1. Personal data:
Volunteer Maria Kryglewska, 40 years old, wife of a notary.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on 13 March 1940, at night, with my two children – a daughter and a son.
3. Name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
Forced labor site. [Illegible] with a peat mine. We worked at digging peat from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., with a one hour break. From 6.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. we worked at loading fuel onto barges at the Irtysh River.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc.:
The camp was situated six kilometers from the peat mine and fenced with wire; we lived in a pigsty, which was filthy, infested with pig lice, bugs and rats, cold and damp, with walls overgrown with grass. Moreover, we had to go half a kilometer to fetch water.
5. The composition of prisoners of war, inmates, exiles:
The exiles were mostly women with children. Poles were in the majority, but there were also Ukrainians and some Jews. The Poles were landowners and office workers, the Ukrainians peasants, and the Jews merchants. The Ukrainians were mostly Bolsheviks, the Jews were rather neutral or even helpful towards us Poles. The intellectual level was accordingly average. The moral standing was rather good, as all people helped one another at work to the best of their abilities and offered financial aid to others, as well as shared with them the contents of the parcels they received from the home country. There were instances of petty theft.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
The daily grind consisted of working at the peat mine and queuing for food, sometimes for the whole night. While we were digging peat, we had to stand in water all the time, in scorching sun and suffering from mosquito bites. The women were required to dig 4 cubic meters of peat and take it to the place where it was dried, and the quota for the men was from 5 to 7 cubic meters. The youths dried the peat and arranged it in piles.
By overworking herself, a woman could earn about 190 rubles per month, which was enough only to buy bread, soap and sometimes a few potatoes or some milk.
They issued about 300 grams of bread and a helping of soup per person, of course in return for money.
Generally there were no clothes provided, and we had no time for social or cultural life.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles:
The NKVD behaved seemingly quite decently. The Communist propaganda turned out to be futile, so eventually they stopped all efforts in that respect. The news about Poland, if we received any, was true.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:
Medical assistance was organized at a decent level, the hospitals were clean and the doctors were always ready to help. The mortality was huge, especially among the children. I don’t remember the surnames. I remember only one – that of my little son.
9. Was there any possibility of getting in contact with one’s country and family?
We received letters and parcels from the home country, they came usually very regularly and were intact.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
We were released on 1 November 1941, and we joined the 10th Division of the Army as volunteers.