Michal Piotuch

Polish 2nd Corps

Michał had four brothers and one sister. There is no information regarding the fate of his brothers. Apparently one day they did not return from work and were not seen again by the family. This may have happened in the early 1900s.

From family stories, it is likely that Michał fought in the First World War in the Russian army, since that part of Poland was under the Russian partition at the time. In 1920 he fought for Poland in Lwow, earning the Cross of Valour. He was offered land in the Kresy borderlands by the Polish government but declined, as he did not want to farm.

Michal married Antonina Barancewicz. Of three children born to them, only Eugenia survived the early years. Michał at first worked in a flour mill for Jożef Zywica ( his wife's sister's husband).

He really wanted to be a forester and eventually found a job in nearby Krzywoszyn where Polish Catholics were in the minority. However, an incident occurred when he was working in the forest. He was attacked by a poacher wielding an axe. Having reported the incident to the authorities, the surrounding families came and shouted abuse at his family. Eventually he found another forestry job near Bohusze, Lachowicze about 20 kilometers from Baranowicze, looking after a private forest 'Prutka' belonging to a Lord. He eventually purchased some land from the Lord where he worked.

He had nearly paid off the land when he, his wife Antonina, and their daughter Eugenia, were forcibly deported to Archangelsk in Siberia. They were deported on the 10 February 1940 to Posiołek Połundniowica in Szarynski region, Gorkowski oblast. As forced exiles, he worked with other Poles in the forests, cutting down trees, and in the summer he helped build more barracks for the inhabitants of the camp.

They were freed by the ‘amnesty’, left the camp in November 1941, and made their way down to Bukhara in Uzbekistan, arriving there on Christmas Eve. Conditions were very bad and at first the family worked on a collective farm, picking cotton.

Eventually Michał joined the Polish Army. Antonina gave her daughter Eugenia to a Orphanage organised by the Polish Army. Both Michał and his daughter Eugenia were evacuated from Bukhara to Pahlevi, Persia (now Iran).

Michal’s wife, Antonina, died in Uzbekistan while waiting for a train to take her back to Poland. His daughter Eugenia was eventually sent to New Zealand with 733 Polish children and 102 care givers, and that’s where she settled after the war.

During the war, Michał worked as a prison guard in Palestine, as he was considered too old for active military service. At the end of the war, he also migrated to New Zealand on the invitation of the New Zealand government on behalf of his daughter, Eugenia (Piotuch) Smolnicka.

Michał lived in Waitara and New Plymount from 1946 to 1966 when he moved to Petone, Wellington to live with his daughter and her family. He arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on 28 August 1946 on the Dominion Monarch having departed from Suez in the company of 5 ex-servicemen on their way to join their family at the Pahiatua Polish Childrens’ Camp.

Michał lived with his daughter’s family in Petone until his death in 1978. He is buried in the Taita cemetery, in the army area.