1. Personal data:
Senior Artillery Officer Franciszek Goliński, 43 years old, career non-commissioned officer, married.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
On 19 September 1939 I was imprisoned near Równe at the train station. From there, we were transported to Shepetivka, after an eight-day stay we went by foot to Zdołbunów, and from there we went by train to Dubno. Then we were marched on foot to Radziwiłłów, where I stayed until December 1940, from there we went by foot to Brodów, and from there to work at an airport in Stawki, near Tarnopol. After the Soviet-German war broke out we were transferred by foot to Zolotonosha, located over 600 km from Tarnopol. The march was very tough: hunger, cold, poverty, exhaustion during the entire journey. Many people collapsed from exhaustion along the way – their fate remains unknown to this day. From Zolotonosha we went by train (on open platforms) to Starobilsk, where in August 1941 we were enlisted into the Polish army that was being organized there.
Generally, the conditions in the camps located on Polish territory were acceptable – we were housed in concrete buildings with bunk beds and straw mattresses inside. However, the conditions in the camps on Soviet territory were very bad. There we slept on the ground, which was often wet, without any cover or mattresses – we were absolutely freezing.
As for the nationalities there – the overwhelming majority of prisoners in all the camps were Polish soldiers. There were small numbers of Ukrainians and Belarusians. The level of intellectual standing was more or less the same, these were soldiers who had mostly graduated from elementary schools. If there were any illiterates or half-literates, they were usually Belarusians from the Polish Eastern Borderlands. There were also some people with secondary school or higher education – they were non-commissioned reserve officers mobilized into the army.
The moral standing was generally pretty good, except for some people, usually Ukrainians and Jews who had been converted to communism and had not been happy about their situation back in Poland, but now were glad to be working for Soviet Russia. They were indeed eager to work. As for the Poles, they held up well and stuck together. They were all positively disposed and were optimistic – their spirit was strong – they knew liberation would come and that was what kept them alive.
Camp life varied. It was slightly better on Polish territory because there was plenty of food (although of course you had to meet the rather exorbitant quota). However, those who met the required quota received good food, which was generally enough. There were many people who were not able to meet the quota – due to exhaustion or previous experiences – and they received 400 grams of bread and some soup of an inferior kind three times per day. Apart from that, the working conditions were not very satisfactory, although the demands of the camp authorities were high.
Cultural life was limited to readings of propaganda books that were of course boring for us, because we did not feel like listening to propaganda. It was clear for us that all of it was a treacherous lie.
Generally, the attitude of the NKVD was satisfactory, because they believed that if they wanted to find out anything during the investigations they could only do so by treating people well. However, if the authorities did obtain any information, it was useless because it was all based on lies – people testified anything just to be left alone and not summoned for interrogations anymore. The interrogations usually took place at night, which was of course very exhausting.
The hygienic conditions were horrific. Lice and fleas, caused by dirt and the lack of space in the rooms, constituted the greatest plague. However, the conditions gradually improved, because the authorities built bathhouses and disinfection chambers, so the number of lice decreased.
Medical help was quite all right. It was provided by Polish doctors who looked after people’s health. They did everything they could so that sick people did not work, since they granted sick leave. The doctors were often reprimanded by the camp authorities because too many people had been granted sick leave, which was disadvantageous in terms of the required quota, according to the Soviets. In many cases, the doctors were dismissed and sent for forced labor, because they cared too much about the health of their colleagues.
In the camps where I was, the mortality was generally low. There were cases when prisoners were shot while trying to escape, but there were no epidemics.
I was released from the Starobilsk camp along with three thousand people and we were sent, by freight cars, to Totskoye, where an army was being organized.
I was assigned to the 6th Light Artillery Regiment. That was in September 1941.