Personal data:
Karol Müller, born in 1920, factory worker, unmarried.
Date and circumstances of arrest:
I was not arrested; I was drafted into military service in the Soviet army on 2 May 1941 and I arrived at my intended destination on 11 May.
Name of the camp, prison, or forced labor site:
The camp I arrived at was located in Opochka [?], no. 9537.
Description of the camp:
We lived in tents until 15 June, after which I was transferred to the 449th Infantry Regiment in Kovrov. On 13 July 1941, I was moved to Ryazan to serve at the airbase and to evacuate the pilots’ school. On 24 September, I was transferred to Gorky, to the autobaza [automobile plant] of the Moscow Military District.
The composition of POWs, prisoners:
There were no prisoners with us. My comrades were enlisted from the intelligentsia, the working classes, and the merchant sons of Israel.
Life in the camp or prison:
Normal.
The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles:
In the army, before the outbreak of the war, we were constantly told that Poland must exist, but that Poland must be linked with the Soviet Union, just as Ukraine etc. was connected; it was supposed to be red. After the signing of the Polish-Soviet pact, the propaganda ran a completely different course: Poland must be free and independent, more powerful than before, because we are Slavs, and we have a common enemy – Germanism.
Medical assistance:
We hardly lacked anything in the military units.
Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s family?
No, but there was contact with friends.
When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
I was released following my own request that I brought to the headquarters of the Moscow District, and I was transferred to the Polish army in Margilan pursuant to the Polish-Soviet pact of 30 July 1941.