The Journey of the Siberian Orphans
I am starting work for an exhibition “Journey of the Siberian Orphans” A two year project, goal is 60 pieces in this artist “David Leffel inspired” direct painting technique. This exhibition will complemented with four remarkable paintings by special guest artist Edwin Kayton, of Kona Hawaii.
During the 1800’s many Polish people were banished to Siberia for rising against czarist Russia’s repressive policies. By the 1920s war and chaos followed the Russian Revolution and the Poles were cast as “enemies of the people". They fled east as refugees, many died from disease, starvation, cold or violence on the journey, leaving innumerable Polish children as orphans trapped in Siberia. The Polish Rescue Committee worked tirelessly in Siberia to rescue nearly 900 orphans. The Japanese Red Cross and the compassionate Japanese people transported and housed the orphans at Fukudenkai in Toyko, where they were returned to good health, clothed and cared for. The plan was to bring the children to Poland but this country was still in upheaval, so the orphans were accommodated in orphanages ran by the Felician Sisters in Milwaukee and Chicago, USA. In 1922 the first group of orphans were transported to Poland, their homeland but a country many of them had never been. More details of this story is available in the book “Escape from Siberia, Escape from Memory” by author Paul Wojdak.
“Harvesting Greens”
Peasant woman working rich farmland. Poland was and still is characterized by small family farms. Half the country is farmland. Poland produces grains, vegetables and fruit, meat and diary products.
“Polish Homestead”
An abandoned home, becoming overgrown. Two million Poles were forced by the Russian army to move east when Germany invaded in 1915. It was not until 1922, after the Polish-Soviet war that, if alive and if able, they might return to their homes and farms.
“Much Loved Traveller”
This painting was inspired by a teddy bear named “Misio”. Its first owner was a young girl born in 1919 in Lvov. After 1945 Misio moved to Krakow with the next generation, it has since emigrated to Canada to accompany the third and fourth generation of Polish children.
“Winter Wonder”
A polish home in winter. Poland’s northern winter temperatures average 6 degrees to -3 degrees celsius. Many Poles were exiled to Siberia where the average winter temperatures were -15 degrees to at times dropping to -60 degrees celsius. They were not prepared for these harsh winters.
“Polka Dziadek”
A popular tune played on an accordion from the end of the 19th century. As its name implies, it is a polka with a lively melody for celebration and dancing. Although exiles were not allowed to bring all their belongings to Siberia, some did transport their musical instruments.
“The Water Carrier”
Many Polish villages had a central well in the village square that provided drinking water to villagers.
“Hand-made Furniture”
Impoverished families in Siberia made their own chairs, tables, beds and cabinets. Items that could not be made might be obtained by bartering. If any money was earned it would be spent on tools, food or perhaps a farm animal.
“Building the Siberian Railway- Bridge building”
Everywhere in Siberia there are major rivers that become torrents each spring. Bridging such rivers requires major structures and large rock to secure the footings.
“Building the Siberian Railway - Tunnels”
Eastern Siberia south of Lake Baikal is rugged mountains and deeply incised rivers difficult for railway construction. It required engineers to design tunnels and skilled labour to build them, as well as a massive workforce of 62,000 that included Polish and Russion convicts.
“Anna Biekiewicz”
Her face hints of her charm and eyes gentle but show strong character and steely resolve. Born in Poland in 1877 into a family with a history of patriotism. Her father was exiled for his involvement in the 1863 revolution. Anna was a teacher but became politically active during the 1905 uprising, she defended those arrested in court, argued for a reduced sentence if convicted and collected donations to support their families. She became a police target herself and fled to France following a long line of Polish emigres. During World War I she travelled to Vladivostok, Russia as the wife of a railroad engineer. As the state of Polish families in Siberia steadily deteriorated during the Civil War, she and Jozef Jakobkiewicz formed the Polish Rescue Committee in 1919. They searched miles of Siberia seeking orphans , soon there were 375 under the Committee’s care. The goal was to transport them to Poland which was restored by the treaty ending World War I. Caring for the orphans was an immediate problem while the cost and means of transportation to Poland a much greater one. Anna was rebuffed by two charitable agencies and in desperation turned to the Japanese national government offices in Tokyo, a bold step for a foreign woman alone in 1920. Luckily she met a senior bureaucrat who was fluent in French and they had a common language for her to plead her case. Japan’s decision to help happened in a matter of days. The Japanese Navy transported the Siberian children to Japan, the Japanese Red Cross accommodated them at Fukudenkai care home in Tokyo. Here the orphans were cared for and received medical attention at the nearby Red Cross Hospital.
“Jozef Jakobkiewicz”
A medical doctor and Vice President of the Polish Rescue Committee. Jozef was the son of exiled Polish patriots. He was born in Perm, Russia in 1892. He loved the outdoors and acquiring skills he would impart to the orphan children later in his life. He trained in medicine in Moscow and began practice in 1915 as a surgeon in a front-line army war hospital. In 1918 it became too dangerous for Poles in western Russia, Jakobkiewicz went by train to Vladivostok in Far Eastern Siberia. As Chief Sanitary Doctor he successfully combatted epidemics of typhus, cholera and other diseases. He organized scouting troops for the boys and girls that taught swimming, as well as sailing and rowing. This drew hundreds of poor children including the homeless from the growing number of care homes in Vladivostok. His gentle eyes show compassion that caused some orphaned children to call him “father”.