CZESŁAW BEDNARCZYK

1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation and civil status):

Lieutenant Czesław Bednarczyk, 30 years old, gardening instructor, married.

2. Date and circumstances of arrest:

10 February 1940, during the deportation of foresters. I was put in the group of foresters because I was known by the pseudonym “Forester”, which I had used while a member of the Union for Armed Struggle.

3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:

Iksa Lesopunkt [forestry camp], quarter no. 93, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Nyandoma Region.

4. Description of the camp, prison (grounds, buildings, living conditions, hygiene):

Large wooden barracks on foundations, built directly in the forest. These housed the families of deportees from various townships of the district of Łomża. The buildings were divided into small rooms with an area of some five to six meters each, and would typically be inhabited by three or four families – 11–13 people in total. There were also large halls which accommodated 20–27 persons of both sexes and various ages. The rooms were whitewashed once a year (1 May), while we were forced to wash the floors twice a week. Lice, bugs, fleas and assorted cockroaches – these were the witnesses of the deprivations experienced by Polish deportees.

5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral level, mutual relations, etc.):

Nearly everyone was of Polish nationality, with the exception of two Cossacks who had gone over to our side in 1920 and received Polish citizenship. The majority were farmers who had acquired their holdings through the parcellization of estates. There were also two foresters, a few gamekeepers, a few forestry workers, one wife of a settler and officer, and I – an instructor with a wife and two children. Amongst our group there was one person with a university education, four secondary school graduates, 25 to 30 who had a full primary school education, and the rest, around two hundred people, who had only completed a few classes; finally, there were children of preschool age and some elderly illiterates.

As regards national unity and the cognizance of social affairs, everything was as it should be. The district of Łomża – and Poland as a whole – may be proud of such citizens, tough and showing an unwavering dedication to Polishness. We all lived in harmony and readily helped each other out.

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.):

We toiled from dusk to dawn, and in winter even at night, with an hour’s break for dinner and the seventh day being called a “day out”. Everybody worked – men between 12 and 70 and women from 16 to 45–50 years of age. Quite often, the “day out” would be canceled, and this was explained away by the necessity of executing the plan or some other important development. The working day would last between 14 and 16 hours, while in the log floating season we would toil for 48 or 72 hours at a stretch once every week.

The norms were high, but I no longer remember the exact figures. I do, however, remember that those who failed to carry out the norm would be locked up in the punishment cell and subsequently ridiculed at so-called laborers’ meetings, losing their right to buy bread in the shop and soup in the canteen.

Those who didn’t want to work at all would first be starved in the punishment cell (a former Russian bath) and then tried in Nyandoma, whereafter they would be sent to other forced labor camps in order to have their behavior corrected. We received wages, but you never knew how much you had earned and exactly how much was due. In theory, we earned between one and thirty rubles per day – but those who received as much were just two or three in number, and I am certain that their wages were only intended to have a propaganda effect, so as to encourage the others to work harder. Mean shoes would be sold once a year, during the floating season. Those who didn’t work couldn’t buy shoes. Clothes were simply unobtainable. A few donkey jackets would be issued to some half-naked people who although exhausted and emaciated, were still considered fit for work. Wages were paid as advances of 10, 5, 20, 30 rubles per week. You would never receive the whole amount due.

7. Attitude of the authorities, NKVD towards Poles (methods of interrogation, torture, punishments, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):

We were not beaten. We were only threatened with deportation to even worse townships, with separation from our families, the deportation of relatives living in Poland, etc. We were encouraged to collaborate on the spot, and provide the surnames of “eminent” people who were hiding in Poland.

The Polish government, political system and social relations were all ridiculed. In addition, the Soviets spoke of “betrayal” and the “selling of the Homeland”, and that the end was nigh. “You should forget about Poland”. “Poland will never be reborn”. Just for good measure, they extolled the Soviet Union to the heavens. Initially, there were no newspapers. Later on, we were able to purchase the “Forest Laborer”, which was about as reliable as a provincial tabloid.

The elementary school had four classes. It was actively engaged in spouting propaganda and extirpating Polishness and religion from our children’s souls. The language of teaching was Russian.

8. Medical care, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the surnames of those who perished):

A paramedic would turn up once a week – but with no drugs – and take the more seriously ill to the hospital in Nyandoma. However, only the so-called good laborers were eligible for such care.

9. Was it at all possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, then what contacts were permitted?

We usually received letters, telegrams and other correspondence from back home, but there were also periods during which we were forbidden to correspond. Food parcels from Poland saved us from death by hunger.

10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?

On 15 October 1941, and I received permission to settle in the city of Saransk, however I did not arrive there, for the Polish representation in Gorky directed me to the Polish Army. I reported in Tatishchevo on 18 November 1941.

Postscript: the Soviets continued their hostile policy towards Poles and Poland also after we had been released. They spared no effort to combat everything Polish.

Despite my best intentions, words fail me to describe what I experienced and saw.