1. Personal data:
Corporal Zygmunt Gaczyński, a farmer by occupation, born in 1901, married.
2. Methods of interrogation and torture used during the examination:
I was interrogated by NKVD agents in the prison in Włodzimierz Wołyński. The following methods were used during the examination: 1. They promised me my freedom if I confirmed that the residents of my village, Turija, had thrown a thousand cartridges into the Turija River – a flagrant lie, 2. They threatened me with long-term imprisonment, 3. They tried to talk me into admitting that I was a member of an organization acting against the communist system, 4. They used torture against my person: a) partial strangulation, b) beating me on my face until I bled.
3. Procedure applied by the court in the course of the examination and during pronouncement of the verdict:
I received the indictment 24 hours before the trial. I was charged with the following: criticizing kolkhozes, acting in the capacity of village leader, and taking part in the campaign of 1920. The following witnesses were presented: Koryszko, a communist, Dobrowolski – a farmer from the neighboring colony (Mikołajówka), Adam Lipiński, a neighbor of mine, and Michał Węgrzyn, a resident of the village of Turija in the district of Włodzimierz. The sentence was read out two hours after proceedings had been closed. I was sentenced to five years of forced labor and three years of deprivation of civil rights – Soviet civil rights. A copy of the judgment was taken from me in the prison in Kharkiv, to where I was subsequently taken.
6. Life in forced labor camps, the organization thereof, and work norms:
a) Township and area/region. Kirov Oblast, Vyatka Forced Labor Camp, station of Niżna
Kamskaja. It was located in the taiga. There were loads of mosquitoes and flies.
b) Living conditions. I lived in a barrack. I slept on a pallet made from planks, with no straw mattress or blankets. The barrack housed some 140 people, and was heated by only one iron stove. For bedlinen, we had our own clothes – in which we also worked.
c) Food. On average, I received 900 grams of bread, obviously if I carried out the norm; when war broke out with the Germans, this was reduced to 300-500 grams. I would also be given soup (actually flour dissolved in water) twice daily, for breakfast and supper, while less frequently they gave us kasha, but without any fat.
d) Working conditions. We worked in the forest irrespective of the weather – in torrential downpours, low temperatures (minus 45 degrees Celsius), and during the summer thaws, both day and night. The route to work was nearly nine kilometers one way.
e) Norms. Example work norms: ripping and arranging seven cubic meters of wood; cutting down a number of pine trees sufficient to obtain five cubic meters of wood, delimbing the trunks and placing the branches on a pile.
f) Clothing. Initially I had to wear my own clothes, but later they gave me a shirt and linen underwear, quilted trousers (tattered), and a pair of rubber shoes with quilted tops.
g) Social composition of prisoners. The composition of prisoners varied as regards nationality and the types of crimes committed. There were definitely thieves amongst them, for in the very beginning somebody stole my shoes and two sets of underwear. There were some 1,500 men and a hundred women in the camp, the latter group comprising wives of former Tsarist officials and Soviet prostitutes.
h) Hygienic and sanitary conditions. You had to have had a fever in excess of 39 degrees to be considered sick. There were practically no drugs. The barracks were infested with bugs, rats and lice.
i) Working time. From 5.00 a.m. until 8.00 p.m. in summer and from 6.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. in winter. After war broke out with the Germans, the working time was extended by two hours.
j) Leisure time and cultural life – until war broke out with the Germans, we had access to a radio and books.
k) Keeping in touch with the home country. I did not receive any correspondence from my family. I got a parcel from my relatives, but the letter that had been inside it was appropriated by the camp commandant.
l) Attitude of the Soviet authorities towards Poles. Unfavorable.
ł) Remuneration. I didn’ t receive any cash for my work.
m) Communist propaganda. In the camp, none.
n) Mortality rate in the camp(s). Approximately 5 percent of inmates.
7. Life in the prison:
Between 7 April and 31 December 1940, I was held in the prison in Włodzimierz Wołyński.
| a) | Living conditions. Terrible, dreadful. It was so crowded that you could not sit, or lie down to sleep. The cells were filthy, stuffy and humid, and infested with lice. The only upside was that we were allowed a 20-minute walk every day. |
| b) | Food, hygienic and sanitary conditions. Similar to what I experienced in the forced labor camps. Three men who were amongst those imprisoned with me in Włodzimierz – Count Ledóchowski from the district of Włodzimierz (the Falemicze estate), a landowner by the surname of Kaczkowski from the district of Horochów, and also the mayor of Uściług, Mr Pomianowski – died there. |
| c) | Social composition of prisoners. In Kharkiv, the social (national) composition of inmates changed over time: initially Poles formed the majority, while towards the end of my incarceration Ukrainian nationalists became predominant; there was also a small number of Jews. As regards the types of crimes committed, the decided majority were “politicals”. |
The prison cells in Kharkiv were terribly overcrowded: a cell with an area of 70 meters would house 155 prisoners of various nationalities. The conditions there were much worse than in Włodzimierz.