1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation and civil status):
Sergeant Antoni Bakuła, born in 1899, a car driver by occupation, married, with one child.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on 8 October 1939 while crossing the Polish-Romanian border.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
I was incarcerated in Lwów, Kirov and Kharkiv. As regards forced labor camps, I was detained in Kotlas, in one of the Pechora Lags [corrective forced labor camps].
4. Description of the camp, prison (grounds, buildings, living conditions, hygiene):
In prison, cells intended for ten – fifteen people would house 36 prisoners. We slept mainly on the floor, covering ourselves with whatever was at hand. In the camp, we lived in tents, and suffered badly from the cold. It was impossible to maintain hygiene in either the prisons or the camps – lice, bugs and other vermin were the NKVD’s “partners” in tormenting us prisoners.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral level, mutual relations, etc.):
The inmates were a mix of nationalities – Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Jews, Poles, Uzbeks, Chinese, Germans (communists), and so forth. The majority were political prisoners, hostilely inclined towards Bolshevik authority. Many of the Polish prisoners were from the intelligentsia. Soviet citizens were much less numerous, and invariably of low moral fiber. Since we were always fighting for slices of black bread, there was no good-fellowship to speak of.
6. Life in the camp, prison (the course of an average day, working conditions, quotas and norms, wages, food, clothing, social and cultural life, etc.):
I worked building a railroad. During an average working day, which lasted between fourteen and sixteen hours, we had to dig up and cart away five cubic meters of clay, for which we would receive 900 g of bread and hot food of the so-called “second (medium) category”, that is ¾ of a liter of soup, watery and containing no fat, three times a day. If you failed to carry out the norm, the quantity of bread and soup would be decreased accordingly (even down to 300 g of bread and hot food of the “first (worst) category”). Towards the end, those who failed to fulfill the quota would be left at work indefinitely, until finally we had to step in and carry out their norm. No cash wages were given, despite promises and assurances. Our clothing – and bedding – comprised a donkey jacket, quilted trousers and shoes made from old tires.
With such a disparate composition of inmates, there was no good-fellowship or social life to speak of. Cultural life was limited to anti-Polish and anti-English talks and lectures, and we were constantly encouraged to work more diligently for the USSR – only to be “rewarded” with a slice of black bread.
7. Attitude of the authorities, NKVD towards Poles (methods of interrogation, torture, punishments, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
Because I had been caught while crossing the border, I was accused of espionage for the Polish government, which at the time was located in Romania. I was interrogated mainly during the night, and they used various methods of extorting testimony. If we failed to admit, we would be locked up in the punishment cell and have our food rations reduced; in other words, we would be starved. The anti-Polish propaganda was very strong. The NKVD treated Poles very badly, never ceasing to use the most vulgar language imaginable.
8. Medical care, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the surnames of those who perished):
There was no medical care – if anyone complained that he was ill, he would receive the following reply: – If you die, there will at least be one less of you. And off he was marched to work. I once witnessed an NKVD soldier shoot one Mościcki from Warsaw (I don’t remember his name), who had refused to work because he was sick.
9. Was it at all possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, then what contacts were permitted?
None of the prisoners received any letters from their families.
10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
I was released on 1 September, and on 29 September 1941 I enlisted in the Polish Army in Totskoye.
Official stamp, 4 March 1943