Ольга Попадин

- “ I was interrogated. They screamed all the time. I wore glasses. An interrogator said all the time: “Take your glasses off”. Only he had so sharp lookout. He thought that I could bear his lookout with the help of my glasses. I took off glasses. Then he dragged out rubber stick and said: “Do you know polish rubber?” I say: “No, I don’t know about polish rubber”. And then he showed it. But I didn’t saw without glasses what he showed. I took my glasses on and said: “Oh, it’s rubber stick. I saw it in Poles”. I thought: will I be beaten or not? They threatened all the time that they would beat me. And he showed me a photo of one woman, Ljuba Shevchyk – she was well-known. He asked: “Do you know her?” I answered: “No!” And he: “How didn’t you know Ljubu Shevchyka?” But he declined the surname as if Ljuba Shevchyk was a man. I asked: “Who is this: man or woman?” When he heard this…He stood as at the end of the porch – at such destination his table stood from me. When I asked this he found himself near me and beat me in face so I stopped short. He said: “You didn’t know…Will you speak?” I said: “You declined incorrectly.” I understood then, that I would be beaten…”

“… and that moment the bomb fell down in the opposite side of Brygidky prison. When the bomb fell down, we were already sure that the war had started. In Monday we woke up in the morning and there were nobody around. The workers which had been working there (in prison), those criminals, broke the doors and said: “Go out!”. We where only in the slips. Moreover, in such slips that were hard to go outside. We rushed to cloak-room to take our things. While we were looking for our things, while we took everything , the fire started on. Bolsheviks came back and started fire. There were some men who had run out at once to go home. And they were shot right near the gate. They started fire on us. Several bullets got into our cell. We all went to the corridor. But from the corridor we heard soldiers that were going upstairs and we went back to our cell, exactly in ward. The soldiers came in, they were not from NKVD: “Who had planned to escape?”. Nobody. After them in one hour enkavedists came. In that time they already were near Krasne. From that place they were turned back to Lviv. Maybe, if they were not turned back, people would stay alive. But they started then execution …”

“…the trade itself existed. People lined up since evening to buy something in shop in the morning. They even didn’t know what would happen to buy – at first they were buying everything which has been selling. Then all private shops were closed – and we saw for the first time those “groceries” and “”gastronomies. Then they started providing sugar to Western Ukraine. In that time people didn’t believe that they would get sugar while lined up for it. There were queues for that sugar. In some time, right before my arrest, wheaten buns appeared – before there was only dark bread. Several shops were selling textiles. People lined up for textiles and also didn’t know what they would get. People bought 10 meters of textile. They bought everything that was in shop whether or not they needed it…”

- “In 1940-th the deportation of the people has started, as well as arrests, which had started earlier. At first among arrested there were more Poles and less Ukrainians. But beginning from the summer 1940-th numerous arrests of Ukrainians started (were superior in number to other peoples). Moreover firstly were arrested those people who were suspected to be members of OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). Then everybody who had said something against or criticized (soviet régime) could be arrested and judged for agitation or propaganda. Once we were awakened at night and my father was taken as a witness. - When did they come? - It was at night. Father has gone with them and then came back and told to brother-in-law to go to his sister and warn her because she also should be deported. Brother-in-law went to New Znesinnja. He said: “You will be deported soon!”. They could run away or hide somewhere because in that time it wasn’t so that everybody was registered. But his sister answered: “We will not move. Our neighbors begged to be allowed to stay”. They were deported then. My father new about it from policeman who told to warn his brother-in-law about his sister. Then all ex-policemen were arrested and after three day their families were deported…”