1. [Personal details:]
Rifleman Jerzy Romanowski, 21 years old, secondary school graduate, unmarried.
2. [Date and circumstances of arrest:]
On 20 May 1941, I was arrested by the NKVD authorities and put in jail in Mołodeczno, wileńskie voivodeship. Nobody in my home knew about my arrest because I was arrested underhandedly.
3. [Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:]
On 24 June 1941, after the outbreak of Russian-German war, the prison I was being kept in was evacuated in a freight train, up into Russia. On 20 July we reached Tobolsk, Omsk Oblast, where we were placed in an isolation prison on the infamous “ górka” [hill].
4. [Description of the camp, prison:]
The prison in Tobolsk is surrounded from three sides by the Irtysh River. It is on a high hilltop covered with barbered-wire entanglements, and apart from that, it is surrounded by a high wall. I’m writing this in relation to the size and the character of the place. The prison has a dozen or so huge blocks.
5. [Composition of prisoners, captives, deportees:]
Mainly, the prisoners were from the wileńskie voivodeship, Poles and Belarusians. The Poles were civil servants and railway officials, the Belarusians were farmers.
6. [Life in the camp, prison:]
Relations among the Poles were based on mutual understanding and agreement. Social life was good, cultural life was non-existent aside from discussions among the prisoners. Food was limited to a minimum, the more so because it was during the Russian-German war.
7. [The NKVD authorities’ attitude towards the Poles:]
Apart from the preliminary inquiries, all investigations were suspended. The NKVD
authorities’ attitude was severe.
10. [When you were released and how did you get to the army?]
I was released on 3 September 1941, with consent to live in Tobolsk. On 2 December I left from there and went south. After a long journey, on 2 February 1942, I joined the Polish Army in Lugovoy.
Temporary quarters, 17 January 1943