JERZY KLAHR

[1.] Rank, name and surname of the interviewee:

Rifleman Jerzy Klahr

[2.] The expulsion of the civilian population. Its course and conditions:

During roundups, the police would come at night, give the arrestees a dozen or so minutes to get packed, and transport them in cars to the train station where they had to wait, sometimes even for a few days.

[3.] Methods of interrogating and torturing the arrestee during investigation:

If the arrestee was kept on charges of espionage or membership in some organization, he would frequently be beaten, starved, kept in cold basements etc.

[4.] Court procedures, ruling in absentia, ways of delivering verdicts (particularly desirable are full texts of judgments):

I was tried by the military division (in Kowel), without a lawyer. Generally speaking, I was tried by one man, who relied on forced confessions. Reasons for the judgement: membership in a Polish nationalist organization, “Poland is not yet lost”.

[5.] Cases of people who were murdered during their march, during their deportations, during their stay in prison or during their work as forced laborers:

In the prison in Kowel, on 13 December 1940, Lieutenant Onyszkiewicz, a railway stationmaster from Zdołbunów, died before my very eyes due to exhaustion and the lack of air.

[8.] Life in prisons:

The conditions in the prison in Kowel were horrible: it was cramped beyond description and we were badly treated. It was even worse in the transports. During the 23-day journey from Kharkiv to Ukhta I received only 400 grams of moldy bread, and rarely some water. The conditions were much better in the Lukyanivska prison in Kiev, in the ward for political prisoners.

Official stamp, 17 March 1943