extracts
Time of Fear
BRONISLAW TURZYNSKI
Osada Rokitnianka, District Równe

At two o'clock in the morning of 10 February 1940 my mother's crying in the kitchen woke me up. I got up to see what was happening and, on opening the door, was grabbed by four men with rifles: two in NKVD uniforms, and two civilians with red bands round their sleeves. They searched me to ensure I wasn't carrying arms, then allowed me to return to the bedroom, as they told us to pack our belongings for departure to the railway station in Klewan. Because he'd gone to see my mother's family in Nowa Ziemia, about 25 kms from the osada, my father was not at home at the time. Mother told me to go and find father and I escaped through a window. The NKVD and Ukrainians heard nothing of my escape from the home, in which remained my mother, two sisters and a brother...