inside, they were in a good mood, even making jokes; they thought that they could bribe the gendarme. But he proved impervious and hard-hearted, and had them all taken to prison on Gęsia Street.
So started the nightmare of prison life. Living conditions and hygiene were worse than anything words can describe. Every day new [10] groups were sent to prison. At the beginning, prisoners often changed cells. This cell was two metres by three metres. From the start, although it is hard to believe, there were 28 people in it. It was one of the most comfortable ones, relatively speaking. In men’s cells things were much worse, there were 48 prisoners there! In the cell, there was a bunk, where eleven “privileged” ones slept, that is, those who arrived first. Wake up call was at 5 in the morning. After waking up, they had to wash themselves. The block warden, whose job it was to take care of hygiene, did not pay any attention to this. There were also special cells for beggars, which were a horrible sight to behold. Roll-call was at 8 a.m. Between 8 and 10 a.m., prisoners received their entire daily bread ration, which was 20 grams. “Coffee” was distributed three or four hours later, and it was a pot of cold swill. It was entirely [11] the wardens’ fault, as those women were completely devoid of ethical principles. They preferred to roam around the prison yard or around the city and do their own business. Until “dinner” time, all discussions focused mostly on food. Between 1 and 2 p.m., they received a plate of watery, murky, cold “soup”. After “dinner”, they spent time talking about more serious subjects, sharing their stories, usually remembering better times before the war. Some women worked, crocheted sweaters, or did other things. Sometimes, they erupted into a hysterical, startling laughter, then cried again, looking for oblivion in tears. About 8 p.m., there was another roll-call. It was not until about 11–12 p.m. that they would get their “dinner”—a bowl of “soup”. In fact, the soup was supposed to be distributed before the roll-call at 7 p.m. Again, it was the wardens’ fault! Some women gave up their “dinner” and fell asleep. Sleep [12] helped to overcome the sharp, gnawing hunger. The best time was when they were asleep. They could feel nothing then; the horrible reality was gone, replaced by fantastic dreams of freedom, of a world without walls. The daily schedule included hour-long walks every day. But the wardens
