1. Personal details (name, surname, rank, age, occupation and marital status):
Cannoneer Witold Łukasiewicz, 18 years old, student, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
On the night of 13 April 1940.
3. Name of camp, prison, place of forced labor:
Voznesenka collective farm, Makinka region, Akmola Oblast, Kazakhstan.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
Hilly terrain, no forests. Buildings built of clay mixed with straw. Housing conditions very bad. Six people lived in one house (the house consisted of a room with kitchen and entrance hall).
5. The composition of deportees:
Poles, Jews, Ukrainians. While transporting us, we were told that we were a ‘dangerous element’. Relations were not very good.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Work in the collective farm began at 5:00 in the morning. The remuneration depended on the harvest (at one collective farm we were told to pay extra for the food we ate). The food was not good. Clothes were hard to obtain. Camaraderie was very good. There were no Polish books.
7. Conduct of the NKVD towards the Poles:
The NKVD authorities behaved critically, at every step proving that Poland would not rise again, that we would never see our homeland again, they ridiculed the current Polish government, its Supreme Commander and army. They tried to instill communist principles in Polish children at school, but to no avail.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:
Medical assistance was free, but scant. There was a noticeable lack of medicine. Three people died during the entire stay. A Polish doctor from Brest, Dr. Morawski, took particular care of us.
9. Was there any communication with homeland and family? If so, how was it?
I had some postal communication with the homeland.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released on 28 August 28, 1941. I joined the army through a war commissioner.