Platoon commander Józefa Puszkar (operating room nurse), born in 1902, Czeremosznia, Colony [?] Złoczów; occupation: nurse, nun.
I was arrested in the Public Hospital in Lwów on 24 April 1940, charged with membership in a secret organization.
I was incarcerated in prisons in Lwów (on Zamarstynów, Jachowicza and Kazimierzowska streets) and in Gulag camps in Starobilsk and [?] Vorkuta. I spent 10 months in prison in horrible conditions, without air or medical assistance, with very meager food and in mixed company; during interrogations I was beaten and kicked. Since we were political prisoners, all our requests were refused. I was denied contact with my family despite repeated appeals, which I made because I was in need of the most basic things.
The NKVD was hostile towards us Poles; they told us to forget about Poland, as it would never be restored.
On 16 February I was deported to Starobilsk, and on 20 June 1941 to Vorkuta. In Vorkuta they sent us to work and told us to meet exorbitant work quotas, even though we received no remuneration and very meager food.
I was released on 19 September 1941, and we were sent to kolkhozes in Uzbekistan, beyond Nukus, where we suffered great hunger. I joined the Polish Army on 10 February 1942 in Kermine.
3 March 1943