Sybirak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Polish term sybirak (plural: sybiracy) is synonymous to the Russian counterpart sibiryak (a dweller of Siberia) and generally refers to all people resettled to Siberia[1], it is in most cases used to refer to Poles who have been imprisoned or exiled to Siberia.
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[edit] History
Many Poles were exiled to Siberia, starting with the 18th-century opponents of the Russian Empire's increasing influence in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (most notably the members of the Bar Confederation),[2] through the participants and supporters of the 19th century November Uprising and January Uprising,[3] to the people deported in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. After the change in Russian penal law in 1847, exile and penal labor (katorga) became common penalties to the participants of national uprisings within the Russian Empire. This led to increasing number of Poles being sent to Siberia for katorga, they were known as Sybiraks. Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Sibera.
The term Sybiracy might also refer to a group of former exiles, who were allowed to return to Russian-held Poland following the amnesty of 1857. The group, popular among the youth in the period preceding the outbreak of the January Uprising, supported the idea of organic work. However, during the 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, Henryk Krajewski, Karol Ruprecht and Szymon Tokarzewski[4].
Millions of Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians or Poles were deported there after the annexation of their states in 1939-1940 and German invasion of Russia; [1] [2] many Tatars or Volga Germans joined them just a few years later.[3][4]. Others were exiled not based on their ethnicity but also for belonging to a social group, such as the kulaks, rich peasants targeted by the Soviet regime.[5] Hundreds of thousands of people were exiled there during the years of the Soviet Union, including penal labor in Gulag prison camps, see Population transfer in the Soviet Union and Forced settlements in the Soviet Union for details.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ (Polish) "Sybirak". Uniwersalny słownik języka polskiego (web). (2006). Ed. Stanisław Dubisz. Warsaw: PWN. 5426. ISBN 83-01-12837-2.
- ^ Norman Davies, Europe: A History, Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0198201710, Google Print, p.664
- ^ (English) Dennis J. Dunn (2004). The Catholic Church and Russia: Popes, Patriarchs, Tsars, and Commissars. London: Ashgate Publishing, 57. ISBN 0754636100.
- ^ (Polish) "sybiracy". Internetowa encyklopedia PWN. Warsaw: PWN.
[edit] External links
- (Polish) Zsyłki - rys historyczny
- (Polish) Website dedicated to the Sybiraks
