( CNN ) Their eyes reflect childhoods marked by tragedy . Their faces show wrinkles made deeper by pain and the passage of time . Tomasz Lazar spent hours photographing and interviewing adults who were ripped from their homes as children in the 1940s and forced to live thousands of miles away in Siberia . `` For me those faces are like maps , '' Lazar said . `` The more you look at them , the more you are discovering . '' Soviet authorities invaded Poland during World War II and deported hundreds of thousands of Poles . Some were sent to prison camps in the frozen wilderness of central Russia . Many were children . In effect , Moscow stole much of an entire generation of young Poles , a handful of whom Lazar has located seven decades later . During Lazar 's interviews , many of the survivors broke down in tears . `` It was very traumatic for them , '' he said . `` Some lost mothers , fathers , brothers , sisters -- killed by the Soviets . '' Lazar remembers hearing 84-year-old Boguslaw Dokurno recall his grandfather 's dying wish . Dokurno 's grandfather asked his grandson to return home to Poland after his death to retrieve Polish soil and bring it back to his Siberian gravesite . Another exile , Sofia Bocian , told Lazar how her brother escaped their prison camp , leaving her with the horrifying experience of being interrogated by Soviet secret police . Lazar began his professional photography career in 2006 after fully realizing the medium 's storytelling power . `` For me when you 're doing photography -- whether it 's conventional journalism or other types -- you want to share something with people , '' he said . Social media . Follow @ CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography . Lazar said the interviews surprised him . Despite his subjects ' traumatic experiences , `` they welcomed me with open arms , '' he recalled . `` They really wanted to share their stories . '' Fearing for their safety , they could n't tell their stories publicly until the fall of the Soviet Union . Now that they 're in their 80s , time is running out for them to document their struggles . Look at Lazar 's images . The faces fill each frame . Each portrait is unique . Before taking each photo , he waited `` for the moment when they really started going inside themselves , '' he said . `` Those people are really strong in their souls . '' Their stories should be documented for history , he said , to remind future generations `` not to make the same mistakes . '' Tomasz Lazar is a Polish photographer . You can follow him on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .
The Soviets invaded Poland in World War II and deported hundreds of thousands of people . In the years that followed, many Poles were killed or sent to concentration camps for their political beliefs.