JULIAN CICHOWSKI

Jerusalem, 24 January 1943

1. Personal data:

Julian Cichowski, Signal Corps captain on permanent active duty, 43 years old, unmarried, city commander of Jerusalem.

2. Date and circumstances of arrest:

I was deported from Kalwaria, Lithuania, on 10 June 1940.

3. Name of the camp:

Kozelsk and Gryazovets.

4. Description of the camp:

Kozelsk: A former monastery. A number of Orthodox church buildings and residential buildings were surrounded by a wall of several meters length that formed an approx. 250-meter-sided square. Some buildings were made of bricks and some of wood. Inside there were pallets of rough wood, from one to several stories high (depending on the building). The buildings were rather dirty and bug-infested. During my stay in the camp we debugged the buildings several times with Lysol provided by the Soviet authorities, and towards the end of our stay we whitewashed the walls in some buildings and planed the pallet boards. It was quite warm in building no 14, where I lived.

At first I had a bath every two weeks, and later, when the new bathhouse was furnished, every week. Many repair and maintenance works (paving, lawns) were conducted by the inmates under the guidance of Polish engineers. For this purpose the Bolsheviks were setting up volunteer work groups. Nobody was forced to work, but once one volunteered it was difficult to withdraw. At first we had to wash our underwear ourselves, in the bathhouse. Later, the officers’ underwear was washed in town, and the underwear of the policemen and the privates was washed by a designated work group in the old bathhouse.

Shortly after our arrival at the camp we were vaccinated against typhoid fever I think, and later against smallpox. A barbershop was organized, where – having waited one’s turn – we could get shaved for free by our policemen. I preferred to grow a beard.

The food was sufficient, but strangely insubstantial. We got mainly groats. In theory, we were entitled to 75 grams of meat per person a day, but in fact we received meat offal, such as heads, legs, and tails, the weight of hoofs, horns and bones included, so in effect there was virtually no meat at all. It was slightly better in the periods when salted meat was being distributed. The officers and the privates had separate kitchens. The officers received slightly bigger rations. They also received more sugar and, I think, meat and fat, and besides they received a scrap of toilet soap once a month. All detainees were issued a bar of washing soap, shag tobacco, cigarette paper and matches (five packages of each of the three items per month). We were also issued blankets. At first we slept directly on the pallets. Later we received mattresses, straw, and sheets. We also got underwear and footwraps, and those who hadn’t any were also issued some uniforms.

Gryazovets: Also a monastery. The Orthodox church had been demolished. Only one brick building survived, and about three hundred Polish prisoners of war were placed in it. We arrived in Gryazovets at the end of June 1940. For lack of space in the building, we had to live in makeshift barracks without outer walls (the roof was supported by posts). It was very cold in there and we were horribly pestered by mosquitoes. The food was worse than in Kozelsk. Later the food rations were drastically reduced, so for some three weeks before the agreement between the Soviet Union and Poland we suffered from hunger. As we didn’t receive any straw for the mattresses, we picked and dried some grass to fill them with. Later on some hay was brought to us.

The Gryazovets camp was rather large, fenced with barbed wire, and wooded; there was also a river on the camp premises. When it was warm, we were taking baths in the river, and later on in a bathhouse, which was very small. The drinking water, as well as water for cooking and washing, was transported in barrels.

5. The composition of prisoners:

There were officers (about 1,000), policemen (about 2,000) and a number of privates in the camp. Apart from these, a few officers were brought in from prisons and POW camps at a later time. We didn’t trust the latter, as we suspected that they were sent as spies. I think that our suspicions were partially justified.

The so-called "reddies" were our greatest worry. They were Communist sympathizers, and unfortunately recruited mainly (or even exclusively) from among the officers. The most active members of that group were: Capt. Arciszewski (at least that was the name he gave), Capt. Smoleński, Lieutenant Adrian and Lieutenant Rolewski. Others, especially young airmen, followed their example. As I gathered, in Kozelsk they used to meet in the kitchen. Some intrigues were being carried on in the kitchen, as the post of kitchen commandant (appointed from among the detainees) often changed hands. Apart from those open sympathizers there must have been some informers, as the Soviet authorities knew about many things that happened in the camp. Nevertheless, some decidedly anti-Communist books also circulated in the camp.

When the Polish-Soviet agreement was proclaimed, the most active reddies were separated from us and sent somewhere else. It was said that they were to be used as saboteurs or paratroopers. As a farewell, they denounced a number of officers, mostly the ones with German surnames, for allegedly working with the fifth column. As I learned later, these officers were deported to Vologda. Later they were released and joined the army.

6. Camp life:

Wake-up was before 7.00 a.m., and was followed by a roll call. There was another roll call at the end of the day. It consisted of checking the number of detainees. At first the roll calls were conducted by commandants of particular buildings, appointed from among the detainees, but later the roll calls were handled by NKVD functionaries. Once a month the lists of surnames were read out. The food from the kitchen was brought to the buildings in buckets by designated men, one for each room (we were taking turns in a set order). The same men also cleaned the rooms and kept guard.

All works in the Kozelsk camp, such as paving the grounds, repairs to buildings, kitchen work, chopping wood for the kitchen, all work in the shoemaker’s and tailor’s workshops and the barber shop were performed by permanent work brigades composed of volunteers. Those who worked received better food, but it was at the cost of everyone else; as far as I know, the Soviet authorities didn’t provide any additional foodstuffs for the workers. All detainees were required to peel potatoes and skin the fish. However, there was a tacit agreement that staff officers wouldn’t perform these tasks. They spent their time in learning foreign languages, reading, making musical instruments, knives, razors, and wooden items (such as tobacco boxes). Some of them were executed with real artistry. I saw a beautiful chess set, artistically carved boxes and skilfully made razors.

In Gryazovets, apart from the permanent staff in the kitchen, bakery, boiler room and bathhouse, there were no permanent work brigades, so we had to take turns chopping wood for the kitchen, bringing water, etc.

Mutual relations were generally good. The detainees grew close and helped one another in various matters. The policemen visited us and we returned their visits. I heard about some fights, even between officers, but in our building there was only one brawl.

There was an amateur orchestra that put on some revue and orchestra performances. I didn’t see any of them, as I didn’t get a ticket. However, it was no great loss as the orchestra members lived in our building and held rehearsals there all the time, so I knew their repertoire by heart.

There was a recreation room, known as the club, where chess tournaments were organized.

7. The NKVD’s attitude towards Poles:

As soon as we arrived in Kozelsk, we were all searched. I heard that the first groups had to strip naked. Later, due to the great number of detainees, the searches were less thorough. Identity papers, money, sharps and valuables were taken away from us. I managed to save all the documents that I had on me. However, I had to part with my camera, an alarm clock, and a few other items, including some Lithuanian and Polish money. During a search before our departure from Kozelsk I was also divested of a silver-plated drop-action pencil and a few other things. Although I had deposit receipts for these things, none of them was returned to me despite my repeated requests.

Once we were searched and quartered in the camp, we were summoned one by one and carefully registered. Later we were also called to the office at various times – some of us more, some of us less often – for the so-called dopros [interrogation]. Generally, those who were interrogated spoke unwillingly or not at all about what had been said during their interrogation. I gathered from what they were saying that those who took part in political or social life were summoned most often. The authorities were eagerly enquiring after all informers, both of the police and the 2nd Unit, who were still active.

Shortly after our arrival at the camp, Colonel Dąbrowski and all the officers from the 2nd Unit were separated from us. Of the latter, I knew only Captain Wojciechowski from the branch office of the Independent Office of Information of the 3rd DOK [Corps District Command] in Lida, where I served during the war. All of them were deported in an unknown direction and I haven’t heard of them since. Apart from them, Cavalry Captain Chludziński was also deported, because he told the political commissars too openly what he thought about their country and its political system. I heard that he was released and joined the army.

I was summoned only once after the register was drawn up. At the time, for two or three days, a few men from our building were called every day, so I thought that they were going to interrogate all of us. However, they interrogated ten or twelve men and that was it. I was asked about a number of things that I had already provided during registration, so I had the impression that they wanted to determine whether I had given correct information the previous time and to catch me giving contradictory statements. I was also asked what I wanted to do if I were released from the camp. Of course I wanted to go abroad, but I couldn’t say so. Besides, I considered the question rhetorical, as I didn’t believe that they would release me. Therefore, I told them that I wanted to settle down in some town and go to work. They replied that as a specialist (radio engineer) I would easily find a job. And that was all.

I had the impression that when the NKVD wanted to interrogate someone who was of special interest to them, at the same time they would summon a number of “unimportant” persons to make a “smoke screen” and divert attention away from the individual or informer in question. I would like to note that all those summoned were interrogated separately.

The interrogators were rather unintelligent and had little to no knowledge about our relations. The Bolsheviks despised satire. One of the detainees drew a number of caricatures about everyday camp life. When the Bolsheviks learned about this, they confiscated all his works, called them “political hooliganism” and strictly forbade carrying on such activities.

Frankly, I don’t know what is political about a drawing which depicts, for instance, a detainee taking care of his bodily needs in a makeshift camp latrine.

Propaganda was spread through newspapers, movies, and lectures, the so-called doklady. I rarely went to the cinema or attended the lectures. The movies were of course propaganda pictures of very poor quality. The lectures that I attended aimed to present an overview of the current political situation, but they were mediocre and merely repeated newspaper stories. It all boiled down to a declaration that the Soviets had good neighbourly relations with the Germans, and England and the US were their worst enemies. They did mention that a war with the Germans would probably break out, but no sooner than “in a few years”. I don’t recall any direct attacks on Poland. Should they have happened, they would have sparked protests, or at the least the majority of those present would have left the room. The newspapers, in turn, published tall stories about the situation in Poland before and after the entry of the Soviet Army. For instance, I remember an article about Polish officers who were escaping to Romania across the Dnister River and plucked out the eyes of a fisherman’s daughter who had helped them cross the river.

The NKVD camp authorities treated us decently and were rather kind. For instance, they never addressed us informally. On the other hand, the escorting units that were responsible for the transport of prisoners were real slave traders. They behaved in a cruel and ruthless manner.

8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality rate:

I didn’t use any medical assistance, so I cannot say anything about that matter. Anyway, there was a hospital in Kozelsk. I know about two lieutenants who died, but I don’t remember their surnames. Besides that, two men hanged themselves and a few – four, I think – developed a mental illness.

9. Was there any possibility to get in contact with one’s country and family?

If I remember correctly, we received “coupons” for writing letters once a month. I didn’t have anyone to write to, so I wasn’t really interested.

10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?

I joined the army in Gryazovets on 27 August 1941, and towards the end of that month I went with the others to Totskoye.