Józefa Grudzińska, born on 20 March 1921 in Zambrów, district of Łomża, Warsaw voivodeship.
The abovementioned person was arrested on 3 March 1940 when trying to cross the border and detained in Łomża prison, whereafter on 17 August 1940 she was deported to a forced labor camp in the Mordovian Republic of the USSR, Potma train station, settlement of Yavas, doc. no. 9. There were more than 400 Polish women there, 80 elderly men, and a “special group” (i.e. Soviet intelligentsia) of 150 people. After two months, the men were transferred to an unknown location. Everyone worked in a bead factory from 7.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m., and then from 1.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. daily, irrespective of Sundays and holidays. It was passable until the German-Russian war broke out. The quotas, living conditions and clothing rations were acceptable. But once the war broke out the situation deteriorated rapidly, and the Soviets also suspended all correspondence with family members in Poland.
The amnesty was announced to us on 12 August 1941, while on 29 August we were freed; we were given some money and told to go where we wished. I went to Ufa, where I worked at an ironmonger’s until 13 December. Thereafter I moved to Jalal-Abad and worked as a civilian at the headquarters of the 5th Division until 8 August 1942. When I left the USSR for Pahlevi, I enlisted in the Polish Army, and continue to serve to the present day.
4 March 1943