Slave Labour Dept: Helena learned ear candling, cupping and other skills from local healers. At 16, she married Franciszek Kojder. The couple attempted to come to Canada but were unsuccessful because of the Depression. At 19, Helena had a baby girl, according to Globe And Mail. When the Poles received amnesty, Helena’s family made its way south through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Twenty-four relatives didn’t survive. Once the men were in the Polish army under British command in the Middle East, Helena became the leader in the group of women left behind. She lived by her wits, travelling without tickets on the train while being hidden by Jews. With food scarce, she hunted for turtles and the eldest of three children of Maria and Jan Beznowski, Helena was 6 when her father left for Canada. That's when she learned she had to fight the bullies in school herself. It helped that she was a tomboy. In 1939, Helena’s life was shattered by war. Her husband was brought home wounded and shortly afterward the family was deported to Siberia, to Stalin’s slave labour camps. Helena was 20. Her year-old baby died of typhus a few weeks later. She suffered night blindness from starvation. The work in the forests was backbreaking. As
reported in the news.
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@t night blindness, east helena
11.6.10
