Czok, Józef (Oral history)

Polish officer with 75th Infantry Regt, Polish Army in Poland, 1939; POW in Russia, 1939-1941; served with 5th "Wilno" Infantry Division. Polish Army in Russia and Persia, 1941-1942.

REEL 1 Aspects of operations as officer with 75th Infantry Regt, Polish Army in Poland, 1939: call up as reserve officer, 8/1939; his wounding by shrapnel and hospitalisation, 4/9/1939. Recollections of period as POW in Russia, 1939-1941: arrival of Russians at hospital in Tarnopol, 17/10/1939; deportation of Polish officers; arrival in camp at Shepyetovka, 28/10/1939; lice and bug infestations at Shepyetovka; leaving Shepyetovka camp by rail; 12/11/1939; arrival at Kozielsk camp; living conditions in Kozielsk camp; reasons why Russians were holding Polish officers; work he did; communications with home. REEL 2 Continues: degree of contact with Russian civilians around Kozielsk (Kozelsk), late 1939; arrival of Russian NKVD soldiers and selection of officers to be ‘sent home’; removal by rail to Gnyesdovo (Gnezdovo, Gnyozdovo), 5/1940; his discovery in his train of inscription by Polish officer being transported to Katyn; distribution of roubles in camp at Grazovietsk; learning Russian; arrival of Polish officers from Kozielsk II camp, 7/1941; reaction of Polish officer POWs to German invasion of Russia, 6/1941. Aspects of period as officer with the 5th "Wilno" Infantry Division, Polish Army in the Soviet Union, 1941-1942: removal by train to Tatishchevo, 8/1941. REEL 3 Continues: leaving Russia for Pahlevi in Persia, summer 1942. His belief that Polish officers being sent to Katyn were actually being sent home, 4/1940.