Senior Rifleman Piotr Ostapski, fisherman, married.
I was arrested on 14 July 1937, in the village of Storożów near the Korczyk River while I was fishing. It is the border river between Poland and the USSR. The Polish border-guard had moved away for a moment, and right then the Soviet border guards surrounded me and escorted me to their guardhouse.
The next day they took me to the prison in Sławuta. After three months there was a trial (in Sławuta), and I was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Three days later, they transferred me to the prison in Żytomierz, where I stayed till 1 September 1939.
I suffered the most in the prison in Sławuta. During the interrogation, they hit me on the head with a Browning [gun], accusing me of spying for Poland. The food was very poor. For the whole day, the used to give us 300 grams of bread, 2 grams of sugar, some cabbage soup, a piece of fish and a pot of tea. They changed my shirt only after a month. In Sławuta I was kept in the solitary confinement the whole time. After my sentence was announced, I turned to the Polish Consulate in Moscow and asked for intervention in my case. After a month I received an oral response from the Prison Director that there was no Polish Consulate in Moscow. Then I turned to the court in Sławuta for an annulment and to be sent back to Poland. As a response, I received a confirmation of the sentence – 15 years of prison for espionage.
In Żytomierz, they also kept me in solitary confinement, until the beginning of the German- Polish war. The food was fine (600 grams of bread, 2 grams of sugar, tea for breakfast, soup for dinner and for supper). Sanitary conditions improved – I could get some fresh air three times per week. They wouldn’t give me newspapers or books.
Only on the road to Kotlas did I meet other Soviet prisoners. They were political prisoners sentenced to 15–25 years. There were about 50 people in the wagon – it was impossible to sleep. During the journey, we got some food (600 grams of bread, sugar and raw water).
In Kotlas I was building the Kotlas - Kozhva railroad (“on the road”). I was living in a barrack, covered with canvas sailcloth. 500 people were squeezed in there. I was sleeping on bare floor. I was sick, but the doctor didn’t want to admit that, so I was getting a so-called penalty paiok (300 grams of bread and soup two times a day). After two months I got back to work, but I couldn’t meet the quotas.
Regarding the composition of the 8th Colony in Kotlas, there were Poles, Russians, Jews, Uzbeks and others. Everyone was complaining about the Soviet government and we were all pleased with the failures of the Red Army on the front. At the beginning of 1940, I caught malaria and spent three months in the hospital. Food and sanitary conditions were much better there.
After our release in mid-August of 1941, I worked in kolkhozes with other Poles.
In February 1942, I joined the Polish Army in Kermine.
While I was in the USSR, I received only one letter from my wife.