1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, and marital status):
Gunner Romuald Giesner, 18 years old, student.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
I was captured on 3 November 1939 while I was crossing the Hungarian border.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
I was locked in the following prisons: Worochta, Nadwórna, Stanisławów, Proskuriv, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Verkhneuralsk.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
Mostly cells that accommodated about 50 people. We slept on the ground and on the things that we had with us. Hygiene was usually terrible.
5. Social composition of prisoners, deportees:
The prisoners in Polish territory were mostly “tourists” (those who had wanted to cross the border), while in Soviet territory there were prisoners of various categories (thieves, profiteers, bandits, etc.). In cells where there were mostly Ukrainians, the relations among prisoners were terrible. The Ukrainians never missed a chance to harass the Poles, giving them the worst food, etc.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Before the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, we received 600 grams of bread and bitter coffee in the morning, soup and a spoon of thick groats for dinner, and soup for supper. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, we received 450 grams of bread and hot water in the morning, soup for dinner, and soup for supper. We wore the same clothes throughout the time we spent in the prison. If the clothes were not our own, we were not even allowed to wash them.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:
During interrogations, they locked people in punishment cells, tied them up using the so-called “deathly shirt,” and kept them like that until the prisoners confessed to the crimes they were being accused of.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
The following people died: Śledzianowski, Pustelnik, Sużba.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family?
No.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
On 19 February 1940 [1942], after I was released I left at the expense of the NKVD and on 22 February I joined the army in Chokpak.