Senior work leader Janina Juszczyk, born on 29 November 1922 in Mariówka, Tarnopol district. I lived with my parents.
On 10 February 1940 at night, my parents and I were deported as settlers to Krasnoyarsk Krai, city of Yeniseysk, Kulbuszew’s [Kujbyszew’s?] posiołek. Posiołek consisted of nine barracks, two of them dwelled by Poles. There were 52 families, 225 people of us altogether. Russian exiles were living in seven other barracks. There was a sawmill 1 kilometer from the posiołek, where I was involved in various works. 300 meters away were bathrooms, where you could wash yourself after buying a 2-ruble ticket.
Nobody attended the club which was next to us, but we would gather in one of the apartments. There, we read letters or newspaper excerpts sent from Poland. It was done in great conspiracy, as all kinds of meetings were strictly forbidden.
Living conditions were very hard; forced labor – 12 hours a day – exhausted our compatriots as the quotas were high, wages low, and provisions for a worker were 600 grams of bread and one portion of soup in the canteen for dinner; non-workers would get 300 grams of bread. We had to purchase clothes too, but we didn’t have the money, so people would go around ragged, hungry and exhausted. If someone didn’t leave for work or was late, they would be sent to court and issued a penalty there. The first penalty was taking 10 per cent off our wage, the second – 25 per cent, the third was imprisonment.
They organized meetings with us and desperately tried to persuade us that we would never see our fatherland again. They tried to force parents to send their kids to school, but nothing helped, the children were studying at home.
Medical assistance wasn’t easy to get hold of, as they didn’t accept the fact of being ill. They said the sick were simply too lazy to work. As a result, many of our fellow countrymen died.
On 11 October 1941, the Soviet government announced an amnesty for all Polish citizens. Despite us being supposedly free, they didn’t allow us to go anywhere. We didn’t listen though, and we left at night on 23 October 1941, taking the last ship to Krasnoyarsk, and then to Novosibirsk, where we stayed by the Polish embassy. From there, we were directed to kolkhozes in Kazakhstan.
Then, I was sent to Yangiyul by the Polish embassy, entered Women Auxiliary Service, brought my parents there and we went across the border together.
Official stamp, 9 March 1943