1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, profession, marital status):
Gunner Czesław Jurkowicz, 25 years old, single.
2. Date and circumstances of arrest:
April 1940, arrested and exiled to Siberia.
3. Name of the camp, prison, forced labor site:
Novosibirsk Oblast, I forgot the name. Forced labor in the forest at logging and processing of wood.
4. Description of a camp, prison:
A site in the forest, several living buildings. Overcrowdedness, insects – bedbugs, etc.
5. Compositions of prisoners, POWs, exiles:
Mostly Poles, families of arrested husbands, clerks, etc. Mutual relations between us – good.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Work in the forest, from 10 to 12 hours a day. Quotas were impossible to attain, remuneration was from three to five rubles, food rations were very meager. Clothing – whatever we had on was all we had. Cultural life – none.
7. Attitude of the local NKVD towards the Poles:
Attitude of the local NKVD towards the Poles were hostile and revengeful. Punishments: locking one up, taking away bread, etc.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
Minimal medical assistance, hospital was far away. Lethal casualties among children and elderly. Diseases: typhus, malaria.
9. Was there a possibility to contact one’s country and family?
No contact with the country.
10. When were you released and how did you manage to join the army?
I was released in September 1941 following the amnesty. I joined the Polish Army voluntarily in February 1942.