Bolesław Tarnowski, corporal, born in 1900, farmer, member of a family of five, Reserve Center [?] – reserve armored squadron.
I was forced to leave the country on 28 November 1939 because the German authorities were threatening me with death for insubordination and continued rebellion. After crossing the Bug River, I settled in Równe (in the Wołyń area). I lived there until 7 January 1940, when I was deported to Rostov in Russia. There, my wife and I worked in a kolkhoz, but I eventually had to make an escape on account of the bad living conditions, and I returned to Włodzimierz Wołyński on 15 June. My wife, who was supposed to escape the same way I did, remained in Rostov because she was too closely guarded by the militia. I was arrested on a street in Włodzimierz Wołyński on that same 15 June and put in prison, where I spent the next 31 days.
On 18 July 1940, I was deported to a forced labor camp [illegible word] – a camp near the North Pole. We, that is prisoners of Polish nationality, constituted around 80% of the camp population, another 5% were Jewish and up to 15% were Orthodox Christians. We were given the task of building a railway track embankment and did this until 2 April 1942. I got no pay and was provided only soup and bread as compensation; the soup was basically just water and the bread ration was 400 grams. I did not get anything else because I didn’t have the strength to work any harder to earn something more.
Medical care was brutally lacking – the sick would even be dragged out of their cots to work and die directly at the work site. Triple refusal to work resulted in execution by firing squad. This happened, for example, to one Ronicz from Dubno, who was thus executed by the NKVD.
I was charged with illegally crossing the border and spying for Poland – the charge was based on Articles 18.80 and 11.14 of the Criminal Code.
I was released on 2 April 1942, whereupon I travelled to a Polish Delegation branch office in Kotlas. I was then referred to Kirov, but there they did not want to let us join and told us that the Polish Army project was finished – that they were not accepting people anymore!
Because we had obtained information about the army administration’s whereabouts, we travelled (illegally, i.e., without a ticket) to a draft board office. Thus, I arrived at Guzar in Uzbekistan on 2 May 1942 and was assigned to the 6th Infantry Division in Kitob. I served in the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion and the service was very demanding.
I know absolutely nothing about my wife’s situation.
The things I have lived through were hard and painful.
12 February 1943