Private Kazimierz Kosarzewski, 45, blacksmith, married, residing in the district town of Wilejka, Wilno Voivodeship.
My son, Witold Kosarzewski, was arrested after the Soviet army entered Poland. I still do not know where he is. He was arrested on 17 October 1939, having returned from his service in the Polish army.
On 13 April 1940, I was taken away together with my family, numbering three people, to be deported from Poland. The personal belongings we were allowed to bring along could weigh only up to a hundred kilograms. We were ordered to leave everything else behind.
On that day we were put on a train together with a large transport of Polish families. On 17 April we were sent off on a journey which lasted two weeks. 30 people were kept in each of the freight cars. We arrived at the Tavolzhan station, from where we were transported in vehicles to various kolkhozes. I was transported to the lozovskiy district, Pavlodar Oblast, in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
We arrived there at night and were placed in [illegible]. On the following day we were told to ask farmers for accommodation and work. We were ordered to report to the NKVD twice a week. Living conditions were difficult. This was our situation up to June 1941. During the night from 15 to 16 June 1941, a dozen or so Polish families were taken away from this area and sent to the Akmolinsk Oblast as forced laborers, to work building railway bridges. [Illegible] were very [illegible], they lived in cold barracks which leaked during rains. There was a shortage of food and clothing.
In August it was announced that we were free citizens, but we still had to work. The NKVD men who arrived in September said that if we wished to, we could leave after a month, after submitting a zayavlenie [application]. I submitted mine on 15 September and was released in October. After I was released, I was sent by train to Buzuluk in order to join the Polish army. In Chkalov we were not permitted to go on to Buzuluk. We were instructed to go to Tashkent, where in turn they sent us to Kogon. We were then transported to various kolkhozes in the Republic of Uzbekistan. I was transported to Kitab. Two weeks later, on 15 November, I was told to get on a train again. After journeying for seven days we arrived in the Narpay district, in the Samarkand Oblast, and were then sent to various kolkhozes, where living conditions were very difficult and we were paid nothing more than 40 grams of sorghum per person a day. Work was obligatory.
In February 1942 I made my way to Kermine, where I joined the Polish army.