1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Gunner Ksawery Maciukiewicz, 36 years old, farmer, married.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
On 10 February 1940 I was arrested in Przewałka, Grodno district. The reason behind my arrest wasn’t explained to me, but it was probably carried out because my brother was a ranger. I was deported to the Ural region with my wife and child.
3. Name of the camp, prison or forced labor site:
I was deported to Ivaka, Ural.
4. Description of the camp, prison etc. (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
I lived 10 kilometers beyond Ivaka, in the forest, with 700 other exiles. Two families shared a room four by five meters large. Housing conditions were deplorable. Hygienic conditions depended on the families living in a given room.
5. The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, categories of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations etc.):
Out of 700 people, there were only a few Ukrainian families, and the Poles constituted the vast majority. They were settlers, foresters, rangers etc. We all lived in harmony except for a Ukrainian, Soroka, who was hostile towards the Poles.
6. Life in the camp, prison etc. (daily routine, working conditions, work quotas, remuneration, food, clothes, social and cultural life etc.):
In summer I worked in the forest from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Work conditions were very hard. The quota was to fell five cubic meters of wood and burn the branches. We had to walk 18 kilometers to the site of our work. Food was meager: for meeting the quota I received 500 grams of bread for myself, 250 grams for my child and 400 grams for my wife. I had my own clothes from home. Mutual relations among the exiles were friendly.
7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
The NKVD soldiers brutally drove us to work, and the Communist propaganda was designed to make us believe that we were better off in the USSR than in Poland, and that everybody must work for the benefit of the Soviet Union. They often collected information about Poland.
8. Medical care, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the surnames of those who perished):
Poor medical assistance. Over 50 people perished.
9. Was there any possibility of getting in contact with one’s country and family?
We had contact with the home country, and we could receive both letters and food parcels.
10. When were you released and how did you get through to the Polish Army?
After the amnesty was proclaimed I was released, but they didn’t want to let us go join the Polish Army. Finally, a month later they let us go, and I got to Uzbekistan with my wife and child by my own means. I supported myself working in a kolkhoz, and then in February 1942, in Kermine, I joined the Polish Army.