Evacuation card

The evacuation card was the basis for the resettlement of the Polish population living in the areas which were to be incorporated into the USSR after the end of World War II. The document issued to Aleksander Pisiuk on 15 March 1945 contains information in two languages (Polish and Lithuanian) as the family was transferred from Vilnius to Łódź. We do not know why the Pisiuks did not reach the place indicated in the evacuation card, but  settled precisely in Olsztyn instead. Changing the planned destination was quite common among the population participating in mass transports within the new Polish borders. In addition to the data of the evacuated person and family members who were to travel with them (name, surname, date of birth), as well as the planned place of resettlement, the document also contains information about what was taken along on the trip to the new place. Thanks to the evacuation card of Aleksander and Maria Pisiuk, we know that their settlement luggage consisted of: a cart, a manual sewing machine, 500 kg of grain, 400 kg of flour and 1500 kg of household items. It was also stated that the family would carry a horse and one head of cattle (probably a cow). For some reason, information about livestock got crossed out. Perhaps the family was eventually not allowed to take it along.

Marta Frączkiewicz