KONSTANTY JANOWSKI

1. Personal data:

Gunner Konstanty Janowski, 22 years old, student.

2. Date and circumstances of arrest:

I was arrested while crossing the border to Romania on 1 January 1940 by the Soviet border guards.

3. Name of the camp, prison, forced labor site:

After being arrested, I was put in a prison in Kolomyya, and then sent to a prison in Stanisławów. I stayed four months in prison in Poland. From Stanisławów I was deported to Dnipropetrovsk, where an investigation was carried out and I was sentenced to three years of heavy labor in the North. I spent six months in Dnipropetrovsk. From there, I was sent to Kharkiv, and then to forced labor camps in the North, in the Arkhangelsk Oblast.

4. Description of the camp, prison:

The camp was situated in the forest, in swampy and malarial terrain. The barracks were old and dirty. We lived in poor conditions; the hygienic conditions were bad.

5. Prisoner composition:

Ukrainians, Cossacks, Uzbeks, Georgians, and Romanians. They served time with us for crossing the border, for theft, or [they were] political prisoners. Intellectual standing was average. Mutual relations were usually poor.

6. Life in the camp:

Conditions poor, remuneration dependent on the quotas attained. Quota norm was 100 percent. Food was bad, clothes were ragged, and there was no social life; good [spirits] among fellow people.

7. Attitude of the local NKVD towards the Poles:

Ruthless. Vicious interrogation methods, tortures at night to scare us. Information about Poland: they said we’d never see Poland again.

8. Medical assistance:

[Overall] good. Care in the hospital was good, [but] mortality was high.

9. Contact with family:

I received letters from Russia and from my mother, who was also exiled.

10. Released:

31 August 1941. I got into the army with the help of Soviet authorities.