1. Personal data (name, surname, rank, age, occupation, and marital status):
Gunner Ignacy Gorliński, 40 years old, landowner, bachelor.
2. Date and circumstances of the arrest:
My apartment was thoroughly searched on the night of 19 to 20 March 1940, after which I was arrested and taken to the prison in Dubno (Wołyń); I stayed there from 19 March 1940 to 22 April 1941.
3. Name of the camp, prison, place of forced labor:
A camp for convicts in Vorkuta, Komi ASSR, in the far north.
4. Description of the camp, prison:
A modern Polish prison in Dubno. The camp was located in northern tundra, the housing conditions were pretty good, hygiene was acceptable.
5. Social composition of POWs, prisoners, deportees:
Convicts from a variety of social backgrounds, and of equally varied intellectual standing. Ranging from people with higher education to illiterates. Relations with Russians were hostile, but Poles were friendly towards each other.
6. Life in the camp, prison:
Life was normal, but with very tough physical labor. Fourteen hours of work, food twice a day, enough not to die but too little to live. Very poor and old clothes. Extremely high quotas. I did not get any money for the work, just the so-called cauldron. Cultural life and education within the appropriate framework, but I did not attend the meetings.
7. Attitude of the NKVD towards Poles:
The NKVD were sadists during investigations. They applied Spanish Inquisition-like methods towards some people they investigated. They demanded information about Poland concerning everything related to politics, the economy, etc.
8. Medical assistance, hospitals, mortality:
The medical assistance and hospitals were acceptable, but there were no medicines at all. Mortality in the camp was high.
9. Was it possible to keep in touch with the home country and your family?
I had no contact with my family from the moment I was arrested until I arrived in the Middle East. I was in Palestine when I received the first letters.
10. When were you released and how did you join the army?
I was released from the Vorkuta camp on 27 October 1941. I reached the first railroad station in the North – Kozhva – situated 700 kilometers away from the camp in Vorkuta by foot. I went by train from Kozhva to Gortshakovo, and I joined the army in Toshloq on 5 February 1942.