The Kazakhstan–Polish Historical Commission was initiated and inaugurated in the Sybir Memorial Museum in Bialystok on 6 June 2022. Its objective is to strengthen scientific cooperation between historians from Poland and Kazakhstan who deal with Stalinist repressions. The Commission is to undertake a number of Polish-Kazakh scientific initiatives and facilitate access to archives for researchers from both countries. During World War II many Polish citizens were deported by the NKVD to Kazakhstan. Also, before the war outbreak, Poles – citizens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were forcibly deported to the Kazakh SSR.
In turn, crowds of Kazakhs in the 20th century were imprisoned in gulags, shot or starved to death as a result of deliberate actions of the USSR authorities. On 31 May, Kazakhstan celebrates the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions. In the Kazakh archives there are very valuable research materials that should be used by scientists.
More information on the website of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Republic of Poland.
Source: dr Wojciech Marciniak
Edit: Promotion Centre of the University of Lodz