Aniela Ostrowska, born on 28 August 1908, civil settler, married.
I was deported on 10 February 1940. I was arrested with my family – my husband and our three underage children. After they searched our house, they loaded us onto railway wagons. We were allowed by the NKVD to take a small amount of food and clothing with us. From the city of Stryj, we left for Russia. They loaded us onto wagons without any water, light, or firewood.
We arrived in Sverdlovsk Oblast, guarded by the NKVD. From Sverdlovsk they transported us to the work site – Sverdlovsk Oblast. We stayed in wooden houses, with no protection from the cold. 17 families with children and babies were living there.
We were all working – women, men, children. I was working in the lumber mill. We were working towards quotas and getting bread for the quotas. The conditions were tough – because of the poverty, many people were sick with various diseases. My daughter and I, we got ill and my daughter died due to the poor medical assistance.
After the amnesty, the Polish Army started to gather us together, and my husband joined; my son joined another unit. I stayed in a kolkhoz with my child, in very severe conditions. One day I received a telegram from my husband. I left at once and went to Kermine, where as military family I joined the transport. In Tehran, on 6 July 1942, I joined the Women’s Auxiliary Service.
Temporary quarters, 6 March 1943