did you over come them?

It was hard for me to find things to research and to find what I was looking for while I was researching. I asked Mr. Robinson for help with my research and I ended up on the right track.

5. What advice would you give future students as they begin this project?

Start writing your story right after your interview. Write it over October break so that if you need more information, you have time to interview your family member again.