Gunner Antoni Gieracha, 27 years old, farmer, bachelor.
Arrested on 10 February 1940 in Piszczatyńce, Krzemieniec District; sent along with my family to Ural, Solikamsk Oblast [region], the hamlet of Piszczanka. As a deportee, I worked in the forest. I was arrested again in May 1940 and accused of avoiding work and giving anti-Soviet speeches, pursuant to Article 58, points 2, 10, and 11, having been denounced by a Pole called Stanisław Moś from Wołyń, Krzemieniec District. I was imprisoned in Molotov for five months, and released as a result of the amnesty in September 1941.
NKVD Tiurma no. 1 in Molotov. A complex of buildings for ten thousand people. The housing conditions (sleeping on a concrete floor) and the food, in terms of quality and quantity, was deficient; the place was dirty. Political criminals, Soviet citizens, members of the intelligentsia. The relations were favorable and friendly. The day’s routine was as it normally is in Soviet prisons.
The NKVD were cruel and ruthless; they persecuted people during interrogations. Beating and threatening. The interrogations concerned the situation in Poland and the attitude of the labor force.
Medical assistance was insufficient, mortality was average – mostly Russians.
No contact with our families.
Released in September 1941. I joined a Polish army in the USSR on 22 February 1942, in Kermine.