Childhood DENIED documents the deportation of Polish children from Poland to Soviet Russia during WWII. Ania, the narrator, is a young girl taken by train in the winter of 1940 to Stalin’s killing fields in Siberia. She personifies the children whose lives were violently ripped apart by the ravages of war, often never to be repaired. This tragedy is amplified today by the fact that few people know about this chapter in the history of WWII.
An estimated 1.7 million Poles, including 380,000 children, were deported to Soviet Russia during World War II. Most of the children were forcibly seized from their families, while others lost their parents during the long and arduous journey.
The deportations began after the joint invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939, following the secret provisions of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Entire families were transported in overcrowded cattle cars to remote regions of Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Arctic north, often with little food or sanitation.
The youths had to deal with cold, hunger, slave labour and despair. Many perished, while some survived, who eventually made their way to Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, the U.K., and other lands across the globe. After the 1941 Sikorski–Mayski Agreement, thousands were released from Soviet camps and joined General Anders’ army, beginning a long trek through Central Asia and the Middle East that ultimately led some of the children to new lives abroad.
The Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom at Majdanek, unveiled in 1969, stands at the site of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Lublin, Poland. Designed by Wiktor Tołkin, its massive concrete forms and dome-like mausoleum create a stark, confrontational presence. The monument honors the tens of thousands of victims murdered at Majdanek and serves as a permanent reminder of the atrocities committed there.