When God Looked the Other Way: An Odyssey of War, Exile, and Redemption by Adamczyk Wesley

Author:Adamczyk, Wesley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2015-07-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

ABOARD THE KAGANOVICH

The sun shone brightly the morning of our departure. The Soviet freighter Kaganovich stood at the dock ready to receive us. In a small brown paper bag, Mother had the few items we had collected since leaving Semiozersk and the small pot in which she had boiled the life-saving chicken broth for my brother.

Representatives of both the NKVD and the Polish Army stood by the gangplanks checking lists of names; the Polish military was under orders to give women and children priority. Mother had made sure that we were on the Polish list to board the Kaganovich, just in case we were not on the NKVD list. As it turned out, we would be among the last to board, and as we inched our way forward a commotion broke out as people who were afraid to be left behind pushed and shoved toward the boarding areas. Mother instructed us to hold hands tightly, stay close to her, and keep moving toward the gangplank no matter what happened. The next thing I knew, we were walking up toward the ship. As I took my first step onto it I glanced back momentarily and without losing a step said a prayer for my father, still somewhere in the Soviet Union.

By noon, we were ready for departure. The Kaganovich carried almost forty-five hundred Polish soldiers and civilians, dangerously exceeding its tonnage capacity. This overcrowding, which could easily have caused the ship to sink in rough seas, was uncomfortable but strategic. The Polish military leaders and the evacuees were desperately afraid that the Soviet-controlled transports would be abruptly discontinued. For that reason, the army command encouraged loading as many civilians on board as possible. To get all those who had already reached Krasnovodsk out of the Soviet Union was of paramount importance. Although Mother, Zosia, and I, like the others, were afraid that the ship might sink, we were willing to accept the risk. After living in fear for our lives for more than two long years in the Soviet Union, the fear of going down with the ship in the Caspian Sea was a small price to pay for a chance to reach freedom.

We found a spot on the front deck of the ship where we could lean against its smokestack. Hours later, for the first time in my life, I watched from a moving vessel the beauty of the sun setting over the sea. Old Mr. Petrovich’s warning—“Nobody gets out of the Soviet Union. Nobody. They would rather kill you than let you go”—had at last been proved wrong.

The freighter had an open cargo bay amidships, on each side of which were steps from the bottom of the bay that also gave access to the raised decks at the front and back of the ship. Use of the toilet facilities was reserved for the crew, and the evacuees had to use cordoned-off sections on the side of the ship. Heavy rope was hung across the railing for a person to hold onto while urinating and defecating over the rail.

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