Point 1. I was evicted because I was a military settler.
Point 2. Personal data:
Klemens Grzybowski, son of Michał, gendarme Sergeant Major of the Reserve, civilian occupation – farmer, military settler, married, with four children.
Point 3. Date and circumstances of arrest:
13 February 1940, at 5.00 a.m. I was arrested by the NKVD because I was a military settler in Chutor Szlachecki in the commune of Aleksandria, district of Równe. I was sent together with my family to Równe.
Point 4. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
On 8 March 1940, I was deported along with my family deep into Russia, and forcibly settled in the hamlet of Dziedowka, Hainy [Gajny] District, Molotovskaya Oblast. The village was located near the Ural taiga, and I and my family worked in the forests.
Point 5. Description of the camp, prison:
The work was hard, and you had to carry out a norm toiling for up to 12 hours a day. The most I ever got as remuneration was 7 rubles and 40 kopecks. This was a starvation-level wage, for a kilogram of bread cost 90 kopecks. We lived in unlit and unheated barracks that were infested with bugs.
Point 6. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees:
There were some 1,500 Polish deportees in the settlement of Dziedowka. 75 percent were ethnic Poles, and the rest Ukrainians. Children, adults and elderly persons of both sexes. We were plagued by scurvy, scarlet fever, and numerous other diseases. While I was detained there, I remember a few dozen people dying. Amongst us deportees there were a few people of higher intellectual caliber and superior moral fiber, and they helped maintain a good level of civil morality. The Ukrainians tormented the Polish families, out of pure hatred, however we didn’t let this get our spirits down.
Point 7. Life in the camp, prison:
I and my family received meager quantities of food from the canteen, of course in exchange for money. We were not given any clothing. As regards culture, there was nothing. The sole exception was a school for children, but the language of instruction was Russian.
Point 8. Attitude of the authorities, NKVD towards Poles:
Regarding the attitude of the authorities and the NKVD towards us Poles, I must say that we were forced to work and carry out the norm, while if someone was unable to, he or she would be locked up for the night in the jail, and then marched off to work, under guard, in the morning. Communist propaganda was actively conducted; they kept on repeating that communism would take over the world, that Poland had ceased to exist for good, and that we should simply forget about the country. They did not recognize God and forbid all forms of religious practice.
Point 9. Medical care:
It was impossible to get any medical care if you were a Pole. Indeed, “medical care” was practically non-existent, and aspirin tablets (in a very limited quantity) were the only available drug.
Point 10. Was it at all possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, then what contacts were permitted?
There was no contact with the home country.
Point 11. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
I was released from the obligation to work on 28 August 1941 on the basis of the amnesty, and recognized as a free Polish citizen. I was enlisted in the Polish Army on 10 February 1942 in Lugovoy, and assigned to the 10th Infantry Division.
Official stamp, 13 March 1943