A Polish Girl in Siberia
Surviving and Transcending Exile
A story of survival, remembrance, and the healing power of kindness.
A central part of my healing journey was translating my Babcia’s memoir, Syberia: Oczami Dziecka — a story of her survival as a child during Stalin’s mass deportations to Siberia in WWII.
Through her story, I uncovered not only a hidden chapter of history but also the quiet power of human kindness, the small acts that sustained her and later shaped her life’s work as a pioneering physician in Poland. Her research brought awareness to the effects of Chernobyl, earning her national honors and global recognition.
Translating her story became a form of healing for me, and for our lineage. It revealed that survival isn’t only physical, but deeply spiritual and relational.
This book is a tribute to that legacy, to ancestral healing, and to the unseen threads that connect us across generations.
A Story Years in the Making
In partnership with Disruption Books, a Subsidiary of West Wing Writers
Some stories are hard to read, but they need to be heard
I shared this story with my daughter so she could understand the strength of the women who came before her.
Many in my family couldn’t read it. The pain felt too close, too heavy. I understand that. But when my grandmother opened her home to a young girl fleeing the war in Ukraine, something clicked. She told her, “I know what you’re going through. You will be home again.”
In that moment, I saw it: history repeating. I saw my grandmother, myself, my daughter… all connected.
Some stories are painful, but they’re also the ones that remind us who we are.
What People Are Saying
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A sensitive and observant personal narrative of a young woman. Well worth reading.
Jan T. Gross
Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University and Author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jebwabne, Poland
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An important addition for all libraries.
Library Journal
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A Polish Girl in Siberia is a plain spoken and deeply moving testimony to a childhood endured in Siberia during the Soviet occupation of Poland. Ida Kinalska-Pietruska recalls in vivid detail how war was lived by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. An inspiring story of resilience against all odds.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
Chief Curator, Core Exhibition POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
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A Polish Girl in Siberia is a miracle – a book that travels across time to offer a historical glimpse of humanity in the face of tragedy. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this story is a testiment to the resilience of the human spirit.
James McCrae
Author of The Art of You
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Overall, this book stands out as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. A moving account of a lesser-known aspect of World War II.
