Antoni Machnowski, born in 1911, Roman Catholic, Polish nationality.
On 14 February 1940, I was arrested in the town of Włodawka. I was accused of spying for the Germans and of being a Polish officer. In order to force a confession to these charges, in the evenings I was taken to the prison yard and threatened with execution by firing squad. This scene was repeated several times. Next I was transported to Brześć nad Bugiem. The investigation took four months, and the interrogations were carried out at night. In total, I was interrogated over 15 times. Once when I opened the window a crack to let in some fresh air, the soldier on duty dragged me to the dungeon. Apart from the door, there was also an iron grid which blocked access to the entrance. All the walls were damp, and the floor was flooded with 15 centimeters of water. Since there wasn’t any bed or anything to sit on, I had to stand in the water the entire time, even though I was barefoot and in one shirt. I received 300 grams of bread per day. I was incarcerated there for five days.
From Brześć I was deported to Homel, and then to the vicinity of the Pechora River. I worked at railroad construction. At first we slept in the open air, despite rain and snow.
Initially nobody could obtain exemption from work, even though the majority of people suffered from dysentery and swelling. I remember the death of one of the Polish prisoners, who died during work. When I was later sent to the hospital, suffering from dysentery, I saw that from eight to ten dead people were taken out every single day.