1. Personal data:
Volunteer Anna Czarnocka, born on 12 November 1906 in Dawidowicze, poleskie voivodeship, married, staff platoon of the Women’s Auxiliary Service, Staging Area Command.
2.–3. Date and circumstances of arrest, name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
On 10 February I was deported from Sielec nad Jasiołdą to Vologda Oblast, Vozhegodsky District, Vozhegodsk forest, Zelenyj Bor hamlet.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc.
We were taken into the woods; there were three small, very cold and vermin-infested barracks, and 345 families (703 people) were crammed into them. We were issued raw boards for pallets, so our makeshift beds were damp. The place was terribly cramped, dirty and lice-infested.
5. The composition of prisoners-of-war, inmates, exiles:
I came in a transport with military settlers, foresters, and rangers – all Poles. We had good relations with one another.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
I performed various jobs in the woods.
We woke up at 6.00 a.m., and I worked 10 hours per day; on workdays I worked for myself, and on Sundays I worked for free, for the benefit of the Red Army. There were no cultural institutions.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles:
Communist propaganda was spread by agitators during our work.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:
The medical assistance was very bad, there were no medicaments. 93 people died, both the elderly and the babies. I don’t remember any surnames.
9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
The postal service didn’t work well: some letters went astray and some food packages weren’t delivered.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
On 18 August [1941] it was read out to us that we were free grazhdaniny [citizens] of Soviet Russia.
On 14 February 1942 I left for Persia. I joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service on 9 May 1942 in Tehran, on the basis of a declaration filed by Military Families.