1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, Field Post Office number, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Bolesław Krzymowski, 40 years old, farmer, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
18 September 1939, as a prisoner of war.
3. Name of the camp, prison or forced labor site:
The first camp was in Shepetivka, from where two weeks later I was taken to Kiev, from Kiev to Novohrad-Volynskyi, and then to an ore mine in Krasny Rog, then to Kotlas, and from Kotlas to Vorkuta, where I stayed until my release.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc. (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
Wooden barracks, cold, with no stoves and [windows?], beds or blankets. [Illegible] housing conditions [illegible], as for hygiene, it was unthinkable due to [lack of] cold water. There was no soap and anything to prevent lice and bugs was out of the question.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
The internees were deported POWs. Dejection [illegible]. Mutual relations were bearable.
6. Life in the camp, prison etc. (daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social life etc.):
Life at the camp [illegible] when the day became [illegible]. Working conditions were awful; due to cold and hunger, you weren’t able to meet 50 percent of the quota, even though you dreamed of finally getting a piece of bread to eat. People suffered from frostbitten arms and legs and swelled from hunger; crying couldn’t bring us any relief – in fact, nothing in the world could. Our clothes [illegible]. Newspapers were unavailable; besides, we didn’t feel like reading.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The investigation was very meticulous, and no interrogation passed without beating the prisoner and seating him on a one-legged stool. We were assailed from all sides: they tried to talk us into taking their citizenship, and upon refusal they would incarcerate the prisoner in the punishment cell without underwear, where you had to sleep on a bare concrete floor and survive on a slice of bread and water.
8. Medical care, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the surnames of those who perished):
There were no doctors, only a medical service. On average, two–three people were taken away daily. I remember the surnames of two deceased men: Ludwik Krzemień and Jan Kępa.
9. Was there any possibility of getting in contact with one’s country and family?
I wrote from Rudnik, and received one letter; I sent mine in November and received the answer in February. I had no communication later on.
10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
I was released on 7 June [?] 1941 in Vorkuta; I reached the Army with a transport of POWs to Gorky, and from Gorky I went on foot to Vyazniki, where on 16 August 1941 I joined the Army.