1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Henryk Dzikowski, born on 20 May 1922, secondary school student, unmarried, Field Post Office number 165.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on the night of 10/11 November [no year given] at 1.00 p.m. by the militia, on the orders of the NKVD.
3. Name of the camp, prison or forced labor site:
Following my arrest I was incarcerated in Oszmiana, next in Orsza, and then in a gulag camp on Lake Onega.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc. (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
The camp was located by a canal, and the grounds were muddy; we all lived in mud huts furnished with bunk pallets, on which we slept with our clothes on, as it was very cold. The camp premises occupied 2.5 square kilometers.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, types of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
There were approximately 250 Poles in the camp, about a hundred of whom declared themselves as Belarusians or Ukrainians until the signing of the Polish-Soviet agreement. These were mainly farmers and bums. The rest of the Poles kept well.
6. Life in the camp, prison etc. (daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life etc.):
The daily routine in the camp was as follows: 5.00 a.m. – wake-up, breakfast; 6.00 a.m. – razvod (setting off for work). From 12.00 p.m. to 1.00 p.m. – dinner break; 4.00 p.m. – return from work, 7.00 p.m. – supper. We received food twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. For breakfast we had watery soup, and for supper the same soup and a spoon of groats, and the shock workers additionally received a piece of fish. We were issued bread according to the percentage of the quota filled: from 300 grams up to 900 grams. The Poles performed almost exclusively physical labor, with singular exceptions (like specialists, who were in demand in Soviet Russia) who had lighter work. As for clothes, the outfit consisted of a telogreyka [jacket], padded trousers, a cap with ear flaps, and shoes made of car tires.
The Russians were hostile towards the Poles. Any cultural life was out of the question, we were surrounded with Soviet propaganda only.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles charged with political crimes was very bad. During interrogations we were forced to plead guilty through beatings or solitary confinement in underwear only. The interrogations took place solely at night. They spoke about Poland with contempt, and kept repeating that Poland was lost.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (give the names of the deceased):
There was a hospital in the camp which comprised nine wards, 150 people per ward. Due to the lack of medicaments there was a terrible mortality rate in the hospital – ten deaths per day, mainly victims of malaria and typhoid fever.
9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
I didn’t have any contact with my country or family.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
I was released on 23 October 1941. Having recovered from typhoid fever, on 8 February 1942 I joined the 9th Infantry Division in Margilan.
Official stamp, 15 March 1943