[1. Personal details:]
Corporal Marcin Biskup, born in 1909, Polish nationality, farmer, widower; category in Poland: A.
[2. Date and circumstances of arrest:]
I was deported on 10 February 1940 due to the fact that I was a colonist in the district of Radziechów [?]. Almost all the colonists were transported, over 80 families. The travel conditions were hard.
[3. Name of camp, prison or place of forced labor:]
We were deported to the Arkhangelsk Oblast, Dzhodrym settlement.
[4.] Description of the settlement:
The settlement was a former [illegible], as evidenced by the watchtowers. It featured three residential buildings, in which 80 families, mostly settlers from the Vilnius region, were placed.
[5.] Daily life:
The daily wages amounted to three rubles. A worker received a kilogram of bread for which he paid one ruble and five kopecks. A woman received 300 g. The quotas were very high— working ten hours you could make 35%. A worker had the right to buy one serving every day in the canteen.
[6. The NKVD’s attitude towards the Poles:]
The attitude of the NKVD authorities towards the Poles was strictly negative—in terms of life, nationality and religion. Books for reading and prayer were taken away, we were forbidden to hang up any pictures.
[7. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:]
There was no medical help, people mostly suffered from leg ailments and emaciation.
[8. Was there any communication with homeland and family? If so, how was it?]
Very few people—mainly exiles from the Vilnius and Volhynia, and the Tarnopol Voivodeship— had communication with the homeland, because all the post offices had been taken by the Ukrainians.
[9. When were you released and how did you reach the army?]
I was released on 25 August 1941. I joined the army on 6 February 1942.
[10.] The voting that took place before being sent:
The majority of Poles in the Radziechów district did not take part.
[11. State of the camp:]
320 exiles lived in the settlement..[Illegible] release in the cemetery 80 graves remained [?].
[12.] Surnames of any deceased from your family:
My mother-in-law Maria Turczyn, brother-in-law [illegible] Turczyn, father-in-law Jan Turczyn, wife Weronika [?] Biskup, my son Edward [?] Biskup and many other friends of the family died of deprivation.