Bitter Honey. The book. Unpublished.: Recent Episodes
Izabella
Eight-year old Niunia put to work in a labour camp in Stalin’s Siberia. An account of crimes now forgotten. A tale of courage, friendship and humanity in darkness. A true story, the forgotten odyssey of a Polish family uprooted and imprisoned. Who will save little Niunia? Will she ever see her home again? Written by Dr. Janina Czernik-Spyrkowa. Edited, translated and narrated by her daughter. Dedicated to Maria, the main heroine of this tale. This chronicle of memory and landscape is offered with the love of life which is a tribute to both Maria’s and Janina’s spirit. ©℗ Izabella Kay 2020
Fifty years on and the three sisters decide to return to their homeland, still in the Soviet Union. The cruellest fate of the Jewish people recounted. The Orthdox Church. The landscape that sustained.
Another train journey. Edmund‘s fate in General Anders’ army. A surprise meeting in Egypt. Scattered photos and a broken mirror. New life in newly redrawn Poland.
- Another trip to an unknown land. A new life in Krasnoje. Lila’s sacrifice. Farewells and arrivals. The taste of fruit. Goodbyes.
Niunia’s fall. Soviet chief nurse: ‘You will dance by the end of April’. Those who go and those who return.
Babushka and famine. Those who go and those who return. The fate of the earrings. Anders army recruits depart. Another unexpected offering. Children to kowchoz in Bashkiria. The loaf of bread.
The trip to Bashkiria. Rewda station. The journey to the Mari woman. The Snow storm. ‘Sabaki’? ‘Everybody is afraid’.
Klawdia’s secret. Fiedia’s fate. The cabbage fields and the Golden uczastek. Sara’s despair. Merciless winter .
Children back to work. Meeting Kopytow again. ‘Praklataya Vajna’. The performance. Famine. The lingonberry trip and the swamp. A King’s feast.
A letter to Abrahamek. The German Prisoner of War camp. The mysterious mine manager. New arrivals. Jewish exiles and Sara Gerber.
On the edge between life and death. Christmas Eve (Wigilia) 1940. Danusia’s arrangement. Antoni, the sledge and the railway man. Soviets at war with Germany.
Siberian first spring. Epidemic and a mysterious package. Soviet school commences. Facing up to Kopytow .Polish schooling in secret. Second winter is coming.
Ural Mountains and the exiles regain their sight. Camp Konny Dwor in Dziegciarka. Barrack 20. The bathhouse and Kopytow. Children and grown-ups face hard labour. Niunia’s new friend Klawdia. Befriending Chachlucha.
Human nests. Life in the cattle wagon from birth to death. Destination unknown. Niunia’s letters to Abrahamek.
The ‘night ghosts’. The trip to a different ‘voivodeship’. In the classroom. The farewell.
An unexpected visit from Olenka, the photographs. The meeting with Stalin at the Kremlin. The fear. Krystyna’s visit. Olenka’s strange request and the night sleigh ride to Sawin on February 9th 1940.
Managing the estate in Antoni’s absence. Friendship with the Jewish population. The last honey harvest. Crows and ravens. The meeting with Major Burianow. Plans to escape.
- War declared by Germany and the arrival of the ‘liberator of the people’ . MIkolaj and his ideology. Krystyna’s visit .The arrival of a Soviet high ranking tenant.
Harvest in Litwinowka: life through the seasons, bee-keeping in Sawin. Mikolaj, Maria’s brother -in - law and his political activity. The mad fortune teller Krystyna and her prophesies.
Litwinowka - the landscape of Maria’s estate and the people who worked for her. The colourful mosaic of the Jewish population in the town of Kurieniec. Niunia’s little gang - Danusia, Zuczek, Abrahamek.
Maria’s sisters, suitors and life in Litwinki. Meeting Antoni. The twins - Danusia and naughty Niunia are born.
Maria’s life between Litwinki and St. Petersburg, her education and her extraordinary talent. Maria’s decision. The fate of her uncle and the General’s family during the Russian Revolution.
- We meet Maria and her family. Her life in Litwinki in the Eastern Borderlands, Poland. Her trip to St. Petersburg to stay with her Uncle and the family of General Kowalewski.
An introduction from Niunia’s daughter who edited, translated and narrated Bitter Honey. We meet Niunia in 1991 when she decides to write her story.