JANINA SZCZEPANIAK

[1. Personal data:]

Senior Leader Janina Szczepaniak, 26 years old, nurse, nun.

[2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:]

On 29 June 1940, I was deported to the USSR. The reason for the deportation was that I had registered to go to the area occupied by the Germans (to my parents).

[3., 4. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor; description of the camp, prison:]

I stayed in Altai Krai, in the town of Talmenka, in the woods, where the climate, housing and hygienic conditions were terrible.

[5. Social composition of prisoners, POWs, deportees:]

In that town, there were Jews, Poles, Ruthenians, and Lithuanians. The social relations were good. There was no learning or Polish literature, which was really bothersome. Polish books were burned and we were forced to read Russian literature.

[6. Life in the camp, prison:]

The work in the woods was very hard; women, the elderly, and people unfit for work were not spared. Meeting the work quota was compulsory and those who did not do so did not get any bread.

At 7.00 a.m., we would all set off to work to a place located a few kilometers away. At work, we were not allowed to have a rest. We had dinner in the woods: it consisted of dry bread and bitter tea or water.

We came back from work at 5.00 p.m. and we spent the rest of the day standing in queues for bread or other products. The remuneration for the work was minimal.

[7. Attitude of the authorities, the NKVD, towards Poles:]
The attitude of the NKVD towards Poles was unfavorable, hostile. The communist
propaganda was spread among the Poles by the Russians. They claimed Poland did not exist
and would not exist ever again, and we just had to forget about it.

[8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:]

Medical assistance was provided only at the last moment. The mortality was high, especially due to exhaustion and hunger.

[9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family? If yes, what contacts were permitted?]

It was possible to communicate with families until the Russian-German war.

[10. When were you released and how did you join the army?]

After I was granted amnesty in October 1941, I went south, to the city of Dzhambul. On 28 February 1942, I joined the ranks of the Polish Army in Kermine.

Quizil Ribat, 3 March 1943