Cannoneer Bolesław Rozóm, aged 26, Roman Catholic, Polish, ceramic worker, unmarried.
I was disarmed, along with the entire heavy artillery division, in Sarnki Górne. For six days, we were hounded like dogs all the way to Kamieniec Podolski. They gave us no food. We stayed at Kamieniec Podolski for four days, then we were urged onward to the Polish territory in Równe. From there, we were hounded to Przełym (Żytyń) and compelled to work: removing the snow from the road. The quota per one person was 50 meters in length, and the snow was [a fragment of the page missing] deep. The living conditions were very harsh: 600 grams of bread per day and some watery soup twice a day. I worked there for seven months.
From there, I was taken to Antopol, where I worked on the road. The quota to be fulfilled was very large, 10 square meters. Life was very poor – if I didn’t fulfill the quota, I received 300 grams of bread and some water. The housing conditions were very difficult, it was very dirty, we were covered in lice, and when anybody ventured two meters away from the zone, they were immediately shot. I saw my friend being shot, I don’t remember his name. We were treated in a horrible way, we would be put in a dungeon and heavily beaten for every trifle, and we would get no food. The USSR’s propaganda was very large-scale, they would say horrible things about Poland; that Poland was gone and would never be restored. If a Pole answered that Poland did exist and would exist, they were put in a dungeon and tortured.
The medical assistance was very poor. If someone was already half-dead, then an orderly would come and take their temperature. If their temperature was 38 degrees Celsius, they had to go to work. Later, after the Russian-German war had broken out, we were sent to the Russian territory in Starobilsk. We were beaten heavily on the way and we were given no food – a two-kilogram loaf of bread per 20 people. They would shoot at us as if we were ducks. I saw four of my friends being shot. One of my friends died of hunger. His surname was Majda. They urged us onward for 25 days. In Starobilsk, me and all of my friends were released, and we went to Totskoye, where I joined the Polish Army.