 In April 1940, while on his way to the border, Czajkowski was again arrested by Soviet soldiers and this time spent over a year in various Soviet prisons, being interrogated and tortured.He was then sent to the Soviet labor camp in Vorkuta, beyond the polar circle where he survived extremely harsh conditions until, in September 1941, the new head of the labor camp decided to free him.During all his time as a Soviet prisoner, one of Czajkowski's main diversions was to hold a wooden spoon in his hand as though it were a sabre and "practice" fencing - visualizing himself engaged in his favorite activity as a distraction from the hardships of his imprisonment.