A Polish girl's journey across the Middle East

My grandparents literally paved the road for me. 

The BBC featured an article this morning about Danuta Mazka, a young girl from what was Poland, now Ukraine, who was sent with her family to Siberia after the Soviets invaded Poland in 1939.  A few months later, she and her family were sent to Siberia.  According to the article, no one knows how many Poles were deported in those weeks, but most estimates point to around one million.  

"We were put on a cargo train," remembered Danuta.  "It was full-72 people in each wagon. There was a hole in the floor for the toilet, and a little stove."

She continued, "The guard would come and throw the dead babies out of the window into the snow. When an adult died, they'd put the body on a platform by the engine. When the train slowed, they'd put them off. But the children they just threw away."

After the German invasion of Poland in 1941, the Soviets turned to the captives and gave them a choice--either join them against the Nazis as members of the Red Army or join the Polish army in exile.  Many joined the army in exile.  

Danuta's journey would take her from Siberia to Uzbekistan to Iran to North Africa and Palestine, finally settling in the United Kingdom.  

I read this article and got really emotional. I remembered my grandfather telling me a similar story about my grandmother, who was born in what was Poland and now Ukraine, sent to Siberia. Somewhere between the two of them, their journeys took them to Iran, Egypt, and Palestine (from what I remember). Danuta's story very closely followed that of my own grandmother. 

I sent the article to my mom, asking her whether the article was similar to the story of my grandparents.  She replied:

Yes it is. Poland was invaded on her 9th b-day. The family was captured and sent to Siberia where she and your great uncle caught birds (a reason for you to like birds [birds are my number one fear]) and ripped off potatoes from trains to bring "home" to eat.  Later, the family went to some Middle Eastern country, I forget which, where your great grandmother, a healthy-sized woman, was pinched many times and men asked your great grandfather if they could buy her for a wife [apparently nothing has changed]. He said no. They got to England where she met Dziadzia [my grandfather] and the rest is history.