Siberian-Polish history in the journals Sybirak and Katorga i ssylka

Abstract

The article focuses on what the Moscow journal Katorga issylka and Warsaw journal Sibiryak published about the Polish exile to Siberia in the interwar period. The issues of hard labour and exile to Siberia have been central in both periodicals. Sibiryak was published in 1934-1939 by the Union of Siberians, founded in 1926-1927 by the Poles who returned from Russia. They were former exiles and prisoners of war. These materials contributed to the identification and collection of the information about the Siberian Polish history and to the consolidation the “Black Legend” about the Polish exile to Siberia, formed by the memoir tradition of the 19th century. The journal published articles, memories and other materials related to the participants in the Polish uprising in 1863-1864, subsequently exiled to Siberia. Katorga issyikawas published in 1921-1935 by All-Union Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers. The main sections of the journal published on the revolutionary movement history in the Russian Empire, together with obituaries, bibliography, and chronicles. The questions of Polish exile to Siberia and participation of the exiled in the revolutionary movement were among the topics discussed by this journal, too. However, it published much less on the discussed problem if compared to what was published in Sibiryak. The publication started the historiographical tradition of considering the issue of Polish political exile to Siberia in the broad context of the revolutionary movement history in Russia and the formation of Russian Polish revolutionary ties.