[1. Personal data:]
Platoon leader Dominik Jasiukiewicz, born on 2 March 1914 in Dąbrowa near Grodno, regular non-commissioned officer; unmarried.
[2. Date and circumstances of arrest:]
Arrested in the parish church for belonging to a Polish organization and [not] surrendering weapons.
[3. Name of the camp, prison, forced labor site:]
Prison in Brześć on the Bug, “red” prison on Zygmuntowska Street, then Vorkuta camp.
[4. Description of the camp, prison, etc.:]
Conditions: we slept on an asphalt floor, covering ourselves with whatever we had with us. There were 6 prisoner beds for our people and 32 of us. Hygiene: bedbugs, lice, washing wasn’t allowed due to water shortage. We wouldn’t be allowed to go for walks for six months; later, we could go once a week.
[5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles:]
Together were: reserve lieutenant Sejbel, sergeant Michał Zbąszyniak (79th Infantry Regiment), corporal Jan Krawczyk, Mikołajewski from Grajewo, Stanisław Bajor from Hajnówka and judge Jaworowski from Brześć as well as attorney Różański from Brześć. All were of Polish nationality.
Offense categories varied, intellectual standing was high, moral standing was high, mutual relations were good. Among others, Józef Bobrut from Międzyrzec and Antoni Zinczuk from around Brześć were snitches, often telling stories of how they helped to disarm our units in 1939. Zinczuk had supposedly killed a couple of officers from our cavalry.
[6. Life in the prison, camp:]
Life in the prison: wake up call was at 7 a.m., and they gave out bread right after. Around 12 p.m. they served soup whose components were often hard to determine; at 4 p.m., but sometimes at 12 a.m. they gave us a pottage which the lousiest host would never serve [illegible]. No entertainment, no walks. At night, at various times, they walked us to lavatory.
The only entertainment for sufferers like us was when they took us for an interrogation and we would return with a black eye or be put in an isolation cell. Social life was good, with some exceptions. Cultural life – none. But we did tell each other the books we had read and about various life experiences, and we had discussions and talks on various topics.
[7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:]
The way the NKVD acted toward Poles was really mean. On every occasion they would say that the Polish government is hiding up in the attic, polska morda, jobany w boha mać, etc., and besides we were beaten and placed in isolation cells. I myself was beaten during an investigation for having served in the Polish Army and being in a Polish organization. During interrogations, I was put in an isolation cell three times, spending 32 days there altogether. The investigation lasted six months. Conditions in the isolation cell: wet, dark, stinky. 200 grams of bread and half a liter of boiled water a day. On 17 January 1941 the sentence was read out to me: death penalty. I was ordered to file a pardon request, after three days I was told that the sentence was changed to 15 years of heavy prison and deportation to Vorkuta.
[8. Health care, infirmaries, mortality:]
Health assistance was poor. Mikołajewski from Grajewo died in the Brześć prison.
[9. Was there a possibility of contacting your country and family?]
It wasn’t possible at all. On 24 January 1941 I was deported to Workuta camp, where I served my sentence, working on moving train rails from wagons onto a ship for six weeks. Then I was transported to capital Vorkuta, I got ill on the way and stayed in a hospital on the Usa [river?] for four weeks. As soon as I was able to walk, I was taken to work at an airport construction site. Food rations were miserable and depended on filling the quotas. I got 450 grams of bread and soup twice a day. I didn’t get any salary. Captain Dąbrowski and many others were in the camp. I didn’t have any contact with the country or my family.
[10. When were you released and when did you join the army?]
I was released on 17 September 1941. I went directly to Buzuluk, where I was enlisted into the Polish Army and sent to the 5th Infantry Division in Tatishchevo.