Włodzimierz Iljicz Diegtiariew
Born on July 13, 1915, to a peasant family in the village of Baraniki, Russia. After running away from home, he was placed in an orphanage. In 1938, he obtained his qualification in veterinary medicine from the Veterinary Institute in Novocherkassk. He continued to pursue his profession until November 14, 1940, when he was mobilized in Łomża to serve as a medical regiment surgeon. Taken prisoner in June 1941 near Żurawka, he was interned at the transitional camp in Zalew and later in Ostrowia Mazowiecka, where he served as chief surgeon in camp quarter D. He managed to escape in 1941, only to be recaptured in April 1943 in Dąbrówka. He was imprisoned in Łomża and later deported to Majdanek. At the camp, he worked as a physician at the tuberculosis barrack in field V. On April 17, 1944, he was deported to KL Auschwitz, later KL Flossenbürg and Regensburg. He managed to escape from an evacuation transport. In 1946, he returned to his homeland and resumed his veterinary practice. He died on November 20, 2001. His wartime vicissitudes were described by another former inmate at Majdanek, Igor Newerly, in the book “Chłopiec z Salskich Stepów” [The Boy from the Sal Steppe].