Volunteer Genowefa Maciorowska, born on 4 June 1923 in Białogrądy, Grajewo district, Białystok voivodeship.
I was arrested with my family on 20 June 1941 and deported to the town of Salekhard, Omsk Oblast.
Our journey lasted an entire month – 20 days by train and 10 by boat. The conditions were terrible, simply defying description, particularly the lack of water.
Having arrived in Salekhard, I had to go to work. I worked in a fish factory and earned very little, as I was never able to meet the work quota. Fortunately it didn’t last long, only a month and a half, and then we were released and left Salekhard for Omsk, and from Omsk we went to Buzuluk. In Buzuluk I volunteered for the Army and in January I left for Guzar.
My mother and the children had to endure more privations, as they were sent to Bukhara, where they had to work very hard in a kolkhoz.
I don’t know why I was arrested. Probably it had something to do with my father and brother, who had been arrested before us.
All Polish families left Salekhard, only the Bessarabians stayed there.