KAZIMIERA KUŹNIARSKA


Senior Leader Kazimiera Kuźniarska, born on 4 March 1923 in Garwolin, county of Warsaw. Ward nurse in War Hospital no. 3.


I lived in Łuck with my father, a functionary of the State Police, and attended state secondary school there.

On 13 April 1940 at 6.00 a.m., I was deported with my family (only without my father) to the “Rote Fahne” kolkhoz in the Pavlodar Region. We traveled in horrible conditions; we didn’t even have water.

In the kolkhoz I worked as a tractor driver, but I didn’t receive any remuneration for my work. We lived in sorry conditions, three families crammed into one tiny room.

In November 1940, we were granted a permit to reside in Pavlodar, where I worked as a nurse in a tuberculosis hospital. I received a salary, although it was always overdue.

Due to the illness of my mother, who had to undergo a surgery, in January 1942 we left for Alma-Ata. I stayed three months there. After the surgery, we went to Tashkent for further treatment and I placed my mother in a hospital, while I myself went to Yangiyul, where on 16 May 1942 I joined the ranks of the Women’s Auxiliary Service.

My mother and brothers have remained in the USSR.

Official stamp, 8 March 1943