Destination England -
Ivdel Gulag Siberia
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16. IVDEL Gulag Siberia
This time our destination was Siberia distance about 1500 miles (2500
km.) from Kharkov. During that journey we had the usual daily
diet of salted herrings (three per person) and three buckets of cold
water per day for all of us. The buckets of water were very often,
because the temperature outside, was well below zero C
(Centigrade).
While going through Moscow we were put on the siding where we had to
wait half a day, but "luckily" through our barred window we
had"panoramic" view of the Kremlin, seat of unhappiness for millions of
people. I wouldn't like to guess what was going through the minds
of the people locked up in this and the other carriages and what they
wished to happen to occupants of that most hated place in Russia!!!
After that long stay we continued our journey further east and away
from civilisation we knew. And every day was getting colder and
colder, how cold not having thermometers was difficult to tell.
The only way to find out was to put your hand outside and try to hold
the iron bar of the window only for few seconds, after which you had
difficulty of pulling it away without damaging skin on your hand (could
be -20 C or more) and not having adequate clothing (in my case very
thin trousers and light jacket only, no woollies of any kind) you could
feel cold very much, and heating from little stove in the middle of the
carriage wasn't enough.
Anyway after 14 days we arrived to our final rail destination to place
called IVDEL which is situated about 500 miles North from Ekaterinburg
(Sverdlowsk) by the river TAVDA. The date was Christmas 1940 or
soon after because we lost count of the time.
We had to walk from the station surrounded by armed guards for about 10
miles in knee deep snow till finally we reached the camp made up of
many huts of different sizes, which were surrounded by barbed wire and
four turrets on each corner with machine guns on them.
After having baths in tubs (about 3 ft. diameter) which were filled
with hot water and afterwards drying ourselves as best as possible
using some of the clothes which had just been returned from
disinfection and were still warm, we were allocated to different huts
which would be our living quarters for God only knows for how
long.
The hut to which I was allocated was made from the locally felled
timber. The size of it was approximately 75x25 feet. Inside
on both sides were rows of wooden shelves at the height of 1.5 feet
which we used to sleep and to sit on. In the middle of the hut
was a medium size iron stove and the only source of the heat available,
which of course was quite inadequate. In the corner was little
cubicle occupied by man in charge called "starshina". (In this
case ex archbishop of Moscow). Average population of such a hut
was between 80 to 100 inhabitants, who were formed into "working
brigades".
We were given few days (I think about 3 or 4) to acclimatise ourselves
with the new place and climate. For a change it was something
rather unusual and nice to be able to leave the overcrowded hut and go
out into the fresh air, deep snow, and to admire hundreds of Christmas
trees outside barbed wire. Not being well equipped for this kind
of climate and lately loosing my only pair of shoes, I was, through the
leader of brigade, issued with second hand ( didn't have any bread left
to obtain new one ) anorak and trousers to match, head cover in the
form of Russian army type cap.
The cap was made from 5 triangles of blanket material, joined on top
into one bundle which were supposed to represent five continents joined
under one rule (communist). But our interpretation was slightly
different: we called it that "place where all the fleas and lice
rallied for their meetings". The caps had also two flaps to cover
your ears, and by being tied under the chin in many cases saved you
from loosing them by frost bites. I was also issued with pair of
two fingered gloves and for shoes I was given about a foot long piece
of car tyre joined at both ends. The front end was stitched so it
was forming the roof over front of your foot, which reminded you of a
kind of boat with the front cover over its engine, and instead of
woolly socks you were given two pieces of rag, each approximately 18"
square, to wrap around your feet. And with such "well equipped
and warm clothing" you, with any luck, were expected to survive the
Siberian winter, lasting about 6 to 8 months and temperatures of -40 C
to -50 C. of frost, which was even more noticeable when you were hungry
(underfed).
BREAK
It
is with much regret and sadness that this is as far as Jozef got with
his written word before he died. From here on we will try to
complete his story not only of the war years but also his life after
his demobilisation. We have a tough act to follow but follow we
must, not just to complete Jozef's story but hopefully paint a picture
of what other fellow Polish comrades went through and thus possibly
fill in some general information blanks that many families of Polish
armed forces personnel will have about what their parents went through
in getting from Poland to the UK to serve in the British Forces.
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© Nick Bailey & Krys Bailey (nee Stendera) & Jozef Stendera
2013-2020