1. Personal data (name and surname, rank, age, field post office number, occupation and marital status):
Senior Wachtmeister of the Reserve Mieczysław Szachowski, 47 years old, accountant, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
On 13 July 1940 I was deported from the internment camp in Vilkaviškis in Lithuania.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
On 16 July 1940, I was imprisoned in the internment camp in Yukhnov. On 6 June 1941, I was deported to Murmansk. On 20 June, I was sent from Murmansk to the Kola Peninsula. On 30 June, I was imprisoned in the labor camp in Ponoy.
4. Description of the camp, prison, etc. (area, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
The Yukhnov camp was situated in pine woods; we lived in farm buildings that had been converted into residential ones. The housing conditions were good by USSR standards. We got fresh underwear and a bath every ten days.
In the Ponoy camp, the buildings, or rather barracks, were made of boards and had a tent roof. They were so overcrowded that some people had to rest outside. There was no water or sanitary facilities.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees (nationality, categories of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations, etc.):
Mostly Poles, a very small percentage of Belarusians, and a few Jews. Our crime was that we had crossed the Lithuanian border, objecting to the USSR occupation. The internees were mostly non-commissioned officers of the regular service, reserve officers, about 200 cadets, and a few officers hiding among privates. They were of varying intellectual standing. Their moral standing was generally high, except for a few cases. The social relations were good.
6. Life in the camp, prison, etc. (average daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life):
A day in the Yukhnov camp was as follows: waking up at 6.00 a.m., roll call, breakfast – fish soup; lunch at 12.00 – fish soup, very rarely meat and groats; supper at 6 p.m. – tea, 800 grams of bread; shag tobacco – five 25-gram packs per month, and 15 grams of sugar per day in the first months. We worked only inside the camp. In Murmansk and Ponoy – we worked 12 hours a day, had 300 grams of bread, and hot meals three times a day, not very substantial due to the lack of water, but very thick, generally not bad. On the Kola Peninsula, they gave us new padded jackets and trousers, and those who had torn shoes were given new ones. Social life was generally good. There were no work quotas.
7. Attitude of the authorities, the NKVD, towards Poles (method of investigation, tortures, punishment, communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The NKVD’s attitude towards the internees was quite good. They did not inflict tortures; jail penalties were very uncommon. Talks on political matters were quite frequent. We knew the course of events in the West from newspapers and weekly talks. The communist propaganda – not impressive.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality (please list the names of the deceased):
In Yukhnov, there was an infirmary operated by our doctors – cadets. There was no medical assistance in the camp by the Ponoy River. As far as I remember, a senior sergeant died in the Yukhnov camp; I don’t remember his name, but the cause of death was a heart aneurysm.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, what contacts were permitted?
After a six-month stay in the camp, we were allowed to write one letter a month to our families. As soon as we were transferred to the North, all correspondence was forbidden.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
At the end of July 1941, we were transported from Ponoy to Arkhangelsk. From Arkhangelsk, they took us to the Yuzha camp, where the amnesty was announced. In that camp, a draft board headed by Colonel Kulik-Sarnowski registered volunteers. At the end of August of the same year, we were transported to Tatishchevo, to the 5th Division, which was being formed.