STANISŁAW BOWSZA

Cavalry officer Stanisław Bowsza, [born] 10 March 1904, farmer, single.

I was called up for military service on 24 August 1939. [I] was assigned to the 361 sanitary column. [In] Vilnius I was sent back to Lwów. During the battle with the USSR army, I was taken prisoner by the Soviets and at the same time I was disarmed in Lwów. From there I was transported to the Szepietówka gulag. I was imprisoned there on 28 August 1939.

In the gulag, I had to rest, i.e. sleep, on bare cement, without any bedding, only in my uniform—nothing else. For food we got 300 g of bread per day, and soup once every two days—otherwise nothing. On 5 September 1939, I was transported to Nowogród Wołyński. During my journey, I was given 600 g of bread and one herring per day. There was sometimes water, sometimes not.

[After] four days of travel, I was imprisoned in the Nowogród Wołyński gulag. I slept [there] on bare boards. The daily food amounted to 500 g of bread, soup once per day and water.

On 25 September 1939, I was deported to Zaporizhya [?] And imprisoned in a gulag. The journey lasted five days, during which I was given 500 g of bread [and] one fish per day. I was allocated a bunk and a few rags for sleeping. [I got] 500 g of bread [and] soup three times per day—and nothing more. The work [was] heavy and consisted in unloading coal and ore from wagons.

On 22 May 1940, we were taken north to the Arkhangelsk Oblast [in] Komi ASSR and placed in a gulag. The journey lasted ten days, during which I got 300 g of bread [and] one fish a day—and nothing else. [I arrived at my destination on 2 June 1940, [I slept] on bare bunks, and got food according to the quotas. I was given a quota impossible to make—I had to cart off five cubic meters of earth.

I worked there until the day [when] the amnesty was announced. [I heard offensive?] expressions and insults every moment in 1941. On 10 July I was taken to Vyazniki. The journey lasted 12 days, during which [I got] 300 g of bread [and] one fish per day.

[I] was imprisoned in the Vyazniki camp. [I slept there] on bare boards, and the food [consisted of] 400 g of bread, soup twice a day and tea—and nothing else.

On 25 August 1941, I was admitted to the Polish army by the Polish authorities in the Vyazniki camp.