The Syberian Exiles Sybiracy Silver Proof Coin
The National Bank of Poland commemorates the Siberian exiles, the lost generations of the Polish nation, with this 2008 silver proof 10 zloty coin featuring a zircon crystal.
Reverse: On top, a stylized image of the woods. In the center, "SYBIRACY" (Syberian exiles). At the bottom, a zircon crystal.
Obverse: Along the rim on the left, "RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA" for Republic of Poland, and the year of issue. On the left, an image of the eagle, the state emblem of the Republic of Poland. Under the Eagle’s left foot, the Mint mark. In the center, images of human figures with a diagonal inscription, "… bylismy tlumem bezimiennym" (… we were a nameless crowd). At the bottom, the face value.
In Russia, the term "Sybiracy" (the Siberians) refers to the inhabitants of Siberia who were not members of indigenous tribes and Asian peoples. The Siberians were basically free newcomers from the European part of the Russian Empire and their descendants. In Poland, however, the term "Sybiracy" has come to denote all the Poles who were sent into exile and forced to settle in Siberia ("sent into exile to Siberia") from where some of them did not return.
Poles first came to Siberia as prisoners of war in the first half of the 17th century, but the actual history of the Polish Siberian exiles begins after the suppression of the Confederation of Bar in 1768. It is estimated that 16,800 Poles and 1,800 members of their families were sent into exile between 1863 and 1867, as a result of the failure of the January 1863 Uprising. Most of the "Siberian exiles" returned to the Second Polish Republic during or after World War I, but some Poles did not leave Siberia and became "Siberians" in the Russian sense of the word.
