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;
& 7 Light Artillery | |||||||||
Related Accounts
- http://www.rymaszewski.iinet.net.au/6escape.html Franciszek R. Rymaszewski "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.