BOGUSŁAW ZELENT

1. Personal information: Sergeant Ensign Bogusław Zelent.

2. Name of the camp: Hoszcza, Równe district, Wołyń.

3. Camp composition: Non-commissioned officers, privates.

4. Number of POWs: From 800 to 2000 people.

5. Period of the camp’s existence: 8 October 1939 – 31 January 1941.

6. Camp description: Lodging in the Border Protection Corps barracks, housing conditions average, feeding – depending on the period – from very good to mediocre, clothing supply poor, medical care good.

7. Life in the camp: The whole camp was divided into battalions and work details. We

were forced to work on road and bridge construction on the Horyn river. Work took 8 to 12 hours a day, with almost no regard to the weather conditions. Cultural life poor. From time to time, Soviet propaganda movies. Some books from the former library of the Border Protection Corps, thoroughly searched for by the camp authorities. A choir and a small orchestra run by POWs.

8. Attitude of the NKVD towards POWs: Usually harsh, subject to some improvements

in the periods of intense work. Frequent and lengthy interrogations carried out by special commissions.

9. POWs that stood out positively or negatively: Positively – the late Lt. doctor Doleus,

the camps’ doctor, platoon commander Teofil Degler with his attitude and behavior had a greatly positive influence on the spirits of the whole camp.

Negatively – platoon commander Zarzycki, Corporal Bolesław Mrugasiewicz, Aleksander Sakowicz, Eugeniusz Pukiełło; whilst working at the camps’ command, they did a lot of harm with the propaganda and the way they treated prisoners.

10. The deceased in the camp: Overall six people died, I don’t recall the surnames.

1. Name of the camp: Zborów, Tarnopol district.

2. POW composition: Non-commissioned officers, privates.

3. Number of POWs: 500 people.

4. Period of the camp’s existence: 14 February – 14 May 1941

5. Description of the camp: Housing conditions extremely poor – wooden barracks, damp.

Feeding good, medical care good.

6. Life in the camp: Largely the same as in the Hoszcza camp (see above). Much more news

from the world – newspapers, close contact with civilian population.

7. The attitude of the NKVD towards POWs: Truly fine.

8. POWs that stood out positively or negatively: There were no specific prisoners who

stood out.

9. The deceased: None.

1. Name of the camp: Brody, Brody district, Łagpunkt no. 2, Wołyń Voivodeship.

2. Composition of the POWs: Non-commissioned officers, privates.

3. Number of POWs: 1,200 people.

4. Period of the camp’s existence: 14 May – 23 June 1941.

5. Description of the camp: Good housing conditions: dry barracks, with rooms full of light.

Feeding poor. Medical care poor.

6. Life in the camp: The camp was mostly about intense work (aerodrome construction),

12 hours of work. Propaganda spread by the authorities was exuberant, but with no visible effect. That camp belonged to one of the heaviest in terms of physical effort, strict punishments were inflicted on those who avoided work.

7. The attitude of the NKVD: Rather harsh and vexing.

8. POWs that stood out positively or negatively: There were none of such.

9. Deceased: Józef Panek, killed during a German air raid of the camp on 22 June 1941.

8 July 1942.