1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Sergeant Stanisław Pypeć, locksmith, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on 22 September 1939 in Równe and led away by the NKVD.
3. Name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
Mobile camps in Shepetivka, Radziwiłłów, Mościska, Jaworów, Czerlany, Starobilsk.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc. (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
The camps were cramped and dirty, we were always cold and hungry, and any hygiene was out of the question.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, categories of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
In the mobile camps: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians. Intellectual and moral standing were average, but mutual relations were quite good.
6. Life in the camp, prison, etc. (the course of an average day, working conditions, quotas and norms, wages, food, clothing, social and cultural life, etc.):
Life in the camps was harsh. We had to wake up early and work hard to meet the quotas, as they don’t know any other system of work. We received food that was enough only to keep us alive.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The NKVD had a very bad attitude towards Poles, as they constantly interrogated us and resorted to threats in the process. Each of us was photographed and described as if he were the worst criminal in the world.
9. Was there any possibility of getting in contact with one’s country and family?
I had contact with my family by mail, and my wife visited me; she was thoroughly searched. If we wanted to talk, we had to keep within the time limit, which couldn’t be exceeded even by a minute.
10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
Following the outbreak of the German-Soviet war, we were driven along the road as if we were not human, and we couldn’t even get a drink of water.
On 25 August 1941 in Starobilsk, I was liberated from these chains and became a soldier of the Polish Army.