Mr Waclaw Szkoda, one of the last Siberians in Britain, has passed away at the age of 98. Mr Wacław, who lived in Birmingham, was an activist in the Polish-British communities and a patriot helping the “Solidarity” movement in the 1980s. 

Waclaw Szkoda was born in the region of Polish Polesie (today’s Belarus) in 1926. At the age of 13, he lived under the Soviet brutal occupation during which his younger sister died in an epidemic. On 10 February 1940, together with his father and older brother, he was deported to Siberia and then to Kyrgyzstan. After the Sikorski-Mayski Pact was signed and the Polish army could be organised in the USSR, Wacław’s brother joined the Second Corps. Wacław and his family undertook a difficult journey from Persia and India to Africa. In Tanzania, he took up work as a builder and constructor. 

After the war, he emigrated to Great Britain and eventually settled in Birmingham. He became a member of the Polish National Party and in the 1980s was actively involved in organising aid to the members of the Solidarity movement persecuted by the communist government. He had a strong bond with young people, sharing his memories and love for Poland with them. President Lech Kaczyński awarded Mr Wacław Szkoda the Siberian Exiles Cross.

In the last years of his life, Mr Wacław shared his incredible memories, including the hardships of life in Siberia, through a YouTube channel called “Nie szkoda czasu – Wacław Szkoda” (English subtitles).

The funeral of Wacław Jan Szkoda, who passed away peacefully on the 26th of November will begin at 10.15 am on the 10th of December and will be held at St Michael’s Church, Moor St. Digbeth B4 7UG. The burial will take place at Witton cemetery at noon.

May he rest in peace!

Photo: Patryk Hess

Tomasz Modrzejewski