1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Władysław Graczyk, born on 9 April 1923, student, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
On 19 June 1941, my family and I were arrested and taken to a train at Augustów railroad station. We were placed in a car with 37 other people, and the train drew out in a rain of German bullets and bombs, because it was the day the war broke out. Some people were killed or injured on the way. We were given very little food and minimal amounts of water. At the slightest complaint they threatened us with guns.
3. Name of the camp:
Khakassia Autonomous Region, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Abakan Oblast, Askiz Region, a sheep sovkhoz, farm no. 1. Mountainous terrain, wooden houses (windows that couldn’t open). The Poles were mainly housed a few families together in a small room (12 people). The houses had not been limed, the walls were thin, windows were single. Lice and bedbugs tormented the residents. No soap, no clothes, no lime, etc.
4. Description of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
Work – harvest in the fall, transporting wood and hay in winter in shoes (they didn’t want to give us felt boots), from 40 to 50 degrees below zero.
5. Social composition of prisoners, POWs, deportees:
Polish deportees, a few members of the intelligentsia, mostly people from the countryside. The peasants hated people who’d held state positions, and they worked for the NKVD.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Life in exile was difficult. The pay was not enough. Workers received half a kilogram of bread, others – 200 grams. Those who were fit for work, but didn’t work – received no bread at all. We all worked in the clothes we had brought from Poland.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:
Their attitude was bad, they were always trying to convince us that we shouldn’t think about Poland, because Poland would not exist anymore. If you refused to comply with the NKVD’s orders, you were sent to prison. If the NKVD targeted you and you didn’t want to work for them, you were dismissed from work and closely watched.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
Few medications, hospital only for Russians.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family?
We had no contact (deportation on the day the German-Russian war broke out).
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I do not remember on what day I was released. I applied in writing to Anders’ Army and I received an answer a month later – I was to report to Vrevsky (Tashkent Oblast). I went there alone, with almost no bread. I had almost no difficulties, but on the day I left the authorities mocked me and my country. I left my family behind in difficult living conditions.
Place of stay, 22 February 1943