Today, September 17, we celebrate World Day of the Siberian Deportee and the 85th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s aggression against Poland. Jasna Góra is also a place of remembrance of these tragic events. One of its elements is the Monument to the Siberian Deportee funded by the Association of Siberian Deportees. Inside the Bastion of St. Barbara, there is the Golgotha of the East and the Chapel of the Jasna Góra Mother of Reconciliation.
This is a place commemorating millions of Poles, victims of Tsarist Russia and Soviet totalitarianism, carrying a message about the indomitable spirit of the human race, forgiveness and faith in the intercession of the Mother of God. The paths of Poles’ misery in this inhuman land stretched for six thousand kilometres. Only one in three of those deported by the Soviets survived, among them children, women and the elderly.
A special image of the Virgin Mary of Jasna Góra was placed in the Bastion of St. Barbara. It is the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa from Podolia, which during World War II accompanied Poles deported to Siberia – to the Arkhangelsk taiga, from where it went through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, India to the Polish settlement of Bwana M´Kubwa in Africa.
When the Soviets invaded the borderland settlement of Miłów in Podolia in 1939, their “loot” also included a painting of Mary, which was on the wall of the People’s House. The painting itself was torn up, and the soldiers decided to use its frame for a portrait of Stalin. One of the farmers, a witness to the events, Piotr Jakieła, collected the desecrated remains of the painting and kept them like a holy relic. When the entire village was deported to the taiga in 1940, the painting also traveled through the endless Siberian spaces. Together with Anders’ Army, it later reached Africa, via Tehran, to Bwan M’Kubwa.
After many years, through various twists of fate, the image was given as a gift to Jasna Gora among others, thanks to Maria Gabiniewicz from the Primate Wyszyński Institute, who died in March 2024, whose father disappeared in the USSR in 1940 (he is on the so-called Belarusian List) and who, together with her mother and siblings, went on a wandering path.
– Our Lady of Częstochowa in her torn image witnessed pain, suffering, suffering and prayers during her entire exile. We can say that Mary suffered the same injuries as we did, she understood us. Therefore, as the Wandering Children of Bwana M´Kubwa, we addressed a request to President Lech Kaczyński to bring about the return of the image from Africa to Poland. We are glad that after such an exodus, which Our Lady underwent together with us, we are united around Her, that we will be able to return here, as wandering children, to Jasna Góra – said Gabiniewicz. And so it happened. The image was brought from Zambia to Poland by Consul Maria Rosalia Ogonowska-Wiśniewska. The image from Podolia was transferred to Jasna Góra on September 12, 2011. It underwent a thorough renovation, leaving the African decorations and frames intact.
The creator of the concept of the “Golgotha of the East” is St. Pope John Paul II, who experienced, like his countrymen, two totalitarianisms: Nazi and communist. The most famous part of the “Golgotha of the East” is the Katyn crime. For many decades, this concept was surrounded by a tight wall of silence, which was attempted to be broken down by Father Prelate Zdzisław Peszkowski, a miraculously saved prisoner of Kozielsk. His request to create a place of remembrance for Poles who went through hell on “inhuman land” was taken up by the Pauline monks at Jasna Góra.
Anna Rastawicka from the board of the “Golgotha of the East” Foundation and the executor of his will emphasized that Father Peszkowski was an advocate of forgiveness and reconciliation, but also a great defender of the truth about the Katyn crime and the Polish Golgotha of the East. – Some said, why remind us of this martyrdom, why talk about the victims, we have to move forward. Meanwhile, the priest prelate spoke on the one hand about forgiveness, reconciliation, but he also demanded truth, memory and law – noted Rastawicka.
Also thanks to the initiative of Father Peszkowski, since 1990, the Katyn Families have been making pilgrimages to Jasna Góra. Every year, motorcyclists also gather, who, as part of the Katyn Rally, cultivate the history of Poles in the “inhuman land”. The Jasna Góra meetings as part of the Star Motorcycle Rally named after Father Prelate Zdzisław Jastrzębiec Peszkowski are not only a prayer, but also an opportunity to help Poles in the Borderlands.
Every year in May, Siberians make a pilgrimage to Jasna Góra. This year, the 34th such pilgrimage took place. As Fr. Zdzisław Banaś, the national chaplain of the Siberians, said, it was primarily to give thanks for being saved from captivity in the “inhuman land”. – Our message is simple: remember the dead and forgive the living. Thanks to memory, nations endure. Many people have experienced that it is worth remembering, and one of such special moments that must be remembered are the years of exile – said Fr. Banaś at the time.
The first chaplain of the Katyn Families, Fr. Zdzisław Peszkowski, initiated the creation of the Golgotha of the East museum, as well as the first Monument to the Victims of Soviet Deportations in Poland. The sculpture by Irena Grabowska, depicting three bound figures, is dedicated to the memory of murdered soldiers and Poles tortured to death in Soviet camps. Above the plaque is a medallion with Our Lady of Kolyma.
Dear Reader,
We are glad that you are visiting our portal. We are here for you!
Every day we publish the most important information about the life of the Church in Poland and around the world. However, without your help, meeting this task will be increasingly difficult.
That is why we ask you to support for the eKAI.pl portal via the Patronite service.
Thanks to you, we can fulfill our mission. More information can be found here.
