Wacław Ejsmont, born on 10 August 1914 in Szejbaki; education: three classes of elementary school; occupation: farmer; unmarried; nationality: Polish; religious affiliation: Roman Catholic; place of residence: nowogródzkie voivodeship, Lida commune and district. Performed active military service in 1937 with the local 77th Infantry Regiment unit in Lida.
1939, the life of a prisoner in the Soviet Union
I was taken captive on 26 September at the railway station in Zdołbunów, where we were put into Soviet train cars under the guard of an armed escort. At night the train set off, and everyone who attempted escape was shot at. The cars were sealed. On the morning of 27 September [?] we arrived at the station in Shepetivka. We stayed there for seven days. We received food once in 48 hours: 200 grams of bread and a quarter of a liter of soup – nothing but water. On 1 October we were loaded onto goods wagons and transported to Kiev, where we got breakfast. We spent the entire day at the station and left in the evening. On the following day we arrived at the camp in Novohrad-Volynskyi, where we received food twice [a day]: soup and 500 grams of bread. We stayed for three weeks in that camp, until 27 [October. Next] we were deported to Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, [illegible] district, Chortomlyk station. 500 men were brought there for work in an iron mine. For two weeks, our life was quite bearable: we were herded to work under escort, but at that time there was no prescribed amount of work to do. Two weeks later the quotas were introduced, and from that time on we had to live off the money we earned ourselves. The quotas were very high, so we didn’t agree to them. In retaliation we didn’t receive any food for three whole days. Accordingly, we refused to go to work from 24 December on. Then they forced us to go to work and used all methods of harassment: arrests, death threats, various forms of punishment, and Soviet propaganda saying that we would never again set eyes on Poland and our families, as they would torment us to death. In that camp we received 400 grams of bread and water twice a day. We spent six months in such conditions, in 1939 and 1940, up to 21 May. Then we were deported northwards, to Akomija [Komi, ASSR?], where we were forced to perform earth works only, that is, building a railway line. We worked under very harsh conditions: we had to transport the excavated earth at a distance of two or three hundred meters, and the prescribed amounts were seven square meters of earth in summer and five square meters in winter. For meeting 25% of the quota one received 50 grams of bread and soup twice a day, but it was made of water only. On holidays I used to evade work; as punishment we would be put under arrest for five days, receive 300 grams of bread and water once a day, or be forced to go to work by having dogs set on us and being hit with rifle butts. Temperatures fell to 47 degrees below zero, and we had to work naked and barefoot. To be exempted from work one had to run a temperature of 40 degrees or have a broken leg or a broken arm. Five people died suddenly at night, but I don’t know their surnames. It was so until the very end, that is, until our release.
On 15 July 1941 we were transported to Polish camps. My camp was called Vyazniki. On 25 August 1941 I enlisted in the Polish Army. On 1 September we left Vyazniki for the camp in Tatischevo; 5th Infantry Division, 14th Infantry Regiment, 9th Rifle Company.