Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Józef Okurowski, platoon leader, aged 34, State Police Constable, married, in Russia I posed as Jan Wawrzczak and I kept this name until joining the Polish army.
Date and circumstances of arrest:
I crossed the Soviet-German border near Ostrów Mazowiecka and was captured by the Soviet border guards on 1 May 1940 (I was wanted by the NKVD authorities as a Polish state official and tried to avoid being arrested by hiding in the areas occupied by Germans).
Name of the camp, forced labor site:
Komi ASRR, 31st [illegible], 4th lagpunkt, 3rd mesto-promysl.
Description of the camp or prison (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
On 1 May 1940, after being arrested at the border, at about 1.00 a.m. I was escorted by three soldiers to Zalesie in Ostrów Mazowiecka District, where following a detailed search I was placed in a basement full of bugs (lice, fleas, etc.). On 2 May, I was escorted to the main establishment in Lubotyń, where after a repeated search and preparation of a report, I was put under arrest in detention quarters, where there were already over 80 people, with more and more other victims being arrested for similar and other crimes. Women and men stayed there together. Food: we received nothing but a slice of bread – about 300 grams, and cold water once a day. The dimensions of the building were 5 by 6 meters, which also housed a kitchen and a stove. On 13 May, together with 100 other people, I went on foot to Zaręby Kościelne, which lasted the whole day (about 30 kilometers). We weren’t given anything to eat. In Zaręby Kościelne, also following a detailed search, we were placed in monastery cells. Such a cell (1.5 by 2 meters) had to accommodate 18 and even more people, however this time men and women separately.
Next day, they started the interrogation. Individuals were called together with their belongings, which would not be brought back to the cells. During such an interrogation, they beat and insult us, and afterwards some of the interrogated persons were separated from those who were not yet examined. Meals were provided once a day: some lentil soup with a small slice of bread. They would let us go to the toilet once a day (all people from the cell at the same time) and didn’t even allow us to relieve ourselves completely (a guard would poke ours butts with a bayonet and shout “finished”). On 20 May 1940, about 200 people were transported by train to a prison in Białystok, and since it could not accommodate us, we were directed to a prison in Łomża. We traveled two days in small freight wagons, 45 people in each, and were given no food at all. I would like to mention that in both Lubotyń and Zaręby Kościelne, hygienic conditions were far below acceptable. Washing was out of the question, and thousands of lice were marching on the floor where we slept. On 22 May 1940, I was imprisoned in Łomża. In the cell, there were already five people from different parts of Poland. This was a single-person cell with dimensions of 2 by 3 [meters], where two people slept on provisional beds and the rest on the floor with no mattresses. They took us to the bathhouse once every two weeks, and we relieved ourselves in the cell, into the so-called toilet, which was emptied twice a day.
This was how I endured it until 2 March 1941, when I was read the sentence of three years of hard labor and transported together with other victims to Komi ASSR. The journey was very difficult, the freight wagons were very small and had to house 45 people. Food: a kilogram of bread per four people once a day, and a bucket of snow, which was not lacking in Russia at that time, instead of water. Once we arrived at the labor camps, about 250 people in total were directed to a newly built, unheated barrack. The temperature dropped below minus 40 degrees. The journey from the prison to the labor camps took 18 days.
The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations, etc.):
In prison, in terms of nationality, Poles and Jews constituted the majority. Poles of different categories – old, young, and very old and very young, senior, middle and junior officials, officers, non-commissioned officers, policemen, etc. were imprisoned due to various crimes – illegal border crossing, partisans and the so-called sotsyalno-opasniy element [a socially dangerous element]. Notwithstanding the above, there were also many farmers and workers of a very low intellectual level. Mutual relations between Poles in the prison and in the labor camp were very good.
Life in the camp, prison, etc. (daily routine, working conditions, standards, remuneration, food, clothing, relations between inmates, cultural life, etc.):
Wake-up at 4.00 a.m., at 5.00 a.m., special naradchitsy, also Soviet prisoners, would urge us to go to work. At 6.00 a.m., we had to stand at our workplaces, and when we heard a whistle, we had to start work and work non-stop. The situation didn’t change until the outbreak of war, we had to work until 4.00 p.m., and when the Soviet-German war began – until 6.00 p.m., without any rest and lunch breaks. We ate dinner only in the barracks, having finished working. At work, brigadiers forced us to fulfill 100% of the quotas, and we were rewarded for doing so. For my work, I received 6 rubles and 80 kopecks during six months.
In the prison, we were given 600 grams of bread, 20 grams of sugar, which was however provided very seldom, half a liter of boiled water for breakfast, three quarters of a thin oat soup for dinner, and half a liter of thin oat soup for supper. In the labor camp, after the fulfillment of 100% of the quota, we received three tablespoons of thick oat grouts, 900 grams of bread, and for dinner half a liter of thin soup, some thick soup and nothing else. After the outbreak of war, the bread portion was reduced by 25%, the work was extended by two hours and the regime was more severe: personal search twice a day, no bread for work, no clothing, every prisoner wore their own clothes. Relations between Poles and Soviets were very hostile and cultural life was out of question.
The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
Very hostile, during the interrogations; different tortures were used, mostly beating. If the subject did not say what they were expected to say, they were put in a prison for 48 hours or even longer, and left there with no food or assistance. Communist propaganda was very extensive. We were given propaganda books and informed about prosperity among Soviets, etc.; Poland wasn’t mentioned at all, and if so, only in the context of its future non-existence.
Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the names of the deceased):
Medical assistance existed, but no medications were provided, due to their alleged absence. At hospitals, there were no medications either. I don’t know the mortality rate, since this was a secret. [As far as I know], my friend, whom I met in the labor camp – Gerchart from Eastern Lesser Poland – died.
Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (give the surnames of deceased persons):
Non-existent.
When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
[I was released] on 23 August 1941 on the basis of the amnesty, and on 28 August, we were transported to work in central Russia, but I joined the Polish army independently in Totskoye on 15 September 1941.