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We arrived in Arkhangelsk, which was already Siberia. There was a place where they divided us into different colonies. Trains with prisoners arrived there. But I was no prisoner, because I had no sentence! I went to the Komi SSR. I was there with some young fellows, many were in the army from Lodz. There was even a general. But this general didn’t want to work, so he died. He’d always say, ‘I won’t ever work for these ‘kacaps’’ [Polish word meaning idiots, cads; in this case, Russians]. So I told him, ‘Mister, you can’t do this, you’ve got to survive somehow!’ But he was maybe 60 years old anyway. Or older. And his son Jozef was with me. We worked together.
I can’t complain, I was a ‘stachanowiec.’ [Editor’s note: in the period 1930-1950 in the USSR – an efficient, leading worker, etymology – from the last name of a miner from Donetsk [today Russia]: Alexey Stakhanov (born 1905)] I got bread, like I should have; I didn’t have any problems. I was young, still strong for work, so I worked. Several times I was sick with ‘cynga’ [scurvy] from malnutrition, and that’s normal. They’d give us some food in the morning, at 6am, when we left for work, then they’d give us some soup with bugs, and that was all the food we got. And bread. And it was hard work in the woods; we cut trees and built iron roads [railroads].
I don’t know if we were all treated the same; I‘m not saying we all were. I can only speak for myself. No one admitted if they were Jewish or Polish. No one said anything. There really were no such questions. Where are you from? From Poland and that’s all. And I spoke Polish normally. I lived in a barrack, 75 of us lived there, each one had this bunk. No, no, I didn’t have any problems. I can’t talk about something that wasn’t there.
I can’t complain, I was a ‘stachanowiec.’ [Editor’s note: in the period 1930-1950 in the USSR – an efficient, leading worker, etymology – from the last name of a miner from Donetsk [today Russia]: Alexey Stakhanov (born 1905)] I got bread, like I should have; I didn’t have any problems. I was young, still strong for work, so I worked. Several times I was sick with ‘cynga’ [scurvy] from malnutrition, and that’s normal. They’d give us some food in the morning, at 6am, when we left for work, then they’d give us some soup with bugs, and that was all the food we got. And bread. And it was hard work in the woods; we cut trees and built iron roads [railroads].
I don’t know if we were all treated the same; I‘m not saying we all were. I can only speak for myself. No one admitted if they were Jewish or Polish. No one said anything. There really were no such questions. Where are you from? From Poland and that’s all. And I spoke Polish normally. I lived in a barrack, 75 of us lived there, each one had this bunk. No, no, I didn’t have any problems. I can’t talk about something that wasn’t there.
Period
Location
Komi
Russia
Interview
Chaim Henryk Ejnesman
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