1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, and marital status):
Gunner Henryk Goldwasser, born on 25 July 1919, student, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
On 31 August in Lwów after [illegible] and crossing the Soviet-German border from the German concentration camp in Nisko by the San River.
3. Name of the camp:
Arkhangelsk Oblast, Kotlassky region, Limenolsky [?] [illegible] lesopunkt [forest work unit], Kalczuk uchastok.
4. Description of the camp:
When we arrived, there were no houses at all. The deportees, that is, about 300 people, started building shelters for themselves. The construction material was timber, because it was an area of forest and taiga. The climate was frosty. There were lots of mosquitoes in the summer, and the area was marshy. The barracks we had built protected us from the freezing cold, dropping down to 50 degrees below zero. The bathhouse (banya in Russian) only partly satisfied our hygienic needs. The place was full of lice, bedbugs, and fleas.
5. Social composition of deportees:
One should distinguish two categories among the residents of the camp: deportees, and locals. The latter were part of the camp administration, and were mainly Russians. As for the deportees – 100 percent of them were Polish citizens. Relations between Polish citizens were good, they lived together in peace and were friendly towards one another.
6. Life in the camp:
We worked felling trees. The pay was bad. Safety conditions were dreadful. There were lots of accidents. The camp was headed by a clerk who was called a commandant. His daily duty was to check if everyone was present and to force us, or rather chase us out to work, regardless of the weather and our health. At the same time he also investigated the deportees’ political views and social background.
7. Attitude of the NKVD:
From the moment we were arrested we were treated as political deportees. Following the amnesty, we were repeatedly assured that our arrest had been a huge mistake and we were promised that the people responsible for it would be held accountable.
8. Medical assistance:
There was a nurse whose task was to check if we had fever and grant us sick leave if we were seriously ill. After some time, major Krzywański became the camp doctor.
9. Contact with family:
Until the outbreak of the German-Russian war, I regularly received letters and even a package from my parents, who lived in the area incorporated into the Reich.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
On 4 September 1941, the authorities publicly announced the results of the Polish-Soviet negotiations, based on which we were released and allowed to move freely in the USSR.
On 5 September, we received release certificates. I left immediately. On 15 September 1941 I joined the Polish Army in Totskoye.
Place of stay, 31 January 1943