from 1891 in Siberia'', by
Jacek Malczewski, 1892. '',
Jacek Malczewski, 1883 Russian and Soviet authorities exiled many
Poles to Siberia, starting with the 18th-century opponents of the
Russian Empire's increasing influence in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (most notably the members of the
Bar Confederation of 1768–1772).
Maurice, Count de Benyovszky was deported and emigrated to
Madagascar. After the Russian Empire's
penal law changed in 1847, exile and penal labor (
katorga) became common punishment for participants in national uprisings within the empire. This led to sending an increasing number of Poles to Siberia for
katorga, when they then became known as
Sybiraks. Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Siberia. Most of them came from the participants and supporters of the
November Uprising of 1830-1831 and of the
January Uprising of 1863–1864, from the participants of the
1905-1907 unrest About 20,000 Poles lived in Siberia around the 1860s. The most conservative figures use recently found
NKVD documents showing 309,000 to 381,220. Soviet authorities did not recognize ethnic Poles as Polish citizens. In addition, some of the figures are based on those given an amnesty rather than those deported, Therefore, figures based on official evidence might be an underestimation. ==See also==