Wojciech Jaruzelski September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany, aided by the Soviet invasion of Poland sixteen days later. These resulted in the complete defeat of Poland by October, and a partition between Soviet and German zones of control. Jaruzelski and his family fled to Lithuania and stayed with some friends there. However, a few months later, after Lithuania and the other Baltic states were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, Jaruzelski and his family were captured by the Red Army and deported to Siberia. In June 1941, Jaruzelski and his family were deprived of all the valuable possessions and
Wojciech Jaruzelski for the rest of his life, which became his trademark. Jaruzelski's father died on 4 June 1942 from dysentery. His mother and sister survived the war (his mother died in 1966). Jaruzelski was selected by the Soviet authorities for enrollment into the Soviet Officer Training School. During his time in the Kazakh Republic, Jaruzelski wanted to join the non-Soviet controlled Polish exile army led by Władysław Anders, but in 1943, by which time the Soviet Union was fighting in Europe against Germany in the Eastern Front, he joined the Polish army units being formed under Soviet command. He served in