Volunteer Anna Maca, born on 17 January 1923 in Wały colony, Sambor district, lwowskie voivodeship. Civilian occupation: I lived with my parents.
I was deported with my family on 10 February 1940 to Omsk Oblast, Yurginsky District, Kamionka hamlet. I worked in the forest collecting resin. Once I was two minutes late for work, and I was tried for it: I was sentenced to a 25 percent deduction in my wages.
Our hamlet looked as follows. It was in a clearing in the woods; there were four barracks occupied by 48 Polish families, military settlers. Life was very harsh, because work quotas were high and remuneration so low that we couldn’t afford not only clothes, but also food. In order to scrape by, we had to sell our last clothes for a piece of bread.
The attitude of the Soviet authorities towards us was menacing.
The medical assistance and hospital care were extremely poor. A lot of young people died, up to 40.
We had contact with our home country until the outbreak of the Soviet-German war.
After the amnesty my father and I went to join the army, while the rest of my family – my mother and two sisters – remained in the hamlet. I haven’t heard from them since.