Stevens Memorial Library (North Andover)

Krysia, a Polish girl's stolen childhood during World War II, Krystyna Mihulka with Krystyna Poray Goddu

eng

autobiography

portraitsillustrationsmaps

no index present

Ages 10 to 13

non fiction

Krysia

945358395

Krystyna Mihulka with Krystyna Poray Goddu

a Polish girl's stolen childhood during World War II

"Few people are aware that in the aftermath of German and Soviet invasions and division of Poland, more than 1.5 million people were deported from their homes in Eastern Poland to remote parts of Russia. Half of them died in labor camps and prisons or simply vanished, some were drafted into the Russian army, and a small number returned to Poland after the war. Those who made it out of Russia alive were lucky--and nine-year-old Krystyna Mihulka was among them. In this childhood memoir, Mihulka tells of her family's deportation, under cover of darkness and at gunpoint, and their life as prisoners on a Soviet communal farm in Kazakhstan, where they endured starvation and illness and witnessed death for more than two years. This untold history is revealed through the eyes of a young girl struggling to survive and to understand the increasingly harsh world in which she finds herself"--, Provided by publisher

Map: Krysia's Journey (1940-1942) -- A Polish Pronunciation and Vocabulary Guide -- Author's Note -- Prologue -- Part One: The End of Life As We Knew It -- Hints of Impending War -- The Last Autumn of Peace -- Strangers in the Sky -- Life Under Russian Occupation -- Shadows in the Night -- Part Two: Journey into Captivity -- Traveling by Cattle Car -- Traveling by Ox Cart -- Part Three: Life in Captivity -- Settling In -- Strange Happenings at Night -- Enduring the Winter -- Spring and Summer Surprises -- Part Four: Flight to Freedom -- Reunion and Departure -- A Seemingly Endless Wait -- The Trans-Siberian Train Journey -- Tragedy Strikes Home -- Setting Sail for Freedom -- Afterword -- Epilogue -- A Guide to Geographical Names

juvenile