1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Senior Rifleman Marian Kiebuz, 24, student, unmarried.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was arrested on 11 April 1940 for border crossing, and incarcerated in the prison in Przemyśl.
3. Name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
I was incarcerated in the prison in Przemyśl, then transferred to Kirovgrad, and next to Starobisk, where on 29 December 1940 I was sentenced and deported northwards to a gulag camp in Ukhta-Chibyu to perform earth works.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc. (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
We lived in barracks that were surrounded with woods and swamps. It was warm inside as there was plenty of firewood, but we couldn’t sleep at night, as the barracks were swarming with bugs. There was a bathhouse in the camp, and we were taken for a bath every two weeks.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
The composition of prisoners: the majority were Russians, then there were Poles, Jews, Chinese and Latvians. All of the Russians were criminals and speculators. They were the overseers and foremen and did us harm at every step.
6. Life in the camp, prison etc. (daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life etc.):
15 hours of work – meeting 100 percent of the work quota entitled one to the third cauldron and to remuneration, but it was impossible to fill the quota, so we all received food from the first cauldron. The camp was new, we were issued new clothes and underwear.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
As soon as I had been arrested, I was incarcerated in a dark cell. After three days of starving I was summoned for an interrogation, and then a report was written and I was deported to Russia.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (give the names of the deceased):
Medical assistance was out of the question, one was immediately accused of pretending. When someone fell so gravely ill that he couldn’t leave the bed, he would be transported to the hospital in Sangorodok. The father of an engineer officer cadet from Warsaw, Krauze, died immediately after his arrival at the camp. Many people were transported to the hospital, but I haven’t seen any of them since.
9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
From the north I wrote letters to my relatives and family, but I didn’t receive any answers and to this day I don’t know anything about the fate of my family.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
On 28 September [August?] 1941 I was released by the NKVD. On 7 October [September?] I arrived in a Polish transport to Totskoye, where I joined the army. I was drafted into the Polish Army by the Military Draft Office and assigned to the 6th Infantry Regiment.