1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Rifleman Leon Czajkowski, 30 years old, teacher, unmarried.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on 10 April 1940 on charges of membership in the Polish Military Organization and of helping military people cross the border river San.
3. Name of the camp, prison or forced labor site:
Prisons: Lesko, Drohobycz, Stanisławów, Sambor. Gulag camps: Starobilsk and Magadan in Kolyma.
4. Description of the camp or prison (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
The prisons were very cramped, lice-infested and stuffy. We were hungry and could hardly move around due to the lack of space. Camps: huts or barracks – cramped conditions, hunger and cold. No hygiene.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
The majority of prisoners were people of Polish nationality who were imprisoned for political crimes. The intellectual and moral standing was average. Mutual relations were rather good.
6. Life in the camp or prison (daily routine, working conditions, prescribed amount of work, remuneration, food, clothing, social and cultural life etc.):
Life in the camp was very hard, we had to wake up very early. We worked hard and received no remuneration. Food was extremely bad. Clothes were rather poor. We worked in harsh conditions until 8.00–9.00 p.m. There was neither social nor cultural life.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The NKVD’s attitude towards the Poles was very hostile. The interrogations were very exhausting, lasting for a few hours each and taking place usually at night. During interrogations we were threatened and beaten.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (give the names of the deceased):
The medical assistance was limited. The mortality rate was high. (Regular Sargent Józef Czajkowski died in Magadan, Kolyma).
9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
There wasn’t any contact with our country or families.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
I was released on 30 August 1941. When I arrived in Vladivostok, I set off with a transport for Buzuluk, with the intention of joining the Polish army there, but the representatives of our posts sent the whole transport to the vicinity of Amu Darya in Uzbekistan, to the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic, where we were placed in various kolkhozes. In February 1942, having appeared before the Polish-Soviet medical board, I went to Guzor, where on 15 February 1942 I joined the Polish army.