1. Personal data (name and surname, rank, field post office number, age, occupation and marital status):
Gunner Bazyli Szabrowy, 30 years old, bricklayer, married; field post office no. 163.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
I was arrested on the night of 20 March 1940, for attempting to cross the border and enter the area occupied by the Germans, because my wife had gone to Gdynia in August 1939 and I hadn’t heard from her since.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
I was arrested in [illegible], and was temporarily locked in a basement; after three days, I was transferred to [illegible], then to Rawa Ruska and Lwów (the Brygidki prison), and to Jachowicza Street. At the end of September, I was deported to Starobilsk, having been sentenced to three years in labor camps in the North. In December 1940, I was sent to Chibyu.
4. Description of the camp, prison, etc. (area, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
In January, I was brought to Chibyu (camp site no. 15) – the barracks were old and wooden, made of scraps, full of holes, with no floors or stoves, terribly cold. It was just dirt and misery, lice and bedbugs.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees (nationality, categories of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations, etc.):
There were various types of lowlifes among the prisoners (except for Poles, who were political prisoners); most of them were Soviet zhuliks [thieves] and recidivists. The atmosphere was unbearable.
6. Life in the camp, prison, etc. (average daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life): Life in the camp was hopeless. I was completely devastated by the working conditions, and the food was [illegible]. They escorted us to work at 6.00 a.m. and we returned at 5.00 p.m., when it was completely dark in winter. My life was the following: 700 grams of bread and some soup twice a day. Social and cultural life didn’t exist.
7. Attitude of the authorities, the NKVD, towards Poles (method of investigation, tortures, punishment, communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
I was always interrogated at night, which was usually the case. I was called the worst names, etc. They tortured me in the following way: they would interrogate my wife in the neighboring room and make her cry, but before that they told me my wife was [illegible] the communist propaganda [illegible].
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality (please list the names of the deceased):
There was medical assistance, but only when someone was dying. I went to work when I had a 39-degree fever because there was no way to get a sick leave. Lots of people died and every day they were taken away in boxes, almost uncovered. Five to eight boxes were taken away at a time. I don’t remember the names.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, what contacts were permitted?
In March 1941, I wrote to my family and I received an answer on 25 May. The letter was strictly censored.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released in August and I was transported with other people who had been released from that labor camp at that time. I went to Totskoye.