WAWRZYNIEC POLAK

[1.] Rank, name and surname of the interviewee:

Sergeant Wawrzyniec Polak

[2.] Expulsion of the civilian population. Its course and conditions:

I was interned in Lithuania on 12 July 1941 and together with the entire camp I was deported to Kozelsk.

[3.] Methods of interrogating and torturing the arrestee during investigation:

One of the methods was to use threats. First of all I was threatened with the deportation of my family. They gave me the names of all the informants whom I had used as chief constable of a State Police station.

[4.] Court procedures, ruling in absentia, ways of delivering verdicts (particularly desirable are full texts of judgements):

From Kozelsk – without any sentence being read out to me or any court proceedings – I was sent to the Kola Peninsula. They intimated that we wouldn’t come back.

[5.] Cases of people who were murdered during their march, during their deportation, during their stay in prison or during their work as forced laborers:

Sergeant Bubresiewicz from the 1st Carpathian Rifle Brigade, education officer, was punished with 48 hours in a punishment cell located in the basement. During the entire time he had water dripping on him and he didn’t get anything to eat. It was at the Kola Peninsula, Ponoy camp.

[7.] Life in the forced labor camps (camp organization and work quotas):

We had to work 14–16 hours per day and meet the following work quota: dig a ditch 10 meters long and one and a half meters wide or remove turf from a patch of ground 20 meters long and 12 meters wide.

[9.] Life in settlements (the Soviet authorities’ attitude towards the Polish population sent into exile without court judgements):

The attitude of the authorities was hostile and they made sure that we constantly felt it.

Place of stay, 16 March 1943