1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, and marital status):
Gunner Stefan Sawicki, aged 25, ranger, unmarried.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
On 10 February 1940, at 3 AM, at home with the entire family.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
Taken away for work to Yel (USSR), an NKVD camp in the Nensk region [?] on the Finnish border.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
Only the wilderness and forests; no buildings, no housing, a bath once a month, and it was cold; no hygiene (lice, dirt).
5. The composition of prisoners of war, inmates, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
[Prisoners consisted of] Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians. [Prisoners were charged with] crossing the border, counter-revolution, thefts. The mental and moral standing varied. The relations between the Poles were mutually positive. The Poles were engaged in constant disputes and fights with the Russians and Ukrainians.
6. Life in the camp, prison (daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothing, social life, etc.):
Daily work from 5:00 AM to 6:00 PM, the working conditions were very difficult, the salary for an adult worker was three rubles, and for women – one and a half rubles a day. Food was bought with one’s own money. It was possible to buy from 400 to 600 g of bread and “stinking” tea three times a day. One piece of clothing, known as rags, could be bought per year. Fellowship amongst Poles only, it was forbidden to talk and read Polish books, and there was no such thing as culture.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards the Polish people (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
A hostile attitude towards the Poles; investigations based on being locked up in the punishment cell for four days (where there was no window or benches and water was dripping down the walls); on the floor there was from 20 to 30 cm of water, so a prisoner could not sit down; and they gave us 200 g of bread and half a liter of water. Propaganda: they praised their own [kind], and everything else was wrong.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (give the names of the deceased):
There was hardly any assistance, except for bandaging and iodine tincture treatment. [Those who died included] the late ranger Suchodolski (ranger’s lodge in Krzyżyk, Łuck district, Wołyń voivodship); the Late Ranger Paweł Pawłowski and his wife (the ranger’s lodge was in Zaburje, Łuck district); the Late [Ranger] Cezary Kamiński and his wife (the ranger’s lodge was in Otyczka, Łuck district); the late Chołuń, settler, we did not know where he was from.
9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
No.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
On 18 September 1941 I was released, and on 28 February 1942 I joined the Polish army in Tashlak, as a volunteer.