1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Marian Grzybowski, 23 years old, locksmith, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
On 9 March 1940 for crossing the German-Soviet border.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
I was imprisoned in Dnipropetrovsk for a year and a half, and then in camps. In Pechorlag we transported dirt for railroad embankments under escort, forcibly from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
The cell was overcrowded with Poles, living conditions were unbearable. Thousands of lice, it was impossible to get rid of them. Bathhouse every 15 days. A change of underwear every three weeks. And that lasted for a year and a half.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees:
Only Poles in the cell, of different backgrounds. We all lived in harmony and helped each other out.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Every day after breakfast we went out for a walk. For breakfast we received 600 grams of bread and a cup of tea. A spoon of soup and groats for dinner. Soup and tea for supper. Everyone had to be asleep at seven. If you met the quota in the camp, they fed you well, but the quota was impossible to meet, so we always went to and from work hungry. No vitamins, nothing.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:
The head of the camp always said before work that Poland was lost and would never rise again, that we should forget about Poland, and now work or otherwise we would die.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
The doctors were helpful. They granted us sick leave when we were ill and we didn’t go to work, and if someone was more seriously sick, they sent them to hospital.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family?
I had no contact with the home country. I sent some letters, but I never received an answer.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released from the camp on 20 October 1942 [1941] under the condition that I join the Polish army. I went to Buzuluk, but they didn’t accept us, because there were no spots available. We went to Jurgiencz to work in kolkhozes, but we didn’t spend much time there and we left to join the Polish army. We arrived in Pahlavi by ship on 27 March, we spent a day there, and we left by trucks to Teheran, then as soldiers. We were distributed among different divisions and we finally served in the army.