Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, marital status):
Władysław Nieścierewski, corporal cadet, aged 27, surveyor, unmarried.
Date and circumstances of arrest:
Arrested on 1 May 1940 in the Potroki estate, Oszmiana District, because of general arrests of people from areas occupied by Germans (I held documents issued by the city of Katowice).
Name of the camp (prison – forced labor site):
Imprisoned in Berezvech (former monastery) near Hlybokae, then deported to the forced labor camp in Chibyu [Ukhta], Separate Gulag Point No. 12, Komi ASRR.
Description of the camp or prison (grounds, buildings, housing conditions, hygiene):
The area of the camp typical of the North – scarce bushes and mud. We lived in barracks, 80–100 people in each. Tiered bunks, dirty barrack with no ventilation. Lice, not to mention cockroaches and bedbugs which were not only in the barrack, but also in our clothes. Hot bath once a week – bath time 5–20 minutes, depending on the mood of the convoy. We hardly had cold water (nelzya pit syroy vody [you must not drink unboiled water]), because it contained a large percentage of rad, and we couldn’t get boiled water.
The composition of POWs, prisoners, exiles (nationality, category of crimes, intellectual and moral standing, mutual relations, etc.):
Most of the people staying in this camp were recruited from among the USSR citizens – approx. 2,000 people, and Polish citizens – approx. 400 people (including 7 Poles and other being Jews). 90% of the USSR citizens in this camp were criminals who stayed in camps more often than at large. Polish citizens – intellectuals – were arrested as members of the bourgeoisie. The Jews had voluntarily left for work in the USSR, where they were arrested and directed to a labor camp after being sentenced. The Soviets were rather hostile towards us – not for national reasons, but since we were better dressed, more polite and determined to stay away from them. However, after a while they came to trust us, but they kept stealing terribly, even from those whom they considered their best friends. However, it would also happen that when a Pole was in a solitary confinement, they secretly provided him food.
Life in the camp or prison (daily routine, work conditions, quotas, wages, food, clothing, social and cultural life, etc.):
Wake up at 4.00 or 5.00 a.m., depending on the number of kilometers that we had to walk. We performed various tasks – in the forest, at mowing meadows, construction of a railway track and at construction sites. I do not know much about the quotas, as I never met them, however just for reference I can say that in the forest the quota was 8 cubic meters per person, and in the case of mowing – 1 ha per person (and one had to work knee- deep in water). We often had to walk 12 kilometers to work. We would receive no earnings, because we did not meet the quotas – one Pole received 99 kopecks once, but I suppose this was a mistake. The Russians earned 20 rubles a month. The food was extremely poor: 300–500 grams of bread, soup for breakfast – so thin that you didn’t need to wash the bowl after you finished it; soup and two spoons of oats for dinner. For supper – the same soup as for breakfast. They fed us very poorly, we were given either the last or the first cauldron. The second, third and fourth cauldrons were the best. I received a tasty dinner a few times, but this was the portion provided to those who were sick. They dressed us in old rags given away by the Soviet citizens: a hat with ear flaps, donkey jacket, warm pants, and shoes (that I saw for the first time in my life) with rubber [illegible]. Their “advantage” was that they would constantly injure our feet. They changed our nightwear every week. The radio and the wall-mounted newspaper were our only entertainment.
The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles (interrogation methods, torture and other forms of punishment, Communist propaganda, information about Poland, etc.):
For any offense, they sent us to a solitary confinement, where we received 300 grams of bread and water, and went to work during the day. In prison, during the interrogation, the NKVD authorities used plenty of examination methods. They placed the interrogated person, e.g., in the middle of the room and opened the door and window; after seven or more hours, the interrogated person appeared blue with cold, unable to speak a word. Sometimes, they would hang you on your elbows for several hours, not to mention the beating.
Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate (provide the names of the deceased):
Theoretically, medical assistance was available, but you could use it only when you didn’t have the strength to walk. In such a case, you were sent to a hospital, from where you would very seldom return. It is difficult for me to list the names of the deceased because they could transfer a person to a different camp after going to the hospital, to prevent other people from being scared by their appearance.
The mortality rate was remarkably high. The gravedigger told me that even five people were buried in a single pit.
Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?
I did not communicate with my home country and family, because I didn’t believe that I would survive the next year and I’d rather my family had already considered me dead.
When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
Theoretically, I was released on 28 September 1941, but in practice I was transported to the Lesnaya District in Komi ASRR. Life there was identical as the life in the camp, the only change consisted in the lack of convoy and slightly better food. We did not get paid. They took our documents and prohibited us from leaving the workplace.
After two weeks, the two of us escaped and reported to the Polish army in Buzuluk. We were sent from Buzuluk to the south, near Samarkand in the Krasnogvardeysk region, where I worked in a kolkhoz and later in a cotton factory.
I reported to the Polish army for the second time on 10 February 1942 in Kermine and I was drafted to the army by a committee.