1. Personal data:
Lieutenant Witold Kulikowski of the Reserve, 44 years old, economist, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
In August 1940 I was deported from the internment camp for officers in Latvia (Ulbroka) to the camp in Kozelsk, USSR.
3. Name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
Kozelsk – a camp for officers in the USSR – a former monastery situated some 200 kilometers from Moscow.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc.:
A dilapidated monastery, which could house about 5,000 people. A few ruined Orthodox church buildings: in some, kitchens were organized, and in others they placed pallets. Plenty of bugs. In the former church buildings the pallets were arranged three stories high, and in other buildings two. The buildings were heated in winter, so the living conditions were bearable. The bathhouse was quite decent, and we took a bath every ten days. Food was passable. We ran the kitchen ourselves, using products delivered by the NKVD authorities.
5. The composition of prisoners of war, inmates, exiles:
The composition of internees: officers deported from Lithuania and Latvia, gendarmes and policemen. Approx. 5,000 men in total. Mutual relations were rather good, with the exception of a dozen or so officers with communist leanings, who were generally avoided (Major Henryk Kowalkowski, Capt. Rozen-Zawadzki).
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Life in the camp: wake-up, cleaning, a walk, language classes in small groups, sometimes clandestine lectures on military knowledge. A radio, or rather a loudspeaker, with Soviet announcements. Proverka [roll call] from time to time.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles:
The NKVD’s attitude was generally hostile, though on the surface correct. Those who had families in the Bolshevik-occupied territories and had themselves worked there before the war were often summoned for interrogations. The Soviets knew almost all details pertaining to such individuals. If they requested some information, they would threaten the person in question, also threatening repressive measures against his family. Officers from the Second Department of Polish General Staff were all gradually deported. Very few of them returned later to the Polish Army. Like this, for instance, several dozen of them were deported from Kozelsk, and only a few returned. Those who did return were in a very bad state of health – they were starved and morally exhausted. They were changed so much that when I met three of them, I barely recognized them as the same men with whom I had spent almost an entire year in Latvia. These were Cavalry Captain Tchorzewski, Capt. Susicki and Cavalry Captain Chmielewski (he died of typhus).
Not everyone was interrogated in the same manner. Some were threatened with consequences and repressive measures against their families; others were interrogated kindly and superficially. They had the personal data of us all, as we had been divested of all documents. On top of that, they had local information (from officers who worked in the Borderlands).
Anyhow, it could be inferred from the conversations that our fates had already been decided. In addition to interrogations, Communist propaganda was spread by so-called political commissars, who roamed the camp premises. However, these guys were pretty dumb and their work was rather detrimental of the idea of Communism. Apart from that, from time to time we had to attend political lectures, during which the democratic states – mainly England, dubbed a political prostitute – were slighted and the wisdom of the Soviet policy and the alliance with the Germans were highly praised. All statistics provided during these lectures were very characteristic and even funny, as all the numbers given in comparison with other countries did not take into account the size and population of Russia.
The Polish government was ridiculed and criticized. They (the NKVD men) had an especially deep hatred for Marshal Piłsudski and the government after the May Coup d’État. They didn’t recognize General Sikorski’s government in London. Generally, in every word and every action of the NKVD men one could sense a hatred for Poland and Poles.
The library held Communist works and some textbooks.
I have a very good command of Russian and I flipped through many books by Lenin, Stalin and other eminent Party leaders. Summing up, I believe that as long as Russia has a Communist government, no cooperation in any field is possible between that country and the Western states. No agreement will be honored, as their motto is that the end justifies the means. Both Lenin and his successors recommend entering into agreements and even alliances with Russia’s chief enemies in order to attain a given goal, and then breaking them and finishing off the ally. They adhere closely to that principle.
Following the outbreak of the war with the Germans, we were deported north, to the vicinity of Vologda, to the camp in Gryazovets. There we were encouraged and even bullied into joining the Bolshevik Army. This lasted almost to the last minute before the amnesty was announced. A dozen or so officers, those with Communist leanings, left, but unfortunately – with the exception of a few – all of them were later sent to the Army that was being raised under General Anders’ command.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:
We had good medical assistance, as our own doctors worked in the camp hospitals. Besides, their hospitals were clean and the patients were provided with tender, even apolitical care.
One officer (a captain) and one policeman took their own lives after returning from an interrogation, and three officers went mad (Artillery Lieutenant Dłuski went mad and died in Kozelsk).
9. Was there any possibility of getting in contact with one’s country and family?
After a few months in the camp we were allowed to write to our families, and we then received answers. Parcels reached us in reasonable time.
10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
After the amnesty was announced to us towards the end of August 1941, we were released and sent in transports to particular locations where our army was being raised.
My brother Jan, first imprisoned and then deported for hard labor to Komi ASSR, was released from the labor camp only on 20 June 1942, almost a year after the amnesty had been proclaimed. He returned in a very bad condition. He was on the brink of collapse; he spent six months in a hospital, insensible of where he was and what was going on around him.