Women-Soldiers of the Home Army in the Soviet Forced-Labour Camps of Vorkuta in 1944–1956

Abstract

The mass arrests of members of the Home Army by NKWD began in 1944. The prisoners were subjected to brutal interrogation and then sentenced to death or time in Soviet labour camps. Many arrested women were treated by their oppressors just as brutally as men. One of the most important areas where Poles were sent were the camps near the town of Vorkuta. The chief occupation there was an extremely dangerous and hard work in the coal mines. In 1944–1956, women made up 11% of over 5,700 prisoners of Polish origin. Poles were sent to all the hard work, especially those assigned the “katorzhnik” category. Among the members of the Home Army, there developed a particular attachment, which involved mutual assistance and taking care of one another. After Stalin’s death, when riots erupted in Vorkuta, women did not participate but tried to support men nevertheless, since they knew that in this fight the future of all the prisoners was decided. In 1954 prisoners slowly began to be released, yet even then most Poles could not leave Vorkuta. Among the released Poles in this period, there was much friendship and love, which often led to marriages. In the eyes of Polish prisoners, Polish women were remembered as “girls,” with all dignity, who had not been subjugated by the unfeeling system of the Gulag.