Irena Jagodzińska née Dziewanowska, daughter of Mieczysław and Jadwiga née Minwińska, born on 25 April 1923 in Daniłówka, Dzisna district; married.
I was deported from Poland on 10 February 1940 together with my parents, as the family of a military settler. We travelled in horrible conditions. Our first place of stay was in Semipalatinsk Oblast, Georgievka village. I worked in a factory there, we had coupons for bread and other foodstuffs and very low wages. However, they believed that this was too good for us, and so they took us to the Ala-Ajgyr rudnik [mine] in the same oblast, and I worked there in a gold mine. We received 400 grams of bread for those who were working, and 200 grams for those who were not. The work in the mine was very hard, and both the men and the women had to work from 8 to 12 hours per day in the damp mine with hammers and shovels.
There were 11 families in that township, including three Polish families; the rest were Byelorussians. Those who identified themselves as Byelorussians were treated in a completely different manner, while we were persecuted at every step and always allocated harder work.
We received our certificates of release on 29 August 1941. A few weeks later we went south to Frunze Oblast, where I worked loading beets. In March 1942 I left for Persia with the 10th Division.