"Entering History" - handmade shopping bag used by Jadwiga Makarska’s mother to carry sugar and groceries from the store
As part of the next installment of the "Entering History" series on level -3 of the Museum of the Second World War, we present a handmade shopping bag used by Jadwiga Makarska's mother to bring, among other things, sugar from the store. Difficulties obtaining many goods were a daily reality for the exiles, as she describes in her memoirs.
Jadwiga Makarska was born on 27 June 1902. She graduated from the Klaudyna Potocka Humanities Middle School in Pułtusk. In September 1924, she began working as a teacher at a primary school in the village of Slabada Zosmianska (Vilnius Province). After marrying Michał Makarski and giving birth to their daughter Elwira, she settled with her family in Sharkawshchyna (Vilnius Province).
Before the outbreak of World War II, her husband was called up for military service. On 20 June 1940, all family members present in their home were arrested and deported to Severnaya Kargova, where they were assigned to forest-clearing work.
Following the amnesty, Jadwiga Makarska resumed her teaching career and later became the headmistress of a school for Polish children in Barnaul. In May 1946, she returned to Poland with her daughter and mother. They initially settled in Józwów near Bychawa, in the Lublin region.
“Mother has already brought about ½ kg in a bag because there are no paper bags, the price I do not remember. […] A few packages of food came in and letters from relatives and friends. It turns out that not all the packages are delivered [...]. Strife ensued over the parcels between us, the deportees. Some people received two or three each, while others didn’t get any. Some people had bed linen, clothes, underwear, jewellery, while others had almost nothing, only what they wore on themselves. So it was, is and will be in social groups. Of course, we often share with neighbours in our barracks, but we cannot give everything away.”
Collection of the Second World War Museum in Gdańsk / donation by Elwira Bartoszek
