The Sybirak Memory Portal is the first initiative in Ottawa dedicated to gathering, preserving, and documenting the history of Polish citizens deported to Siberia and other regions of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It brings together historical background, personal testimonies, and community projects to ensure that the voices of Sybiraks and their families are not lost to time.
Sybiraks are Polish citizens deported by Soviet authorities to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and other remote regions of the USSR between 1940 and 1941. After surviving forced labour, hunger, disease, and extreme conditions, many left the Soviet Union with General Władysław Anders’ Army, passing through the Middle East, Africa, India, and Europe before rebuilding their lives abroad.
After the war, communist rule in Poland made return impossible or unsafe for many survivors, and Canada became one of the main destinations for displaced Poles. Between 1945 and 1956, around 64,000 Poles settled in Canada, including thousands of Sybiraks who arrived as displaced persons or under labour contracts.
Ottawa is home to a small but active community of Sybiraks and their descendants, whose presence is preserved mainly through community initiatives rather than formal records. The Canadian Polish Club, the Embassy of Poland, and other organizations organize commemorations, assist with Siberian Exiles Cross applications, and promote intergenerational memory.
The Sybirak story is dispersed across private family archives, community organizations, and local memories, and no single institution has previously gathered these threads in one place. This portal aims to become a central point for history, testimonies, and educational resources about Sybiraks in Ottawa and across Canada.
The archive documents key commemorative events in Ottawa, including Siberian Exiles Cross ceremonies, panel discussions with Sybiraks and their families, Literary Café evenings, Holy Masses, and film screenings such as “Memory Is Our Homeland”. These meetings create space for sharing testimony, discussing the challenges of publishing memoirs or recording video histories, and engaging new generations in remembrance.
A growing body of books and memoirs by Sybiraks and their descendants preserves these stories in written form, including titles such as “Endurance and Survival”, “A Grandmother's Story”, “Three Lives – Three Chapters All in One and a Bit…”, “Marek’s Coat”, and “An Autobiography”. Alongside these works, the portal points to key albums, studies of Polish children in exile, and research on the Tengeru orphans and other refugee communities.
The page also links to external archives and research initiatives, including documentation projects in Montreal and Canada-wide archival searches devoted to the diaspora of Polish Sybiraks. These resources complement the Ottawa-focused material and place the local story in a wider international context.
For a comprehensive overview of the Sybirak history, community profiles, detailed event documentation, and archival resources, please download our full archive document below. This resource contains in-depth historical context, personal narratives, listings of Sybiraks residing in Ottawa, commemorative event details, book recommendations, and links to external research initiatives.
PDF contains: historical timelines, survivor profiles, event records, book list, and archival references.