1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, profession, marital status):
Gunner Zbigniew Jochym, born on 28 July 1918, chemistry laboratory worker, unmarried.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
Arrested on 29 December 1939.
3. Name of the camp, prison, forced labor site:
Krasnoyarsk Krai, Lwów, Kharkiv, Odessa.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
Hunger, poverty, lice, bedbugs, etc.
5. Compositions of prisoners, POWs, exiles:
Poles, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians and many other nationalities. Political prisoners, thieves, bandits, etc.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
I worked at logging, as well as loading and unloading wagons. Mutual relations were bitter. Daily routine: wake-up call was early, at 4.00 a.m., and we worked until 7.00 p.m.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards the Poles:
The NKVD wanted us badly to confess to what they were charging us with. Some people didn’t know anything, so they would be beaten, put in a dark cell, stripped naked, and kept on concrete for 24 hours. The NKVD men would also say that Poland was to never rise again.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
I suffered from a heart condition in the camp. I went to a doctor and was prescribed Valerian drops; besides that, he said heart seizures are not a condition and that I should work.
9. Was there any possibility to contact one’s country and family?
I received two letters from home, in which the family comforted me that we’d soon see each other.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
I was released on 10 October 1941, and I was told to live in Siberia only, where I worked in freedom until 20 January 1942. In the meantime, I wrote an application to the Polish military authorities to take me in as a volunteer. On 15 January 1942, I was called to present myself in the main Buzuluk command post. During my journey, the Buzuluk command left and I learned they were forming an army in Lugovoy. After having arrived in Lugovoy on 28 February 1942, I stood before the drafting commission and was accepted with a label of the A category.