Poles in Siberian hell; photo archives
Following tradition, the event is held on 17 September, marking the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.
Survivors from across the world are expected in Poland. Ceremonies will take place in the northern city of Gdansk, as well as in the nearby village of Szymbark, site of the extensive Siberian House Museum.
Deportees, including the elderly and children, were dispatched from Poland's Eastern territories following the division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939.
The four transports began in February 1940, primarily to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Many perished during the cramped train journeys, as more did while working in forced labour camps or on collective farms.
The deportations dealt a heavy blow to Poland's professional elite, but the transports included citizens of all classes and ethnic backgrounds.
Historians are still divided as to the numbers of those deported. Contemporary Moscow figures cited 330,000, yet Poland's wartime government-in-exile claimed over a million.
The matter became a source of embarrassment to the Soviet Union, after Hitler reneged on his non-aggression pact with Stalin and invaded Moscow-held territory in 1941, thus prompting Stalin to turn to Great Britain – and by default its Polish ally – for support.
An amnesty was declared, and General Wladyslaw Anders, one of the thousands of Polish internees in the Soviet Union, was allowed to raise an army from among the prisoners.
The so-called Polish Second Corps journeyed to Iran, where it regrouped and joined the fight against the Nazis, as part of the British 8th Army.
However, thousands did not make it out of Soviet territory. Historian Andrzej Paczkowski puts the mortality rate at 8-10 percent.
Noted deportees included the writer Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, whose post-war book A World Apart was cited by historian Anne Applebaum as one of the finest accounts of life in the Soviet Gulag.
Likewise, Poland's most celebrated pre-war film star, Eugeniusz Bodo, was among those who perished in the Soviet Union.
Oscar-nominated Polish-Jewish film-maker Jerzy Hoffman survived the ordeal as a child. He is currently preparing to release Poland's first 3D film, The Battle for Warsaw, this month.
As it was, the vast majority of Anders' Army did not return to the Soviet-dominated Poland that emerged after the war.
Ryszard Kaczorowski (1919-2010), the last president of the government-in-exile in London, was himself a survivor of both Siberia and the Italian campaign.
Although the wartime deportations were devastating in Poland, they were by no means unique. In May 1944, Moscow launched the deportation of the entire Tatar population of the Crimea. Activists are calling for the action, known as Surgun, to be classified as genocide. (nh/pg)