C3a-080

Remarkable Journeys to Work in Salts Mill: 1947-8

booklet

typewritten

Smith, Maggie

Remarkable Journeys to Work in Salts Mill: 1947-8: Three stories of Polish people who experienced the horrors of World War2 - to later find employment in Salts Mill and new lives in the Bradford District of West Yorkshire' by Maggie Smith.

Copyright Maggie Smith

Only viewable in the Saltaire Collection

Salts Mill

Personal memories

Emigration and immigration

1940 – 1949

Gift: Smith, Maggie

To view the full story please contact the Saltaire Collection

Feliks was born in Poland in 1920. He was a Polish Junior Cadet when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, and was based many miles from home at Wilno near the Russian Border. The cadets wore military uniform and were likely to be a target for the German invaders. Feliks fled to Lithuania where he was held with others in a camp for a short time until Russian troops began to move these men to various camps across Eastern Europe.

Things changed dramatically when Germany declared war on Russia. Feliks was moved several times. He eventually arrived in Persia and came under British Army command. He fought with the British and was among the forces who fought their way through Italy – it was the Polish force that took Monte Casino from the German Troops. As War came to an end, Polish army personnel were left stranded and arguments about their future occurred in the British Parliament.

Ultimately Feliks was accepted into England and was to find work at Salts Mill where he remained until he retired. He married and had children. Feliks remained ever-grateful to the British Government for allowing him and his family to have a decent life. Although he was able to visit Poland again after Stalin’s regime ended, he did now want to return there to live.

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