Gunner Stanisław Friedenberg, 24 years old, merchant, bachelor.
On 13 April 1940 at 4 a.m., seven NKVD soldiers burst into our home. The most senior of them read out an order by the authorities: we (my sister and her three children) were to be exiled for life. In the meantime, four soldiers searched the entire home, tucking money and jewelry into their pockets. At 5.00 a.m., bayonets pointing at us, we were loaded into a truck. At the Czerniowiecki station we were loaded into freight cars, 30 people in each; 80 percent of us were women. We were not given anything to eat or drink for several days. In our railcar two women went mad; they were Mrs. Dunas and Wiśniewska from Lwów. Despite our pleadings, they were not taken away or helped in any way, as a result of which Mrs. Dunas cut her own throat.
Following a 20-day journey, we were unloaded in Kazakhstan, from where we were transferred 200 km to near the Chinese border, to the Nash Trud artel.
We were accommodated in a cowshed full of rats and vermin.
There were 157 deportees in total. Most were the wives of officers, of senior judicial officials, three or four aristocratic families, and several police families. We were all sent to work at a brickyard.
The NKVD treated Poles very badly. If you were more than 20 minutes late for work, you immediately stood trial and lost 25 percent of your pay, which was already low, or you were sent to prison for several months. They spoke very badly of Poland. They claimed Poland would exist, but it would be communist.
There was a hospital in our region. Apart from three Russian doctors, two Polish doctors and three nurses worked there. They saved a lot of Poles from death.
Twelve people died, mostly of old age.
We received a few packages from Poland, from the family of my brother-in-law.
After the Polish-Russian agreement was signed, they still did not want to let us go. They claimed we were not covered by the agreement because we were not prisoners of war. A political commissar told us that if necessary they would ignore any agreements and stab us with bayonets – without any hesitation.
Following a lengthy intervention by a Polish delegate, we were released from work and given a few sleighs with bulls that helped us reach the nearest station after a very difficult journey (over 200 km in freezing cold).
Having experienced very difficult moments and hunger, my companions and I joined the Polish Army.