Poles in Kazakhstan are those who survived deportation from region: Zhitomir, Kamieniec Podolski, Dołbysza. It was Soviet operation called "Polish operation" carried out in the years 1937-1938.
In the period from August 1937 to September 1938 Soviets killed 111 thousand Poles and 64 thousand received sentences of more than 10 years the camp their wives were sent automatically to a minimum of 5-8 years in the gulag.
In the Soviet Union was deportation often called resettlement were an administrative penalty. Still people with small children and elderly have been dropped in the middle of the steppe, and most of them (especially children) perished.
Some Poles displaced in 1936 to Kazakhstan, survived persecution. It is difficult to estimate the current size of the group. In 2009 in Kazakhstan about 34,000 people declared Polish nationality while people with roots is a much larger group, estimated for about 100 thousand.
After many years of waiting for help from Poland many Poles accepted the Russian proposal.
The authorities of the Russian Federation provide transportation and facilitate the arrival in selected regions of Russia for them. They are being given health benefits, the right to education, and pensions for the elderly, despite their Polish nationality. They are being granted Russian citizenship after two or three months.
Also Germany accept exiled Poles as part of the so-called return of uprooted and family reunification. After 1941 in Polish villages in Kazakhstan Soviet Union settled Germans from a Volga region in Russia. Having lived for almost three generations in the same settlements Germans and Poles have developed strong family ties. At the moment, there is about 20 thousand Poles from Kazakhstan living in Russia and several thousand in Germany
So called Polish State ruled by Polish Soviets takes in about eight to 20 families a year mostly those who are lucky or who can afford that with a negligible assistance of the state.
In the period from August 1937 to September 1938 Soviets killed 111 thousand Poles and 64 thousand received sentences of more than 10 years the camp their wives were sent automatically to a minimum of 5-8 years in the gulag.
In the Soviet Union was deportation often called resettlement were an administrative penalty. Still people with small children and elderly have been dropped in the middle of the steppe, and most of them (especially children) perished.
Some Poles displaced in 1936 to Kazakhstan, survived persecution. It is difficult to estimate the current size of the group. In 2009 in Kazakhstan about 34,000 people declared Polish nationality while people with roots is a much larger group, estimated for about 100 thousand.
After many years of waiting for help from Poland many Poles accepted the Russian proposal.
The authorities of the Russian Federation provide transportation and facilitate the arrival in selected regions of Russia for them. They are being given health benefits, the right to education, and pensions for the elderly, despite their Polish nationality. They are being granted Russian citizenship after two or three months.
Also Germany accept exiled Poles as part of the so-called return of uprooted and family reunification. After 1941 in Polish villages in Kazakhstan Soviet Union settled Germans from a Volga region in Russia. Having lived for almost three generations in the same settlements Germans and Poles have developed strong family ties. At the moment, there is about 20 thousand Poles from Kazakhstan living in Russia and several thousand in Germany
So called Polish State ruled by Polish Soviets takes in about eight to 20 families a year mostly those who are lucky or who can afford that with a negligible assistance of the state.
