SZ. BIRZAŃSKI

Rzęsna Ruska POW camp

It was 15 April 1941. My wife came to see me and they did not even let [her] in so that [we could] see each other. That journey cost her so much, my wife cried, she begged, she kissed the political commissar’s hands, nothing helped. This was because I was sick and I did not go to work—they put me in the cell for that. If the political commissar was human, then he could have put me in the dungeon [so] that my wife would not have known about it. I got seven days of punishment for that. I would like to have as much health as the days I sat in the dungeon for not being able to make the quota.

As for what I saw: during the march [those] who could not walk, [were] beaten with a rifle butt.

I did not receive letters because I had not made the quota, and when they [threw] me in the cell, they ordered me to take my uniform off. I remember, this was in November when they threw me in the dungeon and ordered me to take my uniform off, and it was cold then. I remember that it was very cold and I came down with a fever, and then they called a doctor. He examined me, said that I was very sick and told them to let me out of the cell. And so I served ten days in the cell.

I do not have anything else to write about.