1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Mieczysław Grzebień, born in 1921, no profession, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
On 1 August 1940 in Lesko, for crossing the German-Soviet border.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
Prisons in Sambor, Starobilsk, Kiev, Kharkiv, Moscow.
The Vorkuta-Stroy camp [no.] 2, Komi ASSR.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
Labor camp. Terrain – tundra. Huge, [illegible] buildings – tents. Bad housing conditions. Hygiene – a bath once a month.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees:
Poles – 25 percent. Various crime categories, varied intellectual standing. Bad mutual relations.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
12 hours of work per day without a break. High quotas, bad pay, depending on the quota, own clothes, poor social life.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:
Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles – bad. Ruthless interrogations, combined with harassment, threats and torture. Praising the USSR and humiliating Poland.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
Polish doctors supervised by the NKVD. One hospital; mortality – 25 percent.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family?
We never heard from them.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
Date of release from the camp: 10 September 1941. Date of joining the army: April 1942, in Pahlavi in Persia as a volunteer.