Микола Петрущак

And it was little bit better for me there. There were people from different places, we had something to eat. In this prison it was so: we were brought to bathroom and disinfection of clothes. So we didn’t have louses. There were big bed bugs. Cells were usual there. I was on the second floor and close to railway. It was the twelfth block, as far as I remember. And what was the discipline? In the morning – get up. The “parasha” (toilet – author) was in the cell. The stronger men brought out this “parasha”. We were 48 or 50 in the cell. It was very tight and there was nothing to breath. It was bad. There was difficult to sleep. I was given the place every time because I already had festering wounds. Sometimes, maybe once in three days, medical attendant came. He was Jew and treated me carefully. But he couldn’t do anything. He just changed bandages. Pus was running. Nevertheless I became very thin. All my co-brothers were pity and took care of me. About food: in the morning we had porridge (a little portion) and tea. Tea was normal boiled water. For dinner we had “balanda” (soup) and again porridge or potato. Sometimes there was also little piece (as two fingers) of fish. In the evening we had a little portion of porridge and thimble of seed-oil on it.

“In Abez’ I met, for example, Ivan Hrabar from Lviv. He was a member of Stec’ko government. Professor Feshchenko-Chupivskyy, who was arrested in Katowicy was there also. He was a member of Central’na Rada. He died almost on my arms. He taught me a lot. Also Hrabar taught me; one taught history, second – geography. How did studying look like in the camp? After the end of the working day usually at summer (when day was longer) we could walk a little. And so we were walking and talking between barracks. Three-four men were going, one was telling the story all the time. So I am person educated in camps.”

“In 1948 we were transported in the “stolypin’s” railway-carriage. How did it look like? It was like common railway-carriage with compartments, but with only grates and without doors. It was a long corridor with grates everywhere. Every compartment consisted of grate and three berths. It was impossible to sit there, only lie on these three berths, on the common planks. Before the transportation fellows found a piece of metal like little finger and hided it into bread ration. Because we were not in the cell then, we were in bigger zone – in “Bryhidky” prison there was a zone, where we could walk and do some job. Convoy soldiers broke down this bread ration but didn’t find a piece of metal there. The window in compartment was on the level of the second and the third berths. When the soldier walked in the carriage he could saw only the second berth. So we began picking the plank near window from the third berth. It revealed that the carriage was old and the planks were old. We picked everything and after Poltava station we should decide what to do. The grate was already swinging and it was possible to knock out the window. The train was going downhill. One of the prisoners said: “Go ahead!” It was midnight or one o’clock in the morning. Two of us knocked out the grate. It fell down with the tinkling. But the train made a lot of noise and nobody heard. Fresh air came into the carriage. Soldier was in the end of the carriage, maybe slipping. I was the second to jump. Firstly I stood and waited when the train passed the pillar and then jumped. I lost one boot, dislocated arm and felt blood on my face.”

“In the November of 1950 it was gathered INLABOR – individual labor “etap” (transportation of prisoners to concentration or labor camps in Siberia or Far East). There were old people after sixty years, invalids, wounded people, who fired in themselves. For example there was such Davyd Bida from Ternopil region, who fired himself in whiskey. The bullet had passed on the fly, but he became blind. He wasn’t shot. He often said: “I will be free, Soviet union will be destroyed and I will go to Austria. Austrian doctors will renew my eyesight”. He had such a dream. There was also one man from Hodoriv, substitute of sotenyy (lieutenant of URA), who fired in himself but the bullet came out in bridge of the nose. His surname seems to me, was Sohan. Drofych Mykola was a tutor of politics in sotnia (URA squadron). He had wounded hip. We were not shot. In 1948 decree came out and till 1950 in Soviet Union there were no shooting. They firstly shot mass of people, but then saw that they could use these people for work.”