Jan Bezruczko, son of Jan and Połohna, born in 1899 in the village of Lachowce, commune of Lachowce, district of Stanisławów, a farmer by occupation.
I was taken prisoner on 17 September 1939 in the village of Wieniawka. There were some 2,000 of us soldiers there. After we were captured, the Bolsheviks disarmed us – they took not only our weapons, but also all personal items, such as watches, money, wallets, etc. We were loaded onto trucks and taken to the train station in Podwołoczyska, from where we were transported to Tiotkino, where I was detained for six weeks. The conditions there were terrible. Half a liter of soup (practically pure water) and 200 grams of bread – that was our food for the entire day. We received no clothes and no underwear at all, and the same goes for soap and water, so we couldn’t wash our clothing or ourselves. This was forbidden. Having been in the camp for just a few days, my colleagues started dying of hunger and dysentery. Approximately six people would die per day.
We had no medical care and there was no hospital.
After six weeks all of us, some 3,000 men, were taken to Kryvyi Rih, where we were divided into groups of four hundred and assigned to digging iron ore. The living conditions were somewhat improved, for I earned twenty rubles per month, while the food was of better quality and there was more of it. I remained there until 22 May 1940, when we were transferred to the Komi Republic. We prisoners numbered 1,400. The conditions deteriorated again – we suffered hunger and deprivation, the cells were dirty and crowded, and infested with lice and bugs. Death returned as a daily occurrence, even though there was a hospital. Sixty people died, but I remember the surname of only one of the victims: Boruś; I have forgotten the others. On 16 September 1940, we were transported under armed guard – the soldiers had their bayonets fixed – to Vyazniki, a POW camp. The conditions improved.
On 25 August 1941 I was released and enlisted in the Polish Army in Tatishchevo. In mid- August 1942 I arrived in Persia.