WILHELMINA CHYDZIK

I was arrested on 6 November 1939 in Czortków. I was released after three and a half months in prison, and two weeks later, in March, I was again arrested in Lwów. From Lwów I was sent back to Czortków. I spent four months in the prison, although no investigation was carried out in my case. Towards the end of June I was incarcerated in a separate cell and summoned for interrogation several times during one night; these interrogations were pretty harsh.

In August I was transferred to the prison in Zamarstynów, a district of Lwów, and then to Tarnopol, where I waited for deportation to Russia. At the beginning of September I was taken to Kiev, where I was again interrogated, and finally to Starobilsk. In November 1940 I was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment on charges of membership in an organization, espionage and agitation. I remained in the prison until December. On 5 December I was informed that proceedings in my case would be reopened, and two weeks later my punishment was raised to ten years of forced labor. I was taken first to Artyomovsk, where I stayed for 15 days, and then to Kharkiv and Moscow. From Moscow I went to Arkhangelsk and continued on further north. I was stopped in Yertsevo. I had to go into the woods to saw timber, and later I was moved to a railway depot where I loaded wagons. When I was crushed by falling beams, I was assigned to the second category and sent to work carrying bricks to the construction site. When a roof collapsed on top of me, I was assigned to the third category and transferred to Sylchom [?]. I carried water there, took part in floating rafts, and when I was tasked with digging peat, I fell ill and remained bedridden until the amnesty was proclaimed.

I was released on 5 September 1942 and sent to Penza. On the way I came across a transport of men going to join the army, and despite threats from the chief police inspector, who told me that I would be arrested if I went, as I didn’t have a referral to the army, when the night came I fled and went to Buzuluk. I was stopped at two different train stations, but both times I managed to escape. On 16 September I arrived in Buzuluk and joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service. I worked there in an education platoon, and later left for the division working as a community hall worker. In March I went to Palestine and worked in War Hospital no 1 as a communications officer. In December I arrived in Iraq, and on 4 November 1943 I was assigned to War Hospital no 3 as a community hall worker.