12th South Africa-Poland Heritage Conference in Johannesburg
07.12.2025
"Sybir - Prison of the Nation" - the twelfth edition of the South Africa-Poland Heritage Conference took place on 7 December 2025 in Johannesburg.
The event has been organized periodically by Stefan Szewczuk, President of the Association of Siberian Deportees in Southeast Africa, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria (continuously since 2014) and, for several years, with the Holocaust and Genocide Centre in Johannesburg. The main aim of the event is to commemorate important historical anniversaries and Polish legacies in Africa. The Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok joined the event this year.
Consul Robert Rusiecki delivered an introductory remarks. The conference featured pre-recorded remarks by Prof. Dr. hab. Wojciech Śleszyński, Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum, and Dr. Tomasz Danilecki, historian at the Sybir Memorial Museum, and Judyta Woś, international business development manager at the Sybir Memorial Museum.
During the event Stefan Szewczuk talked about the new initiative between the Association of Siberian Deportees in Southeast Africa, the Sybir Memorial Museum, and JH&GC aimed at organizing an exhibition presenting the experiences of Polish Siberians, "Sybir – Prison of the Nation". Stefan Szewczuk also mentioned the recent unveiling of a monument commemorating Polish children and their adult guardians who found safe refuge in Oudtshoorn in 1943 and talked about the opening of the Polish Heritage Trail in Oudtshoorn.
The Sybir Memorial Museum is dedicated to the people who, from the late 16th century to the mid-20th century, were enslaved and exiled deep into Russia, and later the Soviet Union, as well as those who voluntarily traveled there. We tell the stories of POWs, prisoners, exiles, and deportees. We also discuss those who explored Siberia before World War I and actively participated in developing its vast territories. We combine research findings and historians' narratives with the memories of participants and witnesses. We reveal the profound emotions hidden in seemingly ordinary objects, transporting visitors to an extraordinary land – Siberia, mysterious, beautiful, yet cruel and ruthless.
