Volunteer Salomea Karniej, 27 years old.
I was arrested at the train station in Woropajewo, on the morning of 10 February, 1940. I was ordered to pack within 15 minutes, but I was only allowed to take food, nothing else. I was deported to Omsk Oblast, Bojaryk [?] hamlet, for forest labor. There were 105 Polish families in that hamlet.
I worked in the forest all day long; sometimes the work began at 2.00 a.m. and lasted until evening. The conditions were deplorable, there weren’t any clothes to buy, but I wouldn’t have been able to buy them anyway, as I earned from 5 to 10 rubles per decade (ten days). Failure to go to work resulted in arrest – there were several such cases.
One of the Poles, Wincenty Kuciun, who worked as an overseer in a lesopunkt [forest work unit], harassed his Poles, refusing to give them spravka [referral] to the doctor etc. When the Poles made an altar to observe May devotions, Kuciun ordered that the altar be dismantled, arguing that singing and praying disturbed his rest after the day’s work.
The medical assistance was very poor, and as a result many people died, including Piotr Miedziucho, Irena Pyro, Helena Siemczuk, Gidziun, and many others whose surnames I don’t remember.
I was released in January, and on 10 June 1942 I joined the army in Tehran.