During the Second World War, Janina and her family were deported to the Soviet Union in April 1940. Janina’s two brothers joined Anders Army, and her two sisters were in a camp for children in India. Janina remained with her mother, then was incorporated into the Kościuszko Division, with which she came to Warsaw in 1944. Her father was arrested in 1944 and died in prison. After demobilization in 1946, Janina reunited in Warsaw with her mother, who had managed to return to Poland from the USSR.