A Polish Girl in Siberia - (Disruption Curios) by Ida Kinalska-Pietruska (Paperback)

About the Book

A memoir of a child's forced relocation to Siberia under Stalin's Gulag system reveals the potential for true human kindness in the face of extraordinary hardship. Published in Polish in 2011. the author's granddaughter translates her words and provides additional context.

Book Synopsis

A memoir of a child's forced relocation to Siberia under Stalin's Gulag system reveals the potential for true human kindness in the face of extraordinary hardship

In April of 1940, six-year-old Ida woke to the sound of pounding on her door. Soviet soldiers forcibly packed her and her mother onto a train with thousands of their neighbors and deported them to remote Siberia, leaving them stranded to survive the brutal winter in subhuman conditions. Looking back, Ida shares their struggles: foraging for food, trying to reunite with her imprisoned father, spending weeks in a desolate hospital with typhoid fever, and adapting to shifts in the political climate to make the long journey home to Poland.

Ida published this acclaimed memoir in her native Polish in 2011. Here, Ida's granddaughter, Isabella Skrypczak, translates her babcia's words and provides additional context--including describing the remarkable life Ida has gone on to live as a pioneering doctor.

In the vein of Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, A Polish Girl in Siberia chronicles Ida's experiences on a lesser-known front of the Second World War. Together, Ida and Isabella reflect on how every small act of kindness contributed to Ida's liberation from exile and ability to build a life and a family. Her story celebrates the capacity of the human spirit to not only survive trauma but thrive beyond it.

Review Quotes

"A Polish Girl in Siberia is a miracle--a book that travels across time to offer a historical glimpse of humanity in the face of tragedy. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit."
--JAMES McCRAE, author of The Art of You

"A Polish Girl in Siberia is a plainspoken and deeply moving testimony to a childhood endured in Siberia during the Soviet occupation of Poland. Ida Kinalska-Pietruska recalls in vivid detail how war was lived by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. An inspiring story of resilience against all odds."
--BARBARA KIRSHENBLATT-GIMBLETT, Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator, Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

"A riveting account of a lesser-known aspect of the Second World War. . . this book stands out as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit."
--KIRKUS REVIEWS

"A sensitive and observant personal narrative of a young woman. Well worth reading."
--JAN T. GROSS, professor of history emeritus at Princeton University and author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jebwabne, Poland

About the Author

Ida Kinalska-Pietruska survived childhood exile to Siberia during the Soviet Union's World War II assault on Poland. When she returned to Poland as a teen, she began studying medicine. A pioneering endocrinologist, she founded the School of Endocrinology and Diabetology in Bialystok and led the region's first endocrinology clinic for twenty years. Ida has authored more than four hundred publications, mentored countless other doctors, and collaborated across the international medical community, including using her research to make widely known the Chernobyl disaster's effects on people's endocrinological health. She has been honored with the Order Odrodzenia Polski, Poland's second-highest civilian state award, and two Doctor Honoris Causa titles, reflecting her resilience, brilliance, and global impact on science and humanity.

Isabella Skrypczak is an author, intuitive healer, and former HR professional in Big Tech whose work bridges the seen and unseen. Born to Polish immigrants and raised in Houston, Texas, she spent every summer with her grandmother in Poland. When her grandmother's memoir gained national attention in Polish media, Iza felt called to translate it into English-- an act of love, remembrance, and advocacy. As war returned to Eastern Europe, she recognized the urgency in sharing this history with the Western world. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her daughter, Kamila.