ANIELA KONIECZNA


Volunteer Aniela Konieczna, born on 11 November 1923, formerly residing in the village of Korszowice, commune of Połonka, district of Łuck.


On 24 December 1940 I was arrested for political reasons and received a five-year sentence. I was sent to a prison in Łuck. Four months later I was transported to a prison in Kharkiv, where I stayed for two months. A hundred people were detained in one prison cell. Our daily food ration consisted of 300 grams of bread and some soup served once a day. The cell was cold and crowded, so I fell ill – I don’t know with what. I had a fever and was ill for a month. I received no medical help during that time. When I recovered, I was sent to forced labor camps in Iezum [?]. On our way there, we were given only dried fish and water.

Once we arrived in the Iezum [?] camp, we were forced to work digging earth. Our daily quota was six cubic meters. For failing to fill this quota we would get only 100 grams of bread. I worked without pay in the Iezum [?] camp for five months.

On 12 September, an NKVD man read out that we were now free Polish citizens and that the Soviet authorities were sending us to Penza. During this journey I had to obtain food at my own expense. We were not allowed to stop in Penza, but were sent away to Buzuluk. From Buzuluk we were sent to the Turtkul kolkhoz, and then to the Juma kolkhoz, where I worked. We would get 300 grams of flour there. Later I learned that the Polish army was in Kermine and I travelled there at my own expense. I met with my brother there.