1. Personal data (name and surname, rank, field post office number, age, occupation and marital status):
Czesław Sylwanowicz, 20 years old, former secondary school student, bachelor; field post office no. 137.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested in Zaleszczyki in November 1939 because I wanted to cross the border. I was detained at the banks of the Dniester River for attempting to cross the Polish-Romanian border.
3., 4. Name of the camp, prison or place of forced labor; description of the camp, prison, etc. (area, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
As soon as I was arrested, I was interrogated in a very arrogant way. After two days, I was escorted to Czortków, where I was locked in one of the buildings of the local barracks, which had been converted into prison cells. I spent about a month there. The conditions were terrible: the dirt and lice were disgusting.
After a month, I was taken to the local prison, where the conditions were slightly better. I could shake off some lice and dirt. I didn’t spend much time in that prison – I was sent to the prison in Tarnopol. The conditions were terrible. There were a lot of people in the cell; we slept on the floor, one next to the other, like sardines. I spent about a month (January 1940) in the Tarnopol prison.
Then, I was sent with one of the transports to Kharkiv, where I was locked in a local prison called Kamienna Gora. The conditions were really bad. I spent about a month there until I was sent to an NKVD investigative prison, where the conditions were slightly better because we had beds, blankets, white sheets, a bath every ten days, clean underwear, books to read, and common-room games. I spent about four months there. From that prison, I was sent back to Kamienna Gora.
In that prison, in July 1940, I was sentenced to five years of forced hard labor and sent to the North. After a long journey, I arrived near Arkhangelsk. It was already September. The train stopped near the city of Onega because there was no railroad. From there, we walked all day to the city of Onega, located by a lake of the same name. From there, we were transported by barges over the lake, along the shore of the White Sea, to our workplace. I arrived there around 12 September 1940. The name of the village was the following: Arkhangelsk Oblast, Onega region, Maloshuyka post office, third otdeleniye, 29th and 25th colony – because I was in both. There were about 1500 of us.
The area where we worked was swampy, quite densely wooded. The conditions were terrible. In winter, we were tormented by freezing temperatures, and in summer – although it was short – mosquitoes and flies. The barracks were covered with a tent cloth, and only at the end of winter did our carpenters build a more “decent” building, covered with shingle. It was cold and really wet in the newly built barrack. I slept in the clothes I wore. In March 1941, if I remember correctly, I was escorted to the 25th colony, which wasn’t good, but the living conditions were slightly better there. I got warm clothes, a straw mattress to sleep on, and regular meals.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees (nationality, categories of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations, etc.):
The prisoners were mostly Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, and Ruthenians from Hungary and Romania. In the camp, there were also Kyrgyz people who were Russians – in short, there were Soviet citizens among us. There were various categories of crimes: prisoners from abroad, political, the so-called opulent [dangerous] elements, counter-revolutionaries, including many Poles arrested on their own land. The Poles were still on the warpath against the Ukrainians and Ruthenians.
6. Life in the camp, prison, etc. (average daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life):
An average day in the camp was the following. We would get up very early in the morning, have something like breakfast, and then we would stand by the gate in pairs and, after being counted off, go to work. At noon, those who had met work quota were given dinner, and the rest watched. We worked until dusk; it was quite dark when we got back to the barracks, where everyone was given supper, but those who hadn’t met the quota were locked in jail cells.
The work was very hard. Sometimes we had to work a whole day in water that reached our knees. The work quotas were very high, but the wages were low.
7. Attitude of the authorities, the NKVD, towards Poles (method of investigation, tortures, punishment, communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
There were various methods of investigation – we were threatened, beaten or locked in dungeons, where we were given only bread and water. The tortures were often horrible; for example, people were locked in a room filled with water that reached their ankles. After an hour inside, they already had had enough because it was also very cold in there. The communist propaganda was strongly developed. Information about Poland was very pessimistic.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality (please list the names of the deceased):
Medical assistance was very poor. The mortality was really high: one or even two people died almost every day. A special brigade was even set up whose task was to dig graves. One of the Poles who had escaped from the camp was killed. For show, to scare others, and to prevent them from running away, his corpse was placed by the gate and lay there for two days. As far as I remember, his name was Drabik and he came from Warsaw or Lublin Voivodeship.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, what contacts were permitted?
We were allowed to communicate with our country. I received a package from my parents after I wrote them a letter, telling them where I was.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released in September 1941. After a long journey around the USSR, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan, and back to Uzbekistan, I arrived in Guzar, where I joined the Wilno Reconnaissance Unit. It was in February 1942. After I stayed there for a month, I went to Persia with my unit.
Temporary quarters, 6 March 1943.