On September 1st, 1939, Poland was invaded by nazi Germany, where my great aunt ( Name N/A ) , uncle ( Abraham ) , and their father ( Mordko ) were taken. Two weeks later a soviet invasion followed where my great grandparents, Leon and Regina, were fortunate to be victims of the latter. While no victim of the holocaust is fortunate, in reality, their soviet capture  got them out of Poland and into a labor camp shortly before the creation of the Warsaw ghettos. Leon was the captain of the polish army, and the soviets, thinking military personnel could be useful to them, deported him and thousands of other military families to gulags, or forced labor camps, where the prisoners worked over 14 hours in extreme weather. Tens of thousands died en route to the camp alone, and thousands more from starvation, disease, exhaustion, and execution. Leon was imprisoned separately from his wife, and then two year old daughter and spent his days logging timber which would be used to rebuild Russia, the same Russia in which he was imprisoned. The family was forced to endure frostbitten winters, fly infested summers, severely malnourished throughout. Many did not survive these conditions. While this is a story of survival, I have several family members who were not so fortunate. After my great grandparents unfortunately passed, all we have left to remember them and tell their stories are our words and photos. These photos of my family are so important because my family lives on through them. Please remember that every photo tells a story. 
 

– L

Relationship:  unknown unknown