1. Personal details (name, surname, rank, age, occupation and marital status):
Cannoneer Stanisław Litwiński, 34 years old, locksmith mechanic, driver, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested by the Soviet border guard on 24 October 1939 near the Polish-Romanian border (near Śniatyn). I had imagined that I would cross the Polish-Romanian border, and then join the Polish army.
3. Name of the camp (prison, place of forced labor):
I was moved from the border post in Stecówka to the prison in Czortków, and then on 6 November 1939, I was taken to the prison in Tarnopol. On 1 February 1940, I was deported to Dnipropetrovsk prison. From there, I was transported to the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic for forced labor (railway gulag).
4. Description of the camps and prisons:
In prison, housing conditions too bad to describe because of overcrowding and, as a result, dirt. In the camp—marshy area (tundra), residential buildings made from moss and branches.
5. The composition of prisoners, prisoners, deportees:
I was surrounded by prisoners of Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and Chinese nationality, political and ordinary criminals. Various levels of intelligence. Relations between us—none.
6. Life in the camp, in prison:
The daily routine in prison: 6:00 wake up, breakfast around 12:00, 15-minute walk, dinner in the evening. Interrogation from time to time, usually at night. Food: 600 grams of bread, soup (slops) twice a day, 20 grams of sugar. Own clothing. Camaraderie and cultural life—none.
The daily routine in the camp: 5:00 wake up, 6:00 ground work for the construction of the railway line, 10 hours. Extremely demanding working conditions. The quota was hard and impossible to meet. Remuneration—none. Food depended on the quota (from 300 to 900 grams of bread and soup three times a day, occasionally with some rancid fish). Own clothing. Camaraderie and cultural life: varied from time to time with cinema shows.
7. Conduct of the NKVD towards the Poles:
Interrogation with a gun to the head. Communist propaganda—mockery of religious practices, presenting our army and former government in a bad light. False information and news about Poland.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:
Medical assistance in the camp was provided by an unqualified doctor or a Polish prison doctor. Mortality—high—on a daily basis. The dead: Zieliński from Tarnów, a PKW employee, Józef Lewandowski, a junior high school student from Vilnius, Jan Maczuszak from the Stanisławów Voivodeship.
9. What connection was with the country and family?
None.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released from the camp on 8 October 1941. After a 4-month journey from the north (Komi) to Uzbekistan, I joined the Polish army on 26 February 1942 in the 18th Infantry Regiment in Cherahcha [?], Bukhara Oblast.