Tomasz Konstanty Piesakowski

This interview preserves a victim’s account of their experiences as a Polish civilian and later prisoner during World War II. The victim describes their life in Ostrog, Poland, prior to the ear, their capture by soviet forces in 1939, and subsequent imprisonment in both Stanisławów and Chernigov Prisons. The account details their experiences as a prisoner in the Soviet Union, including hard labor in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and brutal treatment by guards, as well as their eventual service with the Polish Armed Forces in the East.

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Metadata

▶ Standardised Metadata

Element	Value
External Title	Piesakowski, Tomasz Konstanty (Oral history)
Interviewer Name(s)	Not provided by host collection
Interviewee Name	Tomasz Konstanty Piesakowski
Interviewing Organization	The Imperial War Museum
Date of Interview	1999-10-03
Archiving Organization	The Imperial War Museum
Duration	90
Format	MP3

▶ External Archive Metadata (as provided)

Element	Value
Category	Sound
Related period	1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator	IWM (Production company); Wood, Conrad (Recorder); Piesakowski, Tomasz Konstanty (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date	1999-10-03
Dimensions	whole: Duration 90, Number Of Items 3
Catelogue number	19774
Object Description	Polish civilian in Białystok, Poland, 9/1939-6/1940; deportee from Poland to Soviet Union, 1940-1941; officer served with Polish Army in the Soviet Union, 1941-1942; served with 17th Lwowski Battalion, 2nd Polish Corps in Italy, 1943-1945.
Content Description	REEL 1 Background in Białystok, Poland, 1922-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian in Poland, 9/1939-6/1940: arrival of Soviet Army troops, 9/1939; refusal to join Soviet militia, 9/1939; changes in school syllabus after 9/1939; reasons for disbanding resistance group; composition of population in Białystok; plans to escape from Poland to France. Recollections of arrest and imprisonment in Poland and Soviet Union, 1940-1941: arrest by People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) whilst heading for Polish border, 6/1940; nature of interrogation; imprisonment in prisons in Poland; move to Soviet Union and sentencing to five years imprisonment in the Gulag; hearing of massacre of Polish officers whilst at Kharkov, Soviet Union, summer 1940; move to camp near Ukhta, Soviet Union, 12/1940; job in logging camp; accusation of sabotage. REEL 2 Continues: conditions in camp; mental attitude in camp; news of Sikorski-Mayski Agreement, 6/1941. Recollections of period with Polish Armed Forces in the East in the Soviet Union, 1941-1942: journey to Kuibyshev to enlist in Polish Armed Forces in the East; arrival in Kuibyshev; training as mortar officer; question of danger of criticising Soviet system; conditions of journey from Soviet Union to Iran, 3/1942. Aspects of training with Polish Armed Forces in the West in Middle East, 1942-1943: reaction to arrival in Pahlevi, Iran, 3/1942; contracting malaria in Palestine; nature of military training, 1942-1943. Recollections of operations as mortar officer with the 17th Lwów Rifle Bn, 6th Lwów Infantry Bde, 5th Kresowa Infantry Div, II Polish Corps in Italy, 1943-1945: role and duties during the Battle of Monte Cassino. REEL 3 Continues: role of unit at Monte Cassino; advance to Faenza; wounding in knee and return to battalion before wound had healed; question of luck throughout campaign. Aspects of post-war life in GB: problems of returning to Poland; fate of Poles who returned to Poland, after 1945; settling in GB; problems faced by Poles in GB especially due to British pro-Soviet feelings; career in GB; attitude to plans to liberate Eastern Europe, 1949; reasons for never returning to Poland; reaction to outcome of Polish fight in Second World War.