Platoon Sergeant Jan Barczykowski, born in 1914, professional non-commissioned army officer, civil status: unmarried.
On 16 September 1939, while withdrawing with the battle supply column of the “Wołożyn” Battalion of the Border Protection Corps, I reached Tarnopol. Leaving Tarnopol on 17 September, we made efforts to avoid the Russians and proceeded in the direction of the town of Podhajce, and from there to Halicz. In the evening of 18 September we were stopped by the Russians near the township of Dryszczów. Having laid down our arms, we were searched and marched off to Monasterzyska, and from there to Russia, to the township of Yarmolyntsi, while a week later we were transported by train back to Poland, to the station of Barszczowice near Lwów; from there we were taken to Jaryczów Stary, Niesłuchów and, after some time, to the following camps: Kupcze near Busko, Kozłów, Podliski Małe, Hermanów, Kurowice, Olszanica and, finally, Starobilsk. In Jaryczów we lived in an abandoned stable; outside there were piles of manure. In short, the conditions were terrible. Niesłuchów: the living conditions were passable, we were housed in buildings and worked on road construction. Kupcze: we lived in a pigsty, surrounded by manure yet again. Kozłów: we had wooden barracks and tents, and slept on mean beds and straw mattresses; hygienic conditions were good, and we worked on building the Lwów – Równe road. Podliski Małe: we were quartered in pigsties next to a manor house (extreme stuffiness), and worked on the same road. Hermanów: we lived in pigsties, and worked on road construction. Kurowice: we were kept in pigsties and tents, again working on road construction. Olszanica: we were quartered in tents, and worked at the airfield; and – finally – Starobilsk: we lived in abandoned Orthodox churches and other buildings, all full of bugs.
The number of prisoners – Poles, Ukrainians, Byelorussians and Jews, from various social classes – varied between camps. A great sadness was palpable, and made all the worse by the Russians themselves, especially by their attitude towards us Poles. They frequently interrogated us at night, and never ceased to spread their propaganda, saying that Poland will be no more, that sooner hair would start growing on their palms. Depending on the camp, we would be woken up at three, four, five or six in the morning. We worked until 4.00, 5.00, or 6.00 p.m. We toiled at road construction – they forced us – while if anyone refused, they would lock him up in the jail, which was in fact a dungeon, or in a cellar from which you had to bail out water. They demanded that we work to a quota, which was often so high that it was impossible to fulfill. What food we received was dependent on two factors: one, on the Soviets’ unwillingness to give us anything at all, and second – on the degree to which the norm had been carried out. Meager as our rations were, they were further divided into categories. If someone carried out the norm, he would be rewarded with a bun or some other type of bread, with the aim being to encourage the others. Oftentimes people would collect various scraps just to keep alive, for they were so weak that they could not stand steadily. Frequently, you were unable to go out to work because your clothes were so worn and tattered, while the Soviets were invariably unwilling to provide you with new apparel. Clothing was always hard to come by. In the camps, prisoners from different ethnic backgrounds would often be hostile to each other. We Poles – for example – had to avoid nationalities that maintained closer relations with the Soviet authorities, and sometimes helped them in their political agitation. The NKVD would frequently take us for interrogations at night, which was extremely tiring; it was quite common for such examinations to end in detention in the punishment cell. Through their daily pep talks and lectures they wanted to convince us that Poland will be no more, that sooner hair would start growing on their palms, saying that Poland was badly governed, that its citizens went starving and clothesless, and other such things.
Infirmaries were set up at the camps, that is true, but they were frequently understaffed, while drugs were scarce.
For a period of time some of us did receive letters from home, but if the Soviets determined that one of these lucky few worked with insufficient diligence – or not at all – they would confiscate his mail.
After the Russo-German war broke out, we were transported [illegible], deliberately starved, to Starobilsk, from where following the conclusion of the Polish-Russian agreement and the arrival of Colonel Wiśniowski on 21 September 1941 we were sent to Totskoye, to the Polish Army that was being formed there.