The 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade
(1 Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa)
Ship No 13 (Wave 1)
The Profintern (Профинтерн)
Overview Of The Profintern
The Profintern was a lenin class tanker and was owned by Kasptanker.
It was one of the official ships (unofficial flotillas of fishing boats were also involved) organised by Stalin in 1942 at Krasnovodsk (Russian: Красноводск) (Modern day Türkmenbaşy) to transport Polish exiles (also mistakenly called "deportees") who had been held captive in Siberia/Kazakhstan labour camps over the Caspian Sea to Pahlevi (Pahlavi) now called Banzar-e Anzali which is in modern day Northwest Iran.
Ship Movements
From passenger testimonies & any other available data this is a "best educated guess" of the ships movements.
- Embark: ? | Time: ?
- Depart: 02/04/42 (Rymaszewski) | Time: ?
- Arrive: 03/04/42 (Ross report) | Time: ?
Extract From "The Ross Report"
According to the Ross Report, here is who was on this ship;
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& 7 Light Artillery | |||||||||
Related Accounts
Account Of Franciszek R. Rymaszewski
- http://www.rymaszewski.iinet.net.au/6escape.html "On the 2 of April 1942, my Army regiment and myself were packed like sardines on a dilapidated Russian cargo ship Profintern in port Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea. Then we left the Soviet Union. The next day, on 3 April 1942, we arrived in port Pahlevi (Resht) in Persia." (Editors Note: In this account Rymaszewski named his boat as "THE PROFINTERN" but later on changed this to "AGAMOLI OGLY" (Using Google Wayback on his website you can see this). Based on Gustaw Herlings testimony for ship 9 & 10 and given their docking dates in Pahlevi, at this point in time Ship 13 cannot be the "AGAMALI OGLY" but must instead be "THE PROFINTERN".
Account of Chris Dobrzanski On Kresy-Siberia (Facebook)
"My great uncle and his battalion came across on the tanker Profintern on 2 April ... As for the tanker Profintern … there is only a vague mention of seasickness." Post May 27, 2012.
Account of Zdzisław Łukasiewicz (Via grandson Konrad H, Kresy-Siberia Group)
"In April 1942 my grandfather, Zdzisław Łukasiewicz, had just disembarked from the Soviet ship M/S Profitern in Pahlevi (3rd April 1942). He kept a diary which is featured in Taran (The newspaper of the Polish 2nd Armoured Division, of which he was editor) under the title “From the Diary of the School’s Senior.
1 April Krasnovodsk... Tied up at the quay is the Soviet M/S Profintern. After a long time spent sitting on our rucksacks and bags, we are gradually allowed onboard one-by-one. After several hours, there was literally not a square metre of space left free... Evening... Everyone had to kip down where they stood. In actual fact, we slept in a squatting down position, as there was absolutely no way we could extend our legs. Those who happened to be positioned in the way of the toilets would be periodically startled from their slumbers, waking their neighbours with their oaths and curses. Dreadful!! A lack of water, the cold biting wind and hunger wore us out completely...