1. POLITICAL PRISONS IN MOSCOW 2. VORKUTA AND DUBRAVA PRISON CAMPS 3. SOVIET MORALE AND PUBLIC OPINION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R004800070001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 112
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 3, 2007
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 16, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPOR-f INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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COUNTRY USSR REPORT
SUBJECT 1. Political Prisons in Moscow DATE DISTR.
16 July 1956
2. Vorkuta and Dubrava Prison Camps
. 3. Soviet Morale and Public Opinion NO. OF PAGES 1
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DATE OF INFO.
REQUIREMENT NO. RR
PLACE ACQUIRED
REFERENCES
DATE ACQUIRED
This is UNEVALUATED Information
SOURCE FVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
Two reports, consisting of 107 pages of general information on political
prisons in Moscow, prison camps in the Vorkuta and Dubrava areas, and
morale and public opinion in the USSR
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STATE
ARMY
NAVY
AIR
FBI
AEC
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by "#".)
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aine
When youAfirst driverup to the Lubyanka, proper, you do not Smibt?1--4
"t;?c7- p/et ce., 746# AfAr.eil
have anvidea of miammetyou are going. You are driven to the gates, the
car stops, you hear the clank of bolts. From this clanging you ascertain
that there are two gates which are not made of solid iron; although several
different courtyards lead from the Lubyanka to the inner courtyards of the
stee,
Ministry of Security, there are certain gates through which prisoners are
A
always brought. They do not consist of solid metal plates but of separate
steel bars. 111111111ilhe vehicle proceeds. Youodrive into the inner court yard.
You hear someone approach your driver; a conversation takes place in a low
tone, which ypu usually do not hear; you know only that a transfer is
taking place. You, upon receipt, are handed over to the proper prison
official, who at the same time collects your accompanying papers and goes
with them to the office under which you are listed and which summoned you
to the Ministry of Security in Moscow. A certain official, dressed in the
C z alio/
usual uniform of a prison overseer, approaches you and in a low voice asks
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your first and family names, and leads you down the stairs into a basement
room. This is the so-called reception-detention room. It is very brilliantly
lit; there, a certain official, clad in a white coat, asks you to undress.
You undress, take off all your clothes. The stock question is asked whether
you have any stabbing or cutting objects - this means do you have any knives
or razors; ordinarily, a prisoner, of course, does not have these, but
any prisoner, before arriving here, goes through 10 extremely detailed and
thorough searches. Then they take away all your clothes. You are stripped
to the skin; sometimes this can be very unpleasant because the reception-
detention room is cold. Your clothes are thoroughly examined especially
the thick places such as cotton linings, etc.; seams are ripped up with a
knife. in order that it should be impossible to hide anything in this way
and that it should be hard and difficult to carry any kind of notes or
anything on your person. Then, all your things are gathered up and placed
in a special bag to which a tag is attached, and sent to be disinfected.
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It.
You then receive the standard uniform consisting of a neatly-laundered ..gafirr.
,41141,t; trousers, high shoes, cap, and sometimes an overcoat or something else.
Then you are sent to the so-called "box". What is the box? The box is a
small room. "Box" is English for "korobka". It is actually a box made of
wood. It is of very small dimensions, a small cabinet; sometimes less than
trlik arr
a square meter; sometimes an area of a square meter, 401 normal room
? /9,W, wiYA
height; the width is sometimes a meter and less) ? tisampassis-affe length *two
or three meters. The boxes are quite varied. You are seated in this box,
which sometimes has a bench for sitting, sometimes not; at this time the
prison doctor appears, a woman from Central Asia, who examines you fairly
thoroughly and asks what ailments or complaints you have. Then the person
who commanded your convoy and brought you to the Lubyanka from some other
city or oblast usually enters the box. He usually asks whether you have
any complaints about the convoy. This is a routine, meaningless question,
and whether you say you have or not, your fate and circumstances are not
altered.
That's how it was with me. Alter all these formalities, I was taken to
the baths. This is obligatory. You are washed, and, if you have hair, it
is cropped close; after this; you are now a fully privileged prisoner, if it
is possible to use such an expression, and have arrived, so to speak, in
prison. You really have no rights-except one, it is tru,to obey.
After my bath, I was put back in the box. This time the overseer
appeared. People speak there in low tones. If you inadvertently speak
loudly, then you are told that one must speak softly here, the more softly
the better. They are afraid that another prisoner might hear you and discover
from your voice that prisoner so-and-so had arrived here. You are asked in
a low voice your full name and year of birth. When you have answered all
this, you are told what is desired of you. I was told in this case at the
interrogation. This was very rapid and unexpected.
In the interrogation, as in every prison, you are handled in a standard
procedure, which is observed in all prisons of the Soviet Union. Namely
.you are obliged to keep your hands behind your back; to let one's hands
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rte., 4-t-ed
hang loosely is not 41111-eimmissi. The guard on duty who accompanies you holds
you by the right arm. In the other hand he usually holds the key to the
box or the cell where you are located. According to the rules of all inter-
Cs/astverny_ye)
rogation prisons of the Soviet Union, no prisoner is permitted to meet an-
other prisoner. Thus it was that after having spent a total of two and a
half years in prisons, I never saw a single prisoner. Prisoners with whom
I had served also said that the too)had never managed to see anyone.
This is the way you are handled: You are led to a corner and told:
Stand with your face to the wall. You stand there. Then the guard on
duty glances around the corner to prevent the possibility of another prisoner
being brought into your presence. If anyone is being brought there, he gives
a peculiar signal - i.e. - he strikes his belt-:buckle with the key or makes
very unpleasant sounds like the croaking of a frog. After this, the one
coming into your presence is placed in a box. The boxes are distributed
at specified distances along all corridors and all rooms of both the
Ministry of State Security and the interior prison. Then you are led past.
sel
You are brought to the i = where you had been called. Later I found
out that the greatest hatred among the prisoners is reserved for the so-called
prison overseers. They usually wear gray-khaki uniforms, very unpresentable
V *hoseAS.
generally, rough military boots and blue sholder Amapa. This signifies
A
that they are staff employees of the Ministry of State Security, formerly
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In prison jargon', the prisoners call the
guards "vertukhai". This is derived from the slang expressionjunpA,
vertukhatisya", that is, "do not turn around," stand quietly, which they
often use. The..common criminals call the guards by the still more con-
temptuous nickname of "musor" (rubbish). One might say, for example, that
when [I did such and such] "the musor fg.g.ged me and I got 5 days in the
lock-up." This is a common expression. Well, this particular "vertukhai"
leads you along the corridors. First of all, you reach the so-called
boundary. This is the boundary between the Ministry of State Security
and the prison. The internal prison at the Lubyanka, the so-called Lubyanka 2,
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where I am located, is, like all prisons, under the administrative authority
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and not the Ministry of State Security.
Well, you reach the boundary. The boundary is a large room between two
stairways; here a clock hangs and here, on a table, lies the so-called
"iron book". This is an ordinary book, more accurately, a magazine,
rather large and jacketed in metal. In the Metal are two openings - on
the left is the larger opening; on the right, the smaller one. Taking
care of the book while I was there was a woman, who was well known and had
been doing this work for a very long time, about 50 years old, with an
unpleasant, tired face. When you are brought there, you are told, "Stand
with your face to the wall." You stand. She asks: name and surname -
i.e., first name, patronymic, and surname, and year of birth. She records
this in the large opening. Then she looks at the clock. This means the
time that you left the inner prison, i.e., left the authority of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs and have now come under the authority and territory of
the Ministry of State Security. After this, in the small opening, you
place your signature.
Now you have passed into the Ministry of State Security and the "vertukhai"
leads you on further. You are placed on an elevator. There are 2 elevators,
one of which moves in the prison from the top floor down; the other is in
the Ministry. The elevator in the Ministry is very elaborate, paneled
with red wood. You are stood against the wall in the elevator: He
presses the appropkate button and tthe elevator] rises straight to the proper
floor. He goes out. I was paying my first visit to room 694 on the 6th floOr.
Now I would like to say a few words concerning what the Ministry of
State Security represents. The Ministry of State Security, if it may be
SD expressel4is a government within a government according to its organization.
The building is a verttable castle. Thus do the Germans call it - Hochburg
[fortress]. This is really a peculiar building. In the first place, it is
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not connected in any way with other buildings. It hag its own electrical
power supply, its own water supply, its own telephone station, radio station
and incinerator. This building is the building of the former "Rossiya"
Insurance Company, which, if I am not mistaken, was four-storied. Sub-
sequently, two stories were added, then, I believe, one more. Later the
lateral wings were added. The construction of the additions went on during
the entire period of the Soviet regime and ultimately, after the war, [was
continued] by German war prisoners. A huge building was built, with its
facade, in so far as it is possible to speak of a facade, facing so-called
Marshlevskaya Street (?). This structure is 10 [a] stories high, built
in modern style. All Muskovites know very well that in the so-called
Lubyanka,the lights never go out day or night. It is the watchful eye of
the revolution. It houses the brain of the country which protects the
power of the rulers from the wrath of the people. It is said that every
24-hour period from four to six thousand people work in the Ministry of
State Security. In spite of the vast dimensions of the building, the endless
number of rooms, halls, etc., there is not enough room. There are four or
five workers in almost every room. The private offices have only the
highest workers, and only those who by the nature of the work are totally
indispensable. Let us say that someone has to hold long conversationsor
negotiations with someone, during which no one under any circumstances
must be present.
And BD I was brought into the office of the official who had summoned
me; you don't Usually know at the beginning who it was who had summoned
you. The delivery is carried out in the following manner: The guard
who has escorted you - the vertukhay - knocks on the door. He is given
permission to enter. He leads you in, enters with you. In no event does
he leave you in the corridor. Then the one who had summoned you writes
out a small note containing your full name and year of birth, signs it,
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and hands it over to your escorting official. This means that the official
has delivered you and is no longer responsible for you. This is done so
that if anything should happen to you either during an escape attempt or
anything of the sort, it will be clear later who had the responsibility for
you at that particular time.
And so, the interrogation begins, as follows:
It is necessary to repeat that, as a rule, prisoners are always
summoned for interrogation at night. At night the ability of the individual
to resist is reduced, the person is more nervous, and a wori might slip out
of him that may eventually ruin him or have some extremely valuable
significance for the organs. Interrogations take place at night. It is
necessary to say that if the interests of the interrogation or interests of
the conversation with you require it, the interrogators will not shrink
from any means. Ordinarily, no one tries to intimidattyou at first. When
I entered the office, I had a peculiar experience. I expected anything but
what actually happened. I entered, and fell into an embrace. A certain
medium-sized man, dressed in a preift rather dissheveled civilian suit, of
obviously Oriental featuresr-as later turned out, an Azerbaydzhanir-hact
noe
simply grabbed me in an embrace, seatedAin 4 sofa, and said,
don't be alarmed, don't resent us, we have only done
our duty, but you too have fulfilled your duty, and all this is fine. He
literally wept and there were tears in his eyes. With my inherent actor's
mimicry, I too shed a tear and at first did not grasp a thing, but then
became very frightened because I was now experienced enough to know that the
better you are treated, the worse your situation is. I was seated on the
sofa and a conversation was begun on how I had arrived, what complaints I
had, whether I was sick, why I was so thin,. why life had treated me so poorly,
how was my mother feeling. He just about asked how the canary in the
apartment that I used to have was doing. Just then a so-called waitress
appeared, a young girl, rather pretty, in a white coat, white neckerchief,
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CHEllitiTlat,
carrying a magnificent, so-called ministerial, dinner of pork chops. There
was also brynza [cheese], I'll have you know, several slices of orange,
wIS
coffee and sugar, and sour milk, - everything that I, vhoetarved in my
tracks, and hardly able to stand on my feet from hunger, ate literally with
ectasy. Afterwards I started on the second such meal. The interrogator
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was earnesty afraid that I would gorge myself and get sick.
The conversation continued for several hours. This was a very pleasant.
conversation, and gave the impression that this was not the Lubyanka or a
secret police interrogation, but simply a Sunday After this, he
dialed the proper telephone number, and in a few minutes the guard appeared
and said to me, go, rest, sleep, you must spend a few days in the box until
we have selected your room, everything will be fine, etc, etc, etc. He
gave me a stack of paper and a pencil in order that I might write any
statements if I decided to say anything to him. He said to me, "Do not
worry your life has now taken a different course.
You will live, in any case, much better than you lived before." I must
say that he really kept his promise. My life took a different course - this
was the first half [of the promise], but the second half?that I would live
much better-was alas, not fulfilled.
Then I went back the samftway, observing the same formalities. Again
I reached the iron book, again the time of my return from the Ministry of
Stite Security to the interior Lubyanka prison was subOlied. I signed,
passed on, and looked at the woman standing at the boundary as at an old
acquaintance. After having, so to speak, landed in the box, I saw that v9
supper had already been brought. The food was very bad. There was an
iron tureen of soup, in which were approximately 2 potatoes, a little fat
and some groats. Secondly, there wereabout 150 grams of foul kasha with a
slight suspicion of fat and two lumps of sugar. It was explained to me that
I was allotted, if I am not mistaken, 14 grams of sugar per day. Why
precisely 14, instead of 15 or 17, no one, of course, can say clearly.
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GORDEN,
I stayed in the box approximately two days. I was allowed to rest, and
afterwards I was suddenly told: get your things together. I knew that this
meant I was being transferred to another place. And, indeed, I was transferred
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to a asem,which henceforth was to be my home. This was a room on the
fifth floor of the interior prison of the Lubyanka, in the so-called
"nobleman's department". The prison has six floors. The first four floors,
are considered t#e floors for commoners [sic], the top upper two floors, the
fifth and sixth, the nobleman's floors, because here usually are kept the
prisoners who are considered the most important. On the sixth floor are the
soft rooms. These are so-called rooms with soft [i.e., upholstered]
furniture and are furnished in comparative luxury. But only the most
important political prisoners land here. Here were quartered a few captured
German generals and various persons. Also here, I believe, was the former
commander of the Russian Liberation Army, General Vlasov. Also here were
von Paulus and people generally on the highest scale. A common criminal,
even the most notorious, is, of course, neer under any circumstances found
there.
There are 118 cells in Lubyanka. When you enter
the 5th floor, which is a throughway and is divided from the 6th floor by
only a steel net, to discourage prisoners from committing suicide and throwing
themselves into the stairway from the 6th floor and shattering themselves on
the floor of the fifth floor, you see to your left, upon entering, a door
and) going down a few steps towards the 5th floor, cell No 118, to the left
above in a corner. This is the last cell. The cells in the Lubyanka are
of different sizes. They range from cells that barely hold 2 people to cells
in which can be placed 5, 6, or 7 people if the occasion warrants, but not
more. These are the former hotel rooms of the "Rossiya" Insurance Company.
nice young fellow there.
I believe, a student radioman at the Moscow State University, formerly a
immediately noticed that there was a rather
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prisoner in Germany. Fairly soon, in approximately a few hours, I saw
perfectly that I was dealing with a so-called "nasedka" (trusty. He
asked me a few questions which certainly could not have been casual ones,
although he was an individual with a sufficient amount of skill and conducted
himself very precisely. Similar information that he was a "nasedka" was
later confirmed. He was known pretty well in the prison. What is a
"nasedka"? A "nasedke is, as a rule, in prison jargon, a prisoner who has
been in prison for a long timed in some manner enjoys the confidence of the
authorities, and for the purpose of improving his own material welfare or
situation. consents to work for the interrogation organs and the prison
administration. He is planted next to a new inexperienced prisoner, with
whom he becomes friendly and talks. Usually the secret police arrange it
twr
soAhe receives packages, i.e., the most remarkable things, ostensibly from
relatives, are brought into his cell, such as oranges, fruit, chocolate, and
various other things. He tells you that relatives sent him those. Usually
this is simply given to him by the interrogator. He shares this with you.
Naturally, you are starved, you are very grateful to him for this, you begin
to confide, to talk, and sometimes the secret police succeed in finding out
what they could not wring out of you in any interrogation.
And now, you are in the cell. First of all, there is a window in each
cell. In winter, this window is closed. Only a small vent is open. In
summer, the windows are opened. In spite of this, summer in the cell is
terribly oppressive. The prison, shaped like the letter "e, is in one of
the courtyards of the Ministry. Around you are high stone buildings heated
by the sun, and that is whys terrible heat and stuffiness prevail. Persons
with heattailments often feel ill and sometimes, on particularly hot days, they
even suffer heart attacks. Naturally, every prisoner would like to know who
his fellow-sufferers and next-door neighbors are. Everyone wishes somehow to
communicate. The thought of bribing an overseer or guard or any one else is
absolutely hopeless. No one has ever claimed that he managed to get, say, a
guard to pass a note into the next cell. This ii :too dangerous and the
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GONOIINTI.A.. ?
unpleasant consequences to which it exposes the guard are tOo great.
Instead, prisoners try to communicate by tapping, although this too is
noted by the prison administration. Tapping is extremely difficult and almost
impossible. In the first place, they watch for this and in the event that
you are caught in this deed, the lock-up threatens you - often a cold lock-up.
For an emaciated, sick, and hungry prisoner, which every prisoner, as a rule
is, this is a very severe punishment and can sometimes lead to diseases and
severe complications. Besides this, the walls are arranged in such a way
that sawdustYspread in the hollow spaces to that you hear absolutely nothing.
I, who have generally good hearing, by applying my ear when the guard did not
notice, heard vague speech in the neighboring cell and then, only in one.
And then I would hear German speech. To make out the words was totally
impossible. Tapping also was very difficult and very long. You were
continually watched. A prisoner, according to prison regulations, had a
number of privileges and duties. He also has privileges and something which
is forbidden to him. For example, and in the first place: the day begins at
5:30 AN. A scurrying about is hear: they get you up. You take a so-called
kadka [bucket] which you use to satisfy your physical needs. In the cells.
proper, of course, there are no bathrooms nor facilities to take the place of
a bathroom. You take this bucket and go with it into the lavatory. There
you wash it, disinfect it, then wash yourself) and in a short while come back.
The guard goes to the place where you have relieved yourself and washed
up and looks to see whether you have written anything on the walls. If it
is noticed that you have, let us say, written your name with a wet finger,
it is a very serious matter. You do not have the right to do this, and
it can lead to very serious consequences and penalties. Then you go into the
cell. After this you are served breakfast. Breakfast consists of a small
quantity of kasha and coffee. Besides this, you get your ration of bread.
The prison bread ration is 650 grams of black bread of very moist, foul
dough, containing, according to exact chemical analysis, no less than 40
percent water.
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r gN'PPEFFilit.?
So begins your day. Then begins the rounds. Your "koridornyy" i.e.
the guard who watches over your corridor, comes in and looks to see what the
a
prisoners are doing. He is accompanied by the starshina [forme]. This is
A
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not a dezhurnyy [regular guard], but a so-called koridornyy, who commands the
2 or 3 dezhurnyye*who take care of all the cells in a given corridor. He
arrives and asks: "Any questions?" And at this time you may ask questions.
You may; first, ask for a sheet of paper in order to write a statement. In
my time you could write a statement to anyone, from the President of the United
States and Josef Vissarionovich Stalin down to the "koridornyy," or a
doctor or anyone you wanted. The question, is however, - what would be the
result of the written statement? You may write a complaint, you may write a
honaltilehia
statement to the prosecutor, . After you have expressed a desire
lduring the roundibs expect, after some time the guard comes in and asks,
"Are you going for a walk?" You can go for a walk or you need not. By
rights, you are supposed to have a 15-minute walk. Counting the time spent
traveling up and down in the etevator and on the stairs, or going the wrong
way, you walk no longer than 10-12 minutes. This is all that you are given.
If I am not mistaken, there are five exercise yards in the Lubyanka. I
personally know three of them. Two of these are located on the roof of
the Ministry - not the prison, but the Ministry - a large yard and a small
yard. They are separated from one another by an impenetrable fence and,
in addition, are surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire, so that you can
not see anything that goes on in the street. You see only the topmost
part of the ministry and the fey floors attached to these exercise yards
themselves, where some officials work. According to rumors, one of the numerous
radio stations of the Lubyanka is located here. In the exercise yard you do
not have the right to stand or talk with prisoners; it is feared that your
voice will be heard in the neighboring exercise yard. You have to place
your hands behind your back and walk continuously in a circle. Running
is not permitted. At a slow or fast pace, as you wish. The guard who has
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escorted you remains in the exercise yard with you and watches what you
are doing. That is the first one [i.e., guard]. In addition, a second
guard, who stands on a tower, simultaneously watches what is going on in
both courtyards. Always on call in the prison is such a thing as a special
operational team. Thus, in.theeevent that you begin to brawl, fight with any-
one, or organize something of the sort, 5 or 6 burly pempous appear, who very
quickly straighten you out. In extreme cases they will even slip a
straight-jacket on you.
Then you have used up the fifteen minutes allotted you; the door is
opened and the guard says politely: "Enter : And you go downstairs,
the same way, sit in the elevator, and go to your floor. The elevator, the
usual elevator, is of ancient construction and divided into 2 sections. The
rear section which has 2 metal walls, is where you are placed and locked
in, and it has a small glass window through which the guard observes what
you are doing. You are packed in very tightly. Two people can be accommodated
with difficulty. Three can not be accommodated at all and they are taken
on foot. In the forward section stands the guard, who observes you and
operates the elevator. Then you have arrived below and you are usually also
searched. You are searched, it is true, superficially, for the sake of form)
and after this you are again taken to your cell. The time for dinner arrives.
Dinner is very scanty and poor. After living in prison without sustenance
for a year or 2, you contract dystrophy under normal conditions; after 4 or
5 years [even] the most ieasnned and unexacting organism is threatened with
serious health disorders and, eventually, possibly even death.
At about 7 or 8 o'clock you are brought supper. Besides this in your
cell you have games. For example, you can plan dominoes. You can play
chess. Of course, games of chance and cards are forbidden. Books are brought
to you in your cell. There is a fairly wide selection of rather good
4,41)
books at the Lubyankak from the point of view of the secret police, often
rather strange literature. For example, I came across a beautiful edition
of Marx, and the pre-revolutionary "The Demons" by Dostoyevsky. I some-
times came across books which were forbidden on the outside. These were
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CONFILIERIAL
books which had been taken from arrested persons or from confiscated libraries.
They are brought to the Lubyanka, so that, strange as it seems, in the inner
prison at the Lubyanka you may read quasi-countezr-revolutionary or in any
event, undesirable - for the Soviet regime - literature, as for example,
Dostoyeysky's famous novel "The Demons".
At 10:30 comes retreat. The signal for retreat is given by blinking.
In the cell the electric lights blink three times briefly. This means that
you have the right to go to sleep. Your day is ended. The day is ended,
but the night is begun. The vast majority of the prisoners has hardly had
time to lie in bed when the cursed tinkling of the lock is heard, the guard
comes in, asks your name in a low voice, and says, "Get ready for questioning."
And so, cursing everything and everyone, you dress and are usually gone for
the whole night. One more night is wasted for you. During the day sleeping
is forbidden. This is closely watched. You hot only have no right to
sleep, but even to lean against the wall. You must sit upright with the
hands down. You can stroll about the cell, you may walk, you may speak
softly with your cellmate, but you must sit constantly facing the peephole
so that your face will be visible and, in an extreme case, to turn the
face sideways. As soon as you close your eyes, you hear the warning shout:
"No sleeping" or "No drowsing". If you do this 2 or 3 times, the guard
comes in to your cell, reprimands you, sometimes in a rather rough manner.
If you fall asleep, you can be punished again and sent to the lock-up, but
usually this shout, "No sleeping, no drowsing," is so unnerving that even
if you do not fear the consequences of reprisal,you cannot sleep anyway.
tyvc.
No one is allowed to sleep. Sometimes, it is tees, prisoners, upon the
permission of the interrogator, are allowed to sleep in the daytime.
I wish to say a few words further about the organization of the prison.
The prison has 6 floors. It has the shape of the letter "111[1' and is enclosed
in one of the courtyards of the Ministry of State Security. On the first
floor, as a rule, are confined the women. There the cells are larger. All
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the other cells are occupied by men. The first floor, if it may be so
called, i.e., it is not the first, but the semi-basement, houses technical
equipment, primarily, steam baths and showers. The batnouse is a small room.
There are, of course, no bathtubs there. However, there is one tub used
especially for sick people. You come here to the baths and can wash up. Cut
into the door is a small glass window, through which the guard watches you
constantly while you are washing. You can wash for 15-20 minutes. When
thz
you come, you go intoAbaths; you come here every week, you take with you
all the bed-clothes, and you also take your underwear. You turn in your
pillow case, sheet, undershirt, and drawers. And you receive all clean ones.
After this, you are given a tiny cake of soap and a clean towel. You turn
in the old, dirty one. You wash up, and dry yourself after this. If
necessary, you are given a so-called "tanobrabotka," [hygenic treatment]
i.e., hair-covered places are shaved. After this, you are returned to
your cell by the same route. Also located in the semi-basement is the
so-called "kkeborezka" [bread cutter]. This is a small room outside facing
the downstairs exercise yard; I have mentioned only the two exercise yards
on the roof. There is a 3rd exercise yard downstairs, very unpleasant,
uncomfortable, and small, and much worse than those upstairs. And next to it
is the room where the spare iron beds are stored. This room is full of
bedbugs. Thus it is that strange as it seems, despite all measures, the
bedbugs customarily begin to eat you up miserably when the bed is brought
in. By means of lighted matches I would busy myself, despite the protests
of the guard, in driving away these bedbugs, of which, thanks to time, there
were many, and in crushing them, a deed which almost landed us in the
lockup because the entire floor was soiled with the stains of these crushed
bedbugs.
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25X1
I would like to say a few words further about the arrangement of the
ministry proper. The ministry has seven floors in some places.
part of the Ministry, constructed after the war, has ten floors.
MOi.tyMer ptrs I CM
lbiabyAilermar immompOppiar that it has a semi-basement and three
A new
fuptiite-
Qesetaba,
basements
Lipodvalinyye pomeshcheniy.e. The lowest one is supposed to contain some
kinds of laboratories and a sealed storeroom of arms, in case they are
needed for defense of the ministry or for any special purposes.
second floor are located, supposedly, chambers ikamery/ in which
has ever been ( I personally have not been there), which are used
On the
nobody
for
some special and, supposedly, frightfulspurposes; and finally, there is
the third floor, counting from the bottom floor, which is under the semi-
basement, where are located cells, a club /room/, and one of several
buffets found in the Ministry, and some special cells. Once, almost at
the end of my stay in the Lubyanka (I was there for eleven months), one
of the interrogators became angry with me about somethirg and said,
"Look here, now, they'll take you on a tour." And they really did. I
was taken through a certain corridor and handed over under receipt to a
guard (nadzilkell). I saw only that these guards who looked after the
A
basement corridor were far better dressed than those upstairs, far
healthier, and with a far more unpleasant and unsympathetic appearance.
They said to me,"Look here!" They opened the peephole of a certain cell.
This was a basement cell, painted a blinding white and lit by a very
strong light. It could have been of three or four hundred candlepower.
The whole cell was flooded with blinding light, so that it was painful
even to look at it. In this cell I did not notice a thing except one
stool, on which sat an elderly person, about 50, evidently German; at
least, he was dressed in a German military jacket without any dis-
tinctive markings. He had a very thin, emaciated and unhappy face,
and he looked gloomily and fixedly at the peephole, as if he had been
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ordered to do this. After this, my accompanying guard said to me:
"Well what did you see? This will happen to you, too." BUtydliMINPINFIN.
4. V
nothing, appened to me. They took me back the same vay I had COMB and
returned me under receipt to my regular guards(dezhurnyye), who took me
back to my cell.
After I had stayed approximately eleven months in prison, one
night, when I least expected it, a guard appeared and said, "What's
your name" first to someone else, then to me. I called it out. He
said: "To the interrogation." I thought that I was again being taken
for an interrogation, but instead of leading me to the right, he placed
me in the box at the left. In about five minutes my things, which were
very few, were brought in. This is usually done in order that no one
in the cell will notice that a man has been removed from the cell for
good and whom you will perhaps never meet again. My effects, so to
speak, were brought to me, and I began the entire procedure. I
realized that they were sending me either to another cell or to another
place. As it turned out later, I went through the entire procedure, and
I was led after its completion, to the door, again through the detention-
reception room and seated in a Black Maria. I knew that I was being
taken somewhere. I was taken quite a long way, then again some bolt
resounded, some iron gates were opened, and I entered some place again.
I went through the same procedure that I had undergone eleven months
before in the Lubyanka. I was led away and found myself in prison.
From the description of the prisoners, I realized that I had been
brought to the so-called Lefortovskaya, a military regimented prison.
This prison was a much more disorderly place than the inner prison of
the Ministry of State Security. This was the building of an insurance
company hotel, and it had not been rebuilt for prison purposes. This
prison had been erected approximately 100 years ago, in the middle of
the 19th century. It is built in the shape of a "K" and has three floors.
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The floors were continuous so that you could see from the top to the
very bottom. Along the cells extend metal gangways approximately 75
centimeters wide. Floors are separated from each other by steel nets,
so that the prisoners cannot jump and commit suicide. I would like to
stipulate that the stairways at the Ministry of State Security, even
those on which prisoners are never taken, as well as all the landing-
stages, were enclosed in wire cages to preclude all possibility of
suicide.
Lefortovskaya prison has an evil reputation. It is said that in
the past, punishments were carried out in its vast cellars. It is
really extremely somber, particularly the underground rooms. The
cells are dark, but they have their advantages. In the first place,
the cells have running water, which is a great convenience for the
prisoners. On hot, stuffy, summer days you can strip to the waist, bathe,
and sponge off. This is very important to you. Secondly, a flush toilet
was provided. You, therefore, did not have to go out anywhere to a bath-
room. Th's was the second advantage. Of the negative features I shall
mention the fact that located in the rear is an aeronautics institute,
called, I think the TsAKI, [typographical error for TsAGI(?)7. There
is a so-called wind tunnel there in which research on model aircraft is
conducted. This makes a terrible racket and in especially the cells
facing this direction there is no quiets day or night. The noise is so
bad that it rattles the windows. The air vents open by themselves, and
it is very difficult to sleep under this condition, keeping in mind also
that the blinding light in the cells is usually not turned off during the
day or night.
It is interesting that the internal prison in the Lubganka is a
prison intended for interrogations. Lefortovskaya prison is also a prism
for crim'_nals under investigation. It is shaped like the letter "K" and
surrounded by interrogation buildings added later in the shape of the
Aussian/ Tr 4t7, as though the prison itself were inscribed in the
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interior courtyard. Therewere also exercise courts here, far larger
than those at the Lubyanka. Here you can actually breathe fresh air.
Unlike the 15-minute walks at the Lubyanka, where there was clearly not
enough time, here the walks were 15-20 minutes, and sometimes the guard
would allow 25 minutes--in any case, you got to breathe fresh air a
little longer. The routine here was exactly the same. You got up at
0530. However, bedtime was a little earlier, at 2200, which was a
great relief for the prisoners. Every half-hour of sleep was important.
For that reason when they wished, to put it mildly, to subject some
prisoner to the repressive measures of interrogation, then he usually
would be taken to the Lefortovskaya prison. Thus I was somewhat
frightened, for physical means of action, for example, beatings, were
almost never employed at the Lubyanka. Even so, the Ministry resounded
with cries, wails, and this But if they wished to employ such
methods, they usually sent you to Lefortovskaya prison, which had a
very evil reputation. Here there were a larger number of more spacious
offices and various devices were available. The doors in these offices,
unlike those in the Lubyanka, were padded and sometimes even double.
The food in the Lefortovskaya prison was exactly the same as in the
inner prison. However, it sometimes happened that food was left over,
and the servers would give seconds on their own initiative, a practice,
which was, of course, a great help because all the prisoners were
suffering from dystrophy and starvation. There it is openly declared
that this is not the ministry, and the work is not conducted so efficiently.
It is true that here, too, prisoners are watched very strictly so that
one prisoner mi.ght not meet another. Signaling is done by flags. Because
of the fact that the entire prison is a passageway, a special guard with
a red and white flag is stationed in it. When your cell is opened and
you are taken out, he raises a red flag in the corridor from which your
cell is visible. This is a signal for the guard not to open the cells
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and take anyone elst out. When you are being escorted and the danger
that you will be seen has passed, he raises a white flag. This operation
is performed very efficiently. I was there almost an entire year, and
not once did I meet a single prisoner, and later, when in the camps and
meeting others who had been there, I did not see a single one who said
that he at any time and at any place in the corridors, either at the
Lubyanka of in Lefortov prison, had met any prisoner.
Also taken to Lefortov Prison, as a rule, were all those prisoners
who behaved badly during interrogations, i.e.,in some way quarreled with
the interrogator, refused to answer or talk, or, on thJother hand,
behaved, as they say, unstab: going on hunger strikes, writing too
many declarations, brawling with other prisoners or with the guards,
the personnel, or the interrogator. There are special penal cells for
such prisoners at Lefortov Prison. These are rooms in the central part
of the building, without windows or doors, with a cot which is screwed
to the wall and retracted in the daytime, and only after retreat does
the prisoner come and lower it with a key. Thus all day you are forced
to stand or to sit on a stool, which is screwed to the floor. You can
not read there, because they will not give you books. In the other cells,
however,books are given. The cellars of Lefortov Prison enjoy a particu-
larly fearsome reputation, because it is said that in both the past and
present tines executions have taken place there. Once, I managed, by
accident, to see stretchers being carried out of there on which lay
several sherts completely soaked with blood. As I learned afterwards,
in spite of all precautions, suicide attempts still occur in the prisons
rather frequently. It is amazing that some prisoners, dtspite the
absence of any objects with which they could inflict some injury to
themselves, managed nevertheless to commit suicide. I know, for example,
of one prisoner's dying of heart failure. He committed suicide by hold-
ing his breath until he had a heart stroke.
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The fact that I was transferred to Lefortov Prison was s sign that
I was no longer a privileged, but an especially dangerous and interest-
ing)prisoner. At the same time, however, I expected all kinds of
punishments for myself. It must be mentioned that at Lefortov Prison
my interrogations were stricter than at the Lubyanka. I spent many
unpleasant days ard hours. I was there approximately an entire year.
One fine day after this I was taken from my cell, went through the
entire formal procedure, and was escorted to the baths; everything was
taken away from me, the things which were in storage were collected;
I had a few trifles there--neckties, belt, everything which had been
taken away from me and which I was not perm'tted to have in the cell, but
remained was my personal belongings. All these things were returned to
mer afterwards, according to my personal folder; a prisoner is always
accompanied by a folder containing his personal prison file; in it is
checked his. name and surname, year of birth, citizenshir, etc., etc.
After this, I was placed in a Black Maria and was driven somewhere.
No one knew where, of course, When we arrived, one of the prisoners
who had at one time worked on the road--there were about 15 prisoners
from different cells riding with me--said that we had arrived at
Butyrskaya prison.
Butyrskaya prison is one of the largest prisons i, the Soviet Union.
In contains an average of at least 20,000 prisoners. It is a whole con-
glomeration of structures and buildings, from the famous Pugachev tower,
which was built during the reign of Catharine the Great and in which
the famous Yemel'yan Pugachev sat and awaited his execution, to the
com'letely modern structures with large and small cells, and there is
also an interrogation building in Butyrskaya Prison. There is also even
a build'ng there for common criminals. On the everage there are from
20,000 to 25,000 prisoners there. It is said that larger than Butyrskaya
Prison is the famous prison in Kharkov, located, I believe, ol)polodnaya
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Cora ./Mountain, and the famous Tashkent Prison, which serves all
Central Asia and usually contains an average of almost forty or fifty
thousand prisoners.
Butyrskaya Prison has a good reputation. Here the regimen is more
lenient than at Lefortov or the Lubyanka. I landed at once in a large
cell
if I am not mistaken, the Special Fourth Interrogation 25X1
Building, as it is called. There were about seventy people there. This
was a great delight for me. I immediately made the acquaintance of a
number of people, including intellectualb. There were even former party
members. There were also two Germans,here, etc., etc. At once everyone
began questioning one another, exchanging impressions and discussions
about interrogators, about *rho had met whom, who had seen whom, and
several days passed by almost unnoticed. I was beginring to see clearly
that my case was finally coming to an endnutyrkam I was hardly
questioned at all. A fey times I was summoned for interrogation and
brought aga:n to the Ministry. The questions put to me were of a
technical nature: Do you know such-and-such, such-and-such, and such-
and-such? I, of course, did not know some of them, but the ones about
which I did know, I tried to say I had forgotten. No one especially
insisted upon it. This was simply the ending to my case. Also ',here
in Butyrkam my file concerning the termination of the investigation was
shown to me. I signed Oft Article 95 of the Constitution of the USSR
concerning the termination of the investigation. This procedure is as
follows: The interrogator sumr.ons you to him and says that your case,
has been closed. It should be specified that I had had many interrogators.)
about twelve. The ]at of my interrogators was a certain Senior Lieutenant
Shatle, a Russified Latvian, and he left me my entire file. This file
contained all the documents concerning me collected during interrogation,
all statements containing my signature, as well as statements of other
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individuals who had had any relations with me. his file does not contab
only operational documents, i. e. denunciations and reports which workers
of the operational organs of the USSR had made about me prior and even
subsequent to my arrest,. so that I would not be able to take any action
against them. This was standard operating procedure for the Ministry
of State Sectrity. You have the right to read your file for as long as
you wish. The interrogator has no right to limit your time. You may
read for one, two, three.days. I devoted comparatively little time to
reading my case--five or six hours--because there was very little of
interest therein. It was clear who had arrested me, who had obtained my
arrest. I found out something. I saw also the testimony of many of my
comrades. This testimony was valuable in that it now told me who had
fallen into the hands of the Soviet organs and who had not. I did not
read the interrogations.:,-Evetyone knows quite well that such interrogatbns
of prisoners take place in prisons. This is a very long, drawn-out, and
disorderly account of your testimony. The interrogation is usually
written up in the. way that the interrogator writes it, and you can either
sign it or not. As a rule, the interrogator does not put on paper any-
thing which might lighten your position. However, Amp the purpose of the
interrogation is only to squeeze everything possible out of you in order
to be able to start further work on the case and in order to give the
Soviet organs some kind of informatior interecting to them. This has no
bearing upon your fat-. If you have been arrested by the Soviet organs
under Article 58, then tlis means that your sentence has already been
decided. Throughout the entre e71stence of the Soviet regime, soole 38
years, no one arrested or a political article has ever been released.
Even if an individual is arrested by mistake--let us say that they wished
to arrest one Ivan Petrov, and by mistake they arrested another Ivan
Yitverthe I I%)
retrov, a namesake of his--thi4 latter individual, aiiim6impommer will not
be freed. ro one ever apolcgizrs to him ar' he receives a terr of some
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sort, a very short ore, perhaps, and is subsequently amnested perhaps,
A
but in any event he will actually be sentenced. Not for roihing ao the
chekists Rt the Lubyanka say, "He who is not in prison will be, and he
who has been in prison will neve forget it."
The basic system of :11-terrogatiors, speaking of interrogations in
general, consists in holding the prisoners constantly in a state of
nervous tension. Even the strongest individuals reach a state after
which they mist be treated in a psychiatric hospital. The following
incident shows to what extent people become nervous; In my cell was
to
an elderly prisoner, a Jew, and a very nice person,4whom another prisoner
before leaving our cell said, "You saw that pipe which protrudes from
the wall down below in the exercise yard." This was a rusty iron pipe
which came out of the "Khleborezka" tread-cutting room0.27 simply to
ventilate the room. "Well," he told him, "during the walks, you know,
the chekists usually shoot their victims through this tube. They carry
out the so-called silent sentence." We, of course, all laughed. No
it
one believedAbecause everyone knew perfectly well that no such sentences
ever
are, of course, carried out. However, at the next walk this poor man
took the matter seriously and kept glancing back at the pipe, while
begging us--there were four of us at the time--to allow him to walk
in the first pair. No matter how we tried to convirce him that he was
in no danger, he, for a period of approximately two weeks, until he was
removed from our cell, subseouently refused to walk in the rear.
After I had signer, Article 95, i.e. my case was closed, I returned
to my former cell, said that oh, before thatlas taken to the
prosecutor. I was taken to the prosecutor in the 4inistry of State
Security or the seventh floor. There sat a few ordinary officials of
the Ministry of State Security, employees of the Prosecutor's office. TIE
prosecutor's office is locatej ir rooms on trre seventh floor, bearing
No. 793, in any case, in the seven-hundreds (770 or simply 700). There
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W1F DENTia
sat a certain Colonel Boyarinov, one of the administrative workers of
the prosecutor's office. Also located there is the famous military
prosecutor Kotov, or simply, as the prisoners call him in their slang--
everyone knows hi- very well; many have had contacts with hi m--
"Sin Kot," Lhosest English equivalent:"S.O.B.1.:7?
It should be mentioned that in the course of the two years that
my case was being handled, even more than two years until I signed
Article 95, I had occasion to come into contact with and to be under
the jurisdiction of three different,&gans of the./ apparatus. First-the
purely, so to speak, operational,organ. Some time later or even before
then, I found myself in the hands of counter-intelligence. It should
be said that employees of the Soviet counter-intelligence, in regard
to their activity and intelligence capacity, stand head an(' shoulders
above all other officials. And they are far more clever and better-
educated than the workers of the interrogation apparatus. The workers of
the operational organs stand a head higher. There is in them neitherlhat
hit fetil'hi
haughtiness nor, if such may be said, -wooers of responsibility and
importance, such as workers of the Soviet intelligence have. These
people, as is apparent, are accustomed to commanding and afraid of
almost nothing. They are very well dressed, receive a magnificent
salary, and in any event, they obviously are people whom the Soviet
regime has given a vastasount of authority. Concerning the workers of
the operational section, they stand a head 1-igher and aprarently heve mo
special liking for their colleagues in the intelligence and counter-
intelligence organs. Later I landed in the hands of the interrogation
organs, the interrogation apparatus. Interrogators are people who stand
comparatively very low. They are very coarse, They are very often
uncultured. They try to extract /Information/ by all sorts of crude
methods. Actually they are totally unable to conduct a keen, psycho-
logical analysis of the individual who has fallen into their hands.
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LI w-tyll.
They lack even a general education. For example, imming once said that
as a very young man, I hrd gone to spend a vacation in Denmark, the
interrogator shouted at me threateningly for a long time that I should
confess what I had dore in Denmark. He could not understand that in
vv.lasiot
Europe people with an ordinary passport could, witheut any Su* or
difficulties, go abroad, let us say, to spend a vacation or for the sake
of their health, and come back afterwards.
In a fey weeks I had signed Article 951 if I am not mf'staken, a month
and a half or two passed by) and I was suddenly removed from the cell with
my things. I was taken to a cell where there were many different people;
their personal belongings were also there. They were all speaking. II
as
of course, began to inquireAwho had already been convicted and who had
been told his sentence. It was said that our sentences had not yet been
announced, but we all had signed Article 95. I immediately realized that
be
I was located in the cell from which I would probablytidummoned for the
announcement of my sentence. I was very much interested in who would
sentence me, how, and to what. Then the summoning began. I, true to my
principle, remained last. But no one came back to the cell. They had
been summoned and taken away. At last they called me, too. This was to
a small office in Butyrskaya prison, where I had been once before and where
papers were filled out in regard to my arrival. Present here war: a man,
/well-Pressed, stout, chubby, rather unpleasant, about '60, with an
unattractive bald crown and a certain sly expression on his face. He had
a yellow, rather crumpled briefcase... He asked me my name, and I, of
course, gave it; he asked me to sit down and began to read me some sort
of stupid lecture to the effect that "you, together with the rest of you
-roeroh eaftw r
Germans, milmibmisoboyeiftliMt 4rder to turn us into your slaves." But
by this time I had long since ceased to be afraid. I declared whether it
made any difference in the final analysis to be slaves of the Soviet
regime or the Germansoof Hitler or Stalin? He said to me, "Don't be
insolent, or else you will land immediately in the lock-up. Do you
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know why you are here?" I, of course, knew, I suspected, but feigned
innocence: "I do not have the honor to know." "Your sentence is being
announced to you, and thank God you are in a democtatic country. In any
other country you would be shot." After this, he mare a gesture with
his hands that I was to rise. I, of course, stood up. He reached for.a
small leaflet of paper and said: "In accordance with the decision of a
special committee of the Ministry of State Security if Os USSR, you are
hereby sentenced to 25 years in a corrective labor camp. You have been
convicted on the basis of Article 58/4 , which pertains to the promotion
of world bourgeoisie or collaboration with the world bourgeousie; 8 through
19, 11--this is an attempt to commit group terror." At the bottom there
appeared a strange, totally fictitious post script: "and for other
crimes against the Soviet regime." From a formal point of view, I
immediately declared my protest. "Please tell me whatilother crimes
against the Soviet regime' means--that, I perhaps robbed a bank in
Moscow or something? This immediately brought me three days in the
lock-up. It is true, the lock-up was very pleasant. I got a nice
guard, was fed immediately that same day, when I was brought a full
bowl of Washa; the lock-up was warm. Afterwards I was taken from the
lock-up very fast. Before the lock-up I spent several hours in the
box before I was assigned here imrediately after leaving the man who
had announced my sentence. In this same box were all those sentenced
to 25 years.
After the lock-up I was sent to the so-called death cell. The
death cell, in view of the lack of capital punishment, is used for persons
who have received over 25 years, i.e., the strictest penalty. This cell
is fastened with five locks. Three locks are built into the door, and
two are padlocks. The door has a very menacing and dangerous appearance.
There were 15 of us there, an intelligent and very restrained group. We
immediately became acquainted with one anotl-er. The peephole was never
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closed; the guard, it was apparent, was watching us, afraid of what we
might do. No one dropped in on us. Food, i.e. the bread ration, and
dinner as well, was served through a so-called trough. The food trough
was a small aperture in the door. 30 centimeters long l,?15-20 centimeters
high, which was opened from the outside, but could not be opened from
the inside, and at the same time formed a small shelf. When this 14d,
the little door is opened, your bread is placer" upon it, the bowls of
soup are served, and the feeding of the prisoners proceeds. All this
itwasa
time, it was apparent that Ow guard who had served and laid down the
4:4
bread and thenk moved off to th.16ide. He was afrald that we would do
something to him through the opening, grab his hand or something else.
However, nothing of the sort happened, of course. When it was seen
that we w re a peaceful folk the "starshina" 2;*anior guard(?i7
came to us. Timidly, he stopped near the door and asked us to move off
to another corner of the room. We, naturall oved and then began to chat.
For a half hour a rather peaceful conversation took place as to whether
it was not possible to open the window in the cell a-little more often
or go for a walk a little longer, and generally speaking the "starshina"
saw that there was nothing frightening or dangerous about us despite
our 25-year sentences, and after that, normal relations were established.
I had not rema4ned in the cell long, namely about eight days, when
suddenly together with a few other prisoners, I was taken to the so-
called "vokzal" /;tation/. This station, in prison jargon, is a special
ce12, from which you go on to the "etap" I went through
a whole procedure. I was bathed. The op-ortunity is given to rinse one's
underclothes. Then I went through a sanitation process; this means that
I was shaved again. Then I again underwent a search, and just as during
my entry into the prison, was again searched in a most detaile manner--
several seams in my only article of warm clothing, namely my overcoat, were
ts
ripped apart, so that it completely lost allAnatural appearance. After
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;L..]
this, we were sent with our belongings to another room. Here appeared
an official with our file and called us by our surname, first name,
and patronym. Shoes were also issued to some. I, too, tried to get a
pair of shoes, but because of my large feet, no shoes of my size were
available. I had there some rather shabby slippers which did not stay
on my feet. After this, 15 other persons and I were placed in a so-
called Black Maria and driven somewhere. The escorting guards behaved
very harshly. They were, as it later turned out, Moscow Komsomols.
They were dressed in splendid sheep-skin coats of high quality, white
"valenki" ia kind of felt boot/ or more accurately "chesanki" also
_
with galoshes, or in other words, very splendidly, also fur caps. The
people were all tall and healthy. In their hands they held Nagant
revolvers, and after remov'ng us from the Black Maria, they began to
drive us along the railroad tracks. There were also women among us--
about 70 to 80 individuals in all, who were taken out of several other ph
prison veh'cles which had arrived. They drove us Very roughly until
several persons, who had more baggage, and several vomer, fell. They
shouted, "Get up or we'll shoot." However, an official, who rather
coarsely.... said) "Where are you chasing them to? Don't you see that
these people cannot walk?" A rather hostile discussirn with the use of
unprintaae expressions ensued. After this they moved us on tether
quietly. We saw a railroad car standing on one of the sidings. This
one was an ordinary passenger car--in this instance it was even a
Pullman car--with wire screens on the windows and with separate com-
partments, made into a so-called Stolypin car, i.e. the wall in the
compartment an Instead of it, there is a wire screen. Here they
parceled us out, about 12 to 15 persons per compartment. It must be
iburbNeys
said that such sidipmmedis in Stolypin cars are a terror for all prisoners.
It is most miserable. Sick or nervous persons, particularly persons
suffering from heart ailments, cannot endure it. There were frequent
instances of injury or death. Why? So many people would usually be
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crammed into the Stolpin car that it was often simply impossible to
breathe. Fortunately, there was one experienced individual, a rather
suspicious lad, who said to me: "You know, Georgiy, let's not climb
up on top. Let us stay below." I was rather cold, and I wanted to
climb up on top, where it was the warmest. I did not know that in two cr
three hours there would be a terrible stuffiness in this same compartment.
We were all brought here, seated, and locked up. After this we lived
removea
in this same car for two more days, somphs4 the so-called travel rations,
which at all "etaps" always consisted for some reason of salted fish,
which ,a ate. After this salted fish we would be extremely thirsty, but
there would not be any water, and the people suffered and were tormented.
4xert.k.se4
I personally, knowing this, simply aussal self-control and did not eat the
salted fish.
In the Stolypin car, I traveled northward. At first, we could not
determine the direction ir which we were going. Later, someone succeeded
in looking through the grill through the window, and we saw that we were
traveling due north, if I am not mistaken, along the Yaroslav Railroad.
I remember passing through a suburb of Moscow which bore the name
Losinoostrovska. It took us an even 14 days to reach Vorkuta. It was
very agonizing. It was almost the most agthnizing of all my prison
t4r
experiences. The wpm was jam-packed. There were women. Also on
board were some suspicious characters who called themselves "Banderists,"
but who apparently belongel to the criminal element. There was an average
of 15 ipersons in each compartment. It was hot and stuffy; we were fed
herring, and there was nothing to drirk. The train vent very slowly.
Sometimes it stayed over in stations for an entire 24 hours. We were,
as it later turned out,) coupled to various freight trains, ususlly empty
ones en route to Vorkuta for coal.
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Finally, after a series of ordeals, after 14 days had passed by, on
the fifteenth day, namely 1 February 1950, we arrived someplace where
from the bustle of the convoy personnel, it was evident that we were
to be unloaded. One man took a look and observed some two-story
buildings. He said, "They have brought us to Vorkuta." The unloading
began, a very chaotic, unpleasant, and humiliating procedure. An
with. dogs
escort detail/immediately met us. They were the so-called "Krasno-
pogonniki,". wearing red shaalderboards Arasniye pogony, in Rassiarg,
i.e., troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We were surrounded
on all sides by the convoy and for the first time I heard the famous
formula: "Do not get out of ranks. One step to the right or left is
considered escape) and the convoy will use guns without warning." And
the following command: "Forward,marchl" We marched. First of all,
we arrived rather soon in the so-called transfer camp Cperesyllnyy
lager', in Russiag in Vorkuta. This was a camp consisting of very
bad barraCks. The food there was poor. In addition, the common
criminal or 1Llatnyy" [sig./ element was represented there to con-
Siderable dIree. Just the day before, a horrible knifing had occurred,
several persons were slain, and others taken to the central hospital
for operations and treatment.
There were about 80 of us. At the very outset we were met at the
gates by some suspicious characters; and when we arrived in the bar-
racks, it turned out that everything valuable in our possession had
been taken tbnto account. They began to run up to us asking to
buy various articles in exchange fora ration of bread. Most fof usJ
were so depressed, so emaciated, and were in such dire physical and
mental straits that without any resistance we gave up these articles,
which, of course, had considerable value. Then we were issued cloth-
ing. There were 200-300 below zero 5entigrade7. Each of us was
issued warm quilted trousers, a warm second-hand sleeveless jacket,
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a "bushlyat" (a kind of wadded, quilted coat), also second-hand,
patched up, and rather soiled, and so-called "chyuli." The latter,
of course, are not "valenki" (felt boot17--the transfer point did not3
nor wish to, issue ,us valenki--they were simply warm, quilted stock-
ings over which galoshes made out of kersey [kind of woolen cloth?
or rubberized materia were pun and fastened to the feet with cord.
They looked very awkward and unpresentable, but at the beginning
helped ilo protect7 from the cold. Then we were assigned to the
various bafracks.
We were immediately taken to the so-called auxiliary jobs. Finally
tk2,1"
dame OW dreaded feature called the "kolesovka." We were "troken on
the wheel," i.e., we were subjected to a medical examination. I was
at that time in a serious state of dystrophy, which was quite advanced.
It was difficult for me to walk. I wrote a request that I be given
additional nourishment. I was turned down and instead advised to
take more walks. Walking was very difficult for me, although the camp
was not large. I walked, strolled, breathed the fresh air, and, gent/
erally speaking, hardly remaihed on my legs. Here the first categories
were established. The categories in Vorkuta at this time were the
following: first of all)Category 1; Category 1 underground and eate-
gory I surface, i.e., all prisoners were divided into those destined
to work on the surface and those destined to work underground.
What do the terms "surface" and "underground" mean? We did not
even know which wasebetter. At present, these two categories, surface
and underground, are further subdivided within themselves, e.g.,
there
is Category 1 underground,pertaining to those who perform the heaviest
work; for example, loading and piling. [There a're als27 Categories
2 and 3 underground. There is also Category 1 surface, which pertains
tI Walw
toAmost arduousA, and Categories 2 and 3. In addition, there is the
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so-called light, individual work, which in practice, however, is
included with the so-called mine surface. I immediately received
light individual work. Despite this, however, I had towork very hard
on the surface. Furthermore, there were the incapacitated, i.e.,
those who were considered unfit for work. They were immediately
assigned to a special brigade for the incapacitated. Those of us
who were seriously ill, i.e., really gravely ill, were ultimately
sent to a so-called statSionar [hospital! for medical treatment.
To get into a statsionar, especially in Vorkuta, the transfer point,
or anywhere else, is considered paradise. In camp slang the
statsionar is called "God's Kingdom." If you get-there, that means
you have entered the Kingdom of God, for truly, when you land in a
statsionat where you lie down and no one shouts at you, where you
are treated and fed relatively well, and not driven to work, than
you have finally attained salvation. As the saying goes, "one month
in the statsionar is a year of life."
Outright slave-trading began in this transfer point, i.e., people
would even say here: "Has anyone come to buy you?" It was an actual
fact that so-called "buyers" would come from all the mines. Who were
these buyers? They were the representatives of the civilian staff,
the mine administration, from the chief of the mine himself down to
his subordinates, specialists in the various fields of attivity, who,
having learned that a new contingent was at the transfer point and
that the "kolesovka" kmedical examinationj had already taken place,
or even before then, would attempt to determine just which specialists
they were short of. Let us say, about 40 miners, 20 carpenters,
several cabinet-makers, etc., are needed. Then they visit the trans-
fer point and select for themselves the 20 miners. Then they say:
"I need a skilled cabinet-maker or a skilled carpenter, two medical
assistants, and one doctor, etc."; i.e., a regular slave-trade would
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occur. They say that even this transaction cannot get by without some
drinking and sometimes) briber :6 behind the scenes. For instance, some-
one wishes to take 20 healthy miners, but someone else says, "Boy,
you're 4 sly one: Look, I come from mine No. 5. which needs 40 [miners]:
Well, Ivan Ivanovich, let us make some kind of a deal." The matter
ends with the transfer of several hundred rubles into the hands and
pockets of the chief of the transfer point or, more accurately, of
the chief of personnel. Thereupon he gives his kind permission to
this individual to take, let aa say, 20 miners.
I spent ten days at the transfer point. No one, of course, bought
me, because I Iva.= snffering from dystrophy and was almost totally
incapacitated. However, in some way I got into trouble. I really
do not know how or who had squealed on met probablp in looking
through my file, someone for some reason had addessed me as an
especially irportant criminal. I was relegated to solitary con-
finement, where several hooligans were serving time for fighting.
From solitary confinement I was sent in a special detail accompanied
by three escort guars with a dog--this was the procedure of the
"etap" even for a single prisoner--to the so-called "Capital Pit"
or Pit No. 1. When I arrived here, I was immediately examined and
placed in the statsionar [camp hospital] as a person suffering seriously
from dystrophy and totally unfit for work. I lay in the hospital
0 ,
exactly four hours. Upon orders of the "operupol':nomochenyy Lopera-
tional authorized agentl, Capt. Voronin, a very energetic man and
very determined where prisoners were concerned, I wae3 immediately
placed Ili the so-called BUR. This was an intensive regimen barracks.
/Sarak usilennogo rezhima,or BU1g. Here were quartered all those
individuals about whom for some reason--because of their danger or
some other reasons--the following is written into the regulations;
for considerationsof regimen,not to be allowed free in camp. In the
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"bur" were several men who had refused to work and several dommon
criminals. From here we were marched to work in a special column
with a special escort and were employed in jobs inside the camp. We
were separated from all the others.
From the bur I was again, for about a day, put into solitary con-
finement. Upon leaving the bur, I was again examined and it was
decided to assign me to a llrigade. The system in the camps is as
follows: all the prisoners are divided into brigades. No prisoner
could say that he worked outside of any brigade. There are brigades
of bricklayers, cooks, paperhangers, construction specialists, helpers,
and finally fire brigades. ..very profession and every person who
belonged to any particular calling was embraced by an appropriate
brigade. There are, it is true, professions which are totally
unnecessary in a camp, for instance, journalists, writers, and in
general most of t he intelligentsia. In addition, there is usually
no use even for engineers. There are too many of them. Sometimes
they have tolAork at a new 3ne of work. If you fail to land a job in
your own field, say as a bookkeeper, because all the bookkeeper jobs
are already taken, then you have to go to a brigade to which you are
rots?
assigned or in which you wish toyork. True, it is4diffioult to trans-
fer from one brigade to another. Of course, it is always very easy
to land a job in a brigade where the work is long and arduous. On
the other hand, it is very difficult to transfer from brigades with
hard work to one with lighter work. As a dystrophy-sufferer who
was not even permitted to leave the camp for work, I obtained a job
at first as ai orderly. This was the person who kept the barracks
in order.
Every barracks in Vorkuta has three section4. In this particular
section the plank beds on:?which the prisoners slept were arranged in
two rows. Each auch section--the sections are numbered 1, 2, and 3--
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OtorilrWt:;e:VNig.
has its own orderly. The first and second sections are for the hard
workers. The third section, as always, is the aristocratic section.
Here live the bookkeepers, brigade leaders, and in general all the
persons who are called the camp aristocracy or, in the camp slang)
simply loridurki" /literally, "half-wits"/. The authorities sincerely
believed,apparently, that the work of an orderly was light. Certainly,
this was not the work of a miner nor the arduous labor of loading and
stacking logs in the lumber depot, but, just the same, you were kept
going all day liRA a mouse in a revolving drum. You had to clean,
sweep, keep the prisoners satisfied, carry water, etc., and perform
a thousand other duties. For me the work was extremely taxing.
Soon, howev,r, I landed in the st4sionar. I had developed a severe
inflammation of the leg blood vessels and was subsequently, as totally
unfit for work, sent to the hospitaljwhere I was operated upoll.
Every camp is nothing more than a copy of the Soviet system. It
is a state within a state. The camp is, so to speak, a miniature
copy of the Soviet Union, only with far worse living conditions.
How is the camp organized? In the camp there are two categories of
individuals who populate_lit, or more accurately, belong to it. There
Is
wow, first of all, the civilian labor force-.--civilian employees--and
then the prisoners. First of all we shall mention the civilian
employees. These were all employees of the so-called Ministry of
Internal Affairs, i.e., simply the MVD, because all camps Come under
the jurisdiction of the MVD. The 14VD has a special organ, called
GULAG, i.e., Main Administratiion of Camps, which supervises the camps.
So, all the civilian workers in the camp belong among the so-called
MVD employees. There are military MVD employees. To this class
belong all those who wear uniforms and are authorized to wear them.
One such person, first of all, is the camp commander. Another is his
deputy. Sometimes there are two deputy commanders of a camp point.
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The individual third in importance is the so-called "operupoVnomo-
chenyy:' or more precisely, "operativn,yy,e.upollnomochenny"
/Operational authorized agent7 of the MVD. His task is to watch to
see that nothing directediagains4 first of all,Ithe Soviet regime,
and secondly, against the camp alministration itself, takes place in
the camp. The camp, furthermore, contains a so-called "spetschastl"
Apecial uniq commander. He is also an officer and a Ministry of
Internal Affairs employee, who controls all the case files. All
your'documents, personal papers, dates of release, "etaps," are in
his hands. He handles all the files of the prisoners who are locatdd
in the camp. It should be mentioned that your investigation file?
itself) is in the city in which your case had been conducted and in
which your sentence had been passed. Sent with you to camp is the
so-called personal file, i.e., the accompanying file case with all
the necessary data concerning you, with notation as to how to con-
fine you, that you should be in a regimented camp, etc. Well, these
files are handled by the so-called special unit. In addition there
too,
is a "planchast'" /Planning unit/. At the head of this, is an
officer. The planning unit performs the planning of the labor force.
All matters concerning the employment of prisoners for labor 4re
handled by the planning unit. Also attached to the camp is a so-
called KBCh, i.e., kommunallno-bytovaya chastl (here, roughly, main-
tenance unit7, which, it is true, does not exist in every camp. It
manages all maintenance work in the camp, i.e., repair of barracks,
paving of roads, maintaining of other buildings in order. SWoordinate
to it are especially assigned repair brigades. It directs the cart
transport parking lot in the camp and all those other camp activities
which, like maintenance, can be employed in the interests of the
camp itself. That is the KBCh. There is also an institution which
bears the name INCh. Vials is the so-called kulturno-vospitatelaPaya
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chstl [cultural and educational unig. This is nothing more than a
camp ministry of propaganda. It is engaged in the education of all
camp inmates in the spirit 412 which the Soviet government believes
all persons sentenced under the political or even criminal articles
should be educated. The KVCh contains, first of all, a librafy,
which the camp inmates may use. When I was at the Capital Pit, there
were a few dozen books in all, there. A library was practically non-
existent. In addition)the KVCh manages. the so-called amateur acti-
vities of the camp inmates themselves, the cultural amateur activities)
i.e., the camp inmates have the privilege of forming choruses, which
sing songs, form theatrical troupes, put on shows, organize so-called
theatrical performances, concerts, and engage in sports in their free
time.
So all these things are handled by the KVCh. It should be stipu-
lated that, as a rule, the really hard-working camp inmatesjor as
they are called in camp slang,
"rabotyagi," make very little use of
these cultural facilities and institutions of the Soviet regime. They
usually have neither the time nor?\energy for this. Athletics, soccer
games, the organization of shows, and all amateur cultural performances
are conducted by the so-called nonworking prisoners, who belong in
the category of what in camp slang are called "pridurki"&reviously
dxplaine47. It should also be mentioned that there is a so-called
accounting offide in the camp. The bookkeeping and accounting section
If headed by a chief bookkeeper, also an officer, who handles the
accounts of all the adtivities of the camp itsIlf. In the camp there
Is, furthermore, an institution designated Am the ChIS, i.e., food
commissary unit. This is the agency which handles the camp food and
Produce supply. It is headed by a very important individual. The
chief of the ChIS is usually a quartermaster /intendant, in Rassia47
by profession or, in any event, a commissary antendatura2 worker
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who has been entrusted with almost the most inortant sector of work,
namely, the feeding of the camp population_ itself. Subordinate to
these individuals, who aru present in all these agencies, is a number
of civilian workers, who are not officers, i.e., do not waar uniforms.
The people working here are simply civilians, sometimes even ex-
prisoners who have served their terms. In this group belong assistants
of all kinds, secretor*, bookkeepers, assistant bookkeepers, medical
workers, civilian nurses, civilian doctors, the Oief (male or female)
of the medical unit--all these people. It should be mentioned that at
the Capital Pit, at which there were about 4,500 or even 5,000 prisoners,
there were approximately 500 camp civilian workers. The staffs were
heavily overmanned. People talked about this condition. They (the
staffql would often be ieducetbut nothing came of it. It should be
mentioned, however, that, generally speaking, the quality of work of
the civilians was not very high. Everything was done by the prisoners.
The civilians virtually only filled up space, received high salaries,
and lived quite well. Not one of them, if he had quit worl:ing in the
camp system, could have oetained such a good job anywhere else. The
civilians themselves, of course, lived outside of camp. To get into
the camp, a special pass was required. You possessed a pass. There
were passes for one-time use and permanent passes, the latter issued
for a specific period of time, sometimes for even a whole year. In
passing the guardpost, where there was a check, you displayed your
pass and then passed inside. You left the pass at the guard post;
thus, inside the camp itself you were without docutents. This was
done so that you could not lose it [the pasa7 and some prisoner
could not appropriate it. When, as a civilian, you left the camp,
you gave your name,or,,if you did not want anyone to hear it, you
gave /Only the initial/ let us say, the letter "TO After this
Lat this point the apparently irtelevant notation "they remember the
pass(?)" is written above the linj and there, let 113 say, your name
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is Baronov and they give it to you and inquire, "Is this the correct
pass?". If it is your pass, you say, "Yes." You take it and then
leave the confines of the camp; Such was the organization among the
civilian personnel. All of thenaof course, were strictly subordinate
to the chief of the camp division D.agok,deleniyq, who was the abso-
lute ruler of the entire camp. The only individual who in practice
was not subordinate to him, and to whom he himself was in practice
subordinate, was the operational authorized agent. It should be
mentioned that sometimes there would also be a special authorized agent
in the camp, not of the MVD, however, but of the MGB, i.e. Ministry
of State Security. This person had absolutely nothing to do with the
prisoners; he watched over_all the,staff-workarofthe NKVD to see
?????eon?eaaame9.....'2'5'
that there was no, shall we say, relations between prisoners and any
civilian women. AMIN was, so to speak, the police organ for the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, the eye of the Ministry of State Security.
a -
Now I should like to say a few words about the prisoners. Prisoners
represent the second category of individuals, by far the more numerous.
How are they classified? These are all those sentenced under the 58th
or the criminal articles. It is true, there are camps where there are
almost no prisoners sentenced under the criminal articles. At the
Capital Pit there were 20 of these. They were unescortea and they
performed all the jobs for which it was necessary to leave the con-
fines of the camp continuously, for instance, conveying graLt, produce,
and very many other things into the area. As I have previously men-
tioned, all the prisoners are divided up into brigades. The structure
is as follows: Heading the brigade is the brigade leader. Just what
is a brigade leader? He.zis' a reliable individual in a particular field
of work and capable of leading people during work. Brigade leaders may
or may not be specialists. The brigade leader does not work but is
responsible for the volume of work produced by the brigade and for the
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proper performance of the brigade. He looks to see that output is
constantly increased. He is repponsible for this. The brigade leader
is, so to speak, the low driving belt of the masses, as they say in
camp slang. He is usually on Door and strained terms with the brigade.
Then he is a good brigade leader and is recognized as such by the
authorities. The brigade leader has a deputy. The brigade leader
writes a report of the work. He specifies what percentage of the
particular task has been fulfilled. In connection with this report
a calculation of what (compensationY the brigade has a right to
expect is made in the accounting office. When I was there, there were
no wages. Instead, you received an appropriate "kotel" (diet, bill
of fare, type of meal, cuisine, etc.1, depending upon the work. For
underground miners there were first, second, and third kotels. The
first was the worst, the second a little better, and the third the best
of all for the underground miners. For the surface there were also
first, second, and third 'cotels. There was also a special kotel "2A"
for engineers and workers doing special engineering work. It was
very good and totally inaccessible for the ordinary camp inmate. In
addition to this, there was a number of hoppital kotels. Thus; the
mess chief in the camp had to cook food and apportion it among an
aggregate of almost 20 different kotels. This complicated the book-
keeping of the kitchen incredibly. There was a mass of bookkeepers
and computers there; this whole matter was terribly comolicated. And
it terribly complicated the preparation of the food, because the
specific kotel to which you were assigned depended upon your output.
If your output fell below a certain percentage, you would get the
so-called disciplinary kotel. This was 300 grams of bread per day
and one bowl of soup. If your work is still worse or you refuse to
work at all, you would land in solitary confinement, where you are
given 300 grams of bread per day and a hot meal every third day for
health considerations. It should be stated that the kotel system is
totally differEnt in different camps.
Now a few words concerning the organization of the work day:
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Reveille is at five
section. The light
Reveille is at five
breakfast. You eat
o'clock both winter and summer. You sleep ih a
in the section is never switched off at night.
o'clock. You wash, get dressed, and go for
breakfast according to a ticket. The ticket is
issued to you for the appropriate kotel. After you turn in your ticket
for breakfast, a special part is Retached from it. fbe ticket is
divided into three parts. The breakfast section is detached. After
this you eat breakfast. You eat very hastily. Capital Pit was ter-
ribly overworked, there were not enough tables, and the dining room
was very small. Consequently, no sooner had you elbowed your way to
a seat when you had to bolt down your food. We we4ed in the follow-
ing manner: You sit four persons to a table of the appropriate kotel.
Your ticket is collected from you and then the waiter immediately
serves all four of Siou the appropriate meal. You eat up and vacate
the table at once. After this the next party sits down. After break-
fast you go to the barracks. Here the brigade leader tells what job
you are going on and whore you are going, if you had not already been
so informed on the previous day. If you are going outside the camp,
you assemble at the guard post. If you go to the industrial zone at
the mine, you go to the guard post which controls the ming. The
industrial zone of the mine is separated by the guardpost and no one
without authorization or without a special pass is allowed to pass
through to the m ne. If you are going into town, you go by way of
the so-called city guardpost. You go out. The brigade leader calls
the roll. After this, an escort of guards with dogs stands on the
other side of the camp. The brigade goes out to work. If the brigade
goes out separately from the other brigades, you will get your own
escort, which consists of several men. Again the famous formula is
uttered: not to break ranks, that a step to the left or right is
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considered escape, and that in such an event the escort will use
weapons without warning. Sometimes [you] are forced to take one another
by the arm so that no one will escape from the other, or hold your arms
behind your back. In the winter taking each other by the arm along an
icy rough road is simply torture. The ranks became uneven and fall,
the people curse among themselves, and step on one another. It is
still more difficult, of course, to walk with one's arms behind one's
back. Everyone knows what it means to walk on a slippery road without
the opportunity to maintain balance with the arms. You are taken out to
work and brought to the proper place. Around the objective, if it is,
for example, a building, is a "forbidden zone," i.e., pickets on which
is nailed [the notice] "Forbidden Zone" or else simply: "Halt, will
shoot!" The escort guard begins to walk around. The 'job lasts ten hours.
At the end of the job the brigade, after being counted all over again
on the spot in exactly the same manner -- let us say there had been 28
men, then there must (again] be 28 men -- returns. After taking a
count, the convoy turns you over to the guards, i.e, the overseers, who,
as in the prison, wear blue shoulderboards. The overseers conduct a
search to see that you have not brought any contraband from the city,
such as alcoholic beverages, money, which at that time it was forbidden
to have on your person, or anyhing else. After this you enter the zone
and can go have dinner. Your working day has ended and you may do any-
thing that you please. [You may] visit barracks, although this,tog4is
somewhat frowned upon, generally speaking; as a rule, you are to stay
in your own barracks and not visit too many friends. Subsequently,
in the spring of 1952, all the barracks were locked up by special order.
The taking [of prisoners] out to the industrial zone and the mine is
carried out in absolutely the same manner. You are again counted and
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admitted into the industrial zone. After this you are lowered into the
shaft. With another count you are assigned with the appropriate bri-
gades to the pit sections- An inmate of a regimented camp works, as
a rule, 10 hours. Including arrival and departure time, 12 hours of
your time are consumed. At the mines it is the same thing. Going out
to the pits, changing into working clothes, descending, working, and
ascending, departure, and then washing up, also consumed 12 hours. If
you are located too far from camp and return very late, then hot food
is brought to you or it is cooked on the spot, for example, at the
construction sites. There was no returning for dinner. This state of
affairs was regarded by all the camp inmates as a true misfortune.
Now I should like to say a few words about what Vorkuta is like.
Vorkuta is a city located above the Arctic Circle On the 69th Parallel
about 110 kilometers from the ArctLc Ocean, more precisely, from the
so-called Karskiye Voroty, and 40-50 kilometers west of the northern
Urals. On a clear day and from an elevated location, say, the heaps
[terakonniki] of the pits, the Ura: Mountains are visible. Vorkuta,
itself, has a total population of about 180,000-200,000. Of these,
about 130,000-140,000 are prisoners. There are two camp systems in
Vorkuta. One is the so-called "Vorkutlag," where there are about
80,000 or even 90,000 prisoners. This is a system of permanent camps,
partially serving the mines and partially serving other enterprises, as
for example, certain plants, a stone quarry, etc. The prisoners in
Vorkutlag are almost exclusively those who either had no association
with Article 58, i.e., sentenceaunder the common criminal statutes, or
were so sentenced but to minimum terms. The other system of Vorkuta
camps is the so-called "Richlag", i.e., MVD River Camp. This a system
of regimented camps, of which there are, if I am not mistaken, fifteen,
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qINFTFItrilk
and in which are confined 4o,000 or 50,000 prisoners. Naturally, it
is very difficult to ascertain the exact figure, but it is doubtful
whether the number exceeds 50,000. What is this regimented camp like?
This is a camp with a stricter regimen. The prisoners in it have far%ove.
limited privileges. The regimen is far stricter. In the first place,
from a non-regimented camp, such as Vorkutlag, you have the privilege
of writing home as often as you please. From a regimented camp you
can write only every six months. In the second place, in a non-
regimented camp you work eight hours. No one is authorized to make
you work longer. In a regimented camp you work 10 hours, but in actual
fact, of course, considerably longer. In addition to this, in a non-
regimented camp you have the privilege of receiving visits from rela-
tives, i.e., meetings are allowed. A wife can visit her husband and a
husband can visit his wife. In a regimented camp such visits are com-
pletely forbidden. In regard to internal searches, daily routine, and
a number of other things, conditions in a regimented camp are far more
vexing, not omitting the fact also that you are searched far more
frequently. For the slightest infraction you are subjected to far
more severe punishment.
I should also like to say a few words concerning relations between
prisoners and civilians. As a rule, the administrative orders of the
appropriate Soviet authorities, the camp administration, and the admin-
istration of the "Vorkutugol'" Combine,itself4all are directed toward
the prevention, if possible, of all contact between civilians and prisoners.
Of course, this is not fully possible. People work together, siit for
whole hours in the same room, and under such conditions personal rela-
tions must inevitably be established. The civilians, however, are terri-
fied that they will be suspected of contact with prisoners or possibly
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even be punished. For example, a female civilian receives 10 years
for relations with a male prisoner and she herself becomes a prisoner.
Exactly the same condition holds true in the case of a male civilian
and a female prisoner. Civilians are not permitted to talk about any-
thing or maintain any relations with prisoners outside the circle of
their immediate duties. For example, I knew a German working in the
bookkeeping office who spoke Russian well. She [sic] was authorized to
speak to him only on matters pertaining to work. Once she somehow
began to ask him questions about, for example, life in Berlin and many
other things. This conversation happened to be overheard by our
officer, and I know that there were some very unpleasant consequences
for this civilian woman. Civilian personnel are strictly forbidden, for
example, to transmit anything for prisoners; even, for example to buy
articles, but this practice is regarded indulgently. Especially severe
is [the penalty for] the delivery of newspapers and books without the
knowledge of the camp administration. Even more severely penalized
and prosecuted is the transmittal of anything from prisoners to the
outside, for example, letters to relatives or friends. This is a criminal
and prosecutable offense. A civilian, if proof has been obtained that
he, let us say, transmitted a letter or simply dropped it in a mailbox,
is subject to immediate prosecution and may even be sentenced to a
term; in any event he will be severely censured and lose his job. It
should be said that civilians do this very rarely and very reluctantly.
Why? Because, for one thing, there is a prevalence of so-called trusted
people among the civilians in the camps. These are not ordinary Soviet
citizens. The percentage of party and Komsomol members among them is
very high. In addition to this, any person who has some sort of spot,
or as they say in camp slang, "khvostik" [literally, "tail"] on his
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record as a Soviet person, is never accepted for work in the camps
and is not allowed to associate with prisoners. Yet, in spite of this
I must say that I personally know of several instances of completely
cordial and excellent relations between civilians and prisoners. As
a rule, the civilians, of course, formally hold themselves very aloof,
for this is necessitated by cold calculation and, so to speak, the
tone of all life in the camps and particularly in Vorkuta. In reality,
two('
however, the civilians never feel any genuine animosity 4iker the prisoners.
This is conditioned by the fact that when they enter a camp, they are
always told by Soviet propaganda that the camps contain incredible
murderers, fascists, and beast, not humans. When they arrive there,
they discover very soon that they [the inmates] are usually a very
courteous and intelligent folk [who had been convicted under] Article
58 -- and that no one abuses them [the civilians] or does anything, and
Efht rS?i j)
there are no brawls. Despite thei opprern!?Tircumstances, a large
number of them deport themselves with nobility, as decent and honorable
persons. Well-known for instance, is one such case: a certain
civilian woman bookkeeper, who was walking out of the camp in Vorkuta
one day, was stopped tllout a kilometer (,?) from the camp by three
1
knife-welding drunks, who demanded, "Hand over your money or we will
A
stab you!" They took 1,800 rubles from her. She came sobbing into
camp, walking and weeping. By chance she was met right in front of
the guard post [by someone?], was directed to the administration to
report this misfortune; it seems that even more had been taken -- 2,200
rubles -- a huge sum for her. She would have to pay it, might even
be taken to court, and be fired. He [?] asked her, "What are you
crying for, madame?" Sobbing she related what had happened. "So what
are you crying for?", he said. (At that time, the prisoners were paid
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money.) "Now," he said, "everything will be all right, do not go
anywhere; sit down a while in our bookkeeping [office?)." She sat
down. He ran around to the camps and barracks and each of the
prisoners contributed three to five rubles. As it turned out, 400
rubles more were collected. Within two hours, this entire sum was
brought to her in paper bags, superficially counted again, and she
departed with several paper bags stuffed with money. Later she said,
"They gave 400 rubles more." It is true, she was severely scolded for
this by the administration. A long stubborn search was made for the
initiators of this collection for the unfortunate bookkeeper. There
were miners there, who earned well; the three or five rubles in this
urgent case meant nothing, strictly speaking, to anyone.
It should be mentioned that just as there existed among the camp
inmates so-called "stukachi," i.e., a network of agents subordinate
to the "operupol'nomochennyy," which works and reports on everything
taking place in the camp, and an agent network of a most diverse
character, ranging from agentSwho watch to see whether the prisoners
possess knives or cutting and stabbing implements to those who especially
catch individuals who, say, are preparing uprisings or escape attempts
or forming in camp anti-Soviet groups or any affiliates of political
parties existing on the outside, so, too, among the civilians there
exist these stukachi, i.e., the same system which exists among the
prisoners is fully duplicated. However, in Vorkuta there lives a large
number of people who had previously been prisoners themselves, either
some place else or right there in Vorkuta, had been released, and
ordered to reside in Vorkuta itself. These people are particularly
courteous in their treatment of the prisoners. They regard the latter
as their own. Despite the fact that they have been freed, they say,
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"We are hardly different from you." Everywhere they emphatically try
to protect the prisoners. If some, let us say, escorting guard is
driving a column in front of him and is treating it roughly, people
and I have personally heard this -- will break out into indignant
shouts, whistles, jeers, etc. Once I was working at the digging of a
ditch in one of the main streets of Vorkuta when I saw a woman passing
by. A guard shouted something coarsely to a prisoner and told them
"[the prisoners] not to climb out of the ditch, sit down, or rest, al-
though he had no right to order this. It was not his concern to super-
vise the work; for that there was a brigade leader. This woman assaulted
the guard with abusive cursing and deliberately walked through the
restricted zone past the prisoners. Several times the guard shouted,
"Halt, or I will shoot," Nevertheless, he decided, of course, not to
shoot. Such marks of sympathy among freed prisoners are openly visible.
Among the people belonging to another camp, i.e., the chekists who in-
habit Vorkuta, and the employees of those countless existing institutions
which service both mine and camp, the attitude is, of course, different.
It is one of coolness. Hatred, however, especially among the women, is
totally unknown. I once took part in the repair of a stove belonging
to the wife of a certain colonel, an important chekist, whose name I
had heard earlier. She was a very young and intelligent woman. Her
husband said something rather important to us and then left. As soon
as he had gone, she opened the door and said, "Has my husband left?" --
"Yes, he has." -- "Ny husband has invited you in to dine on some canned
meat, but since it would be inconvenient for him to be present and sit
with you personally, he vent away. So, please," she said, "Sit down and
eat." Such incidents do occur.
The entire prisoner population in the camp is, of course, divided
into a vast number of very diverse individuals and groups, and simply
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tin .
4BtA
friends. Finally, there are small groups which pursue very specific
aims. For example, there exist secret groups which prepare escapes.
At the Capital Pit such a group among Latvians was revealed to me.
They were supplied with five pairs of home-made skiis, knapsacks with
grease, and many other things. The people were clearly planning
escape. There are groups which conduct, let us say, ideological and
political activities among themselves, conduct lectures for one another.
I personally participated in two such groups, simply political and
self-educational. These were not political parties, but we aimed to
raise our general level of political education. Also taking part in
this group were even people who did not really belong to us, i.e.,
camp Communists and those who considered themselves such. Thus, we
exchanged opinions and held very friendly discussions. Each one gave
a speech and then stated how this appeared from the Marxist viewpoint
and how it appeared from a completely different viewpoint. The Com-
munists were very much interested in learning what Western ideology
pictured them to be and we, on the other hand, were extremely interested
in learning the thoughts of members of the Communist Party, though .they
mos convicts who had not yet renounced the ideology of the party.
Furthermore, it should be mentioned that in all camps there exist
affiliates of political parties whose members have landed behind wires.
Among the Ukrainians can be encountered representatives of the Ukrainian
party known by the name of the Bendera [sic; Bandera?] party. In camp
they are simply called Benderists [Banderists]. There are also repre-
sentatives of another Ukrainian political faction, the followers of the
political movement of a certain Melnik. I also encountered a few --
very few, it is true -- monarchist advocates, who now are dying out,
of course, and followers of Skoropadskiy.
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Also represented were political parties among the non-Russian
groups, for example, the Baltic peoples. I know that among the
Estonians there were in the camp a large number of political groups,
not very noticeable, it is true, for Estonian: , generally speaking,
is a difficult language. The Estonians behave in a very friendly
manner. There are not many "stukachi" and "seksots" [kinds of in-
formers] among them, but one Estonian, who was very friendly with me
and, so to speak, trusted me, told me that we [sic] had small meet-
ings of an Estonian quasi-Social Democratic party and said, "Right in
the next barracks live our political opponents regarding Estonia."
There are exactly the same political parties among the Latvians and
Lithuanians. They were especially busy among the Lithuanians for, as
is quite well known both in the camps and throughout the Soviet Union,
2
the Lithuanians are Om people who until the last day never ceased
their armed warfare against the Soviet regime.
When I was enroute to Vorkuta, a group of students, some from
Moscow and some from other cities, was traveling with me. This group
of students., who had become disillusioned with the Soviet regime --
many of them had been philosophy faculty students engaged in the
serious study of Marxism -- had arrived at the conclusion that Marxism
was a false doctrine, which offered nothing to humanity and was ex-
tremely harmful to the Russian people, in particular, Their next step
was the formation of a small anti-Soviet group. In their opinion,
there were a great many of these anti-Soviet groups. Well known are
the alarming reports which reach the Soviet authorities and severely
distress the Communists that are academic youths of the large centers
stand at the forefront in the formation of anti-Soviet groups.
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rintivinFrat
kotircilw.h
Strongly represented among youth in the camps, furthermore, is
the element of so-called "true Leninists," as they term themselves.
These are people who did not depart from Marxist-Soviet ideology. They
merely believe that Marxism had been incorrectly interpreted by Stalin
but correctly interpreted by Lenin and,therefore, they believe that to
combat all the defects existing in the present-day Soviet government>
it is necessary to travel under the banner of Lenin and not to adhere
to the course so incorrectly taken by Stalin and the entire Communist
Party, which followed him in slavish stubbornness.
There are also groups in the camps which have long broken with
Marxism and believe that Russia should be transformed into a national
state without Communists.
There are also small groups which are supposedly7IEF1514112Zed)
against certain minorities; for example, antisemites.
I also had occassions to meet
Asiatic and Ceucasian peoples. It
two types: one type of people...who
believe that Communism and all its
separatists among
is very important
the Central
here to distinguish
identify communism with Russia, i.e.,
consequent detrimental effects were
introduced into their country by the Russians; and the other type, which
says that the Russian people, in reality, are also suffering from
Communism and are also struggling against it jointly [with us]. In
order to over,throw Communism, we must fight together with the Russian
people, because each of us separately could not liberate ourselves from
the Communists. Liberation from the Communists can be achieved only
on a general scale throughout the Soviet Union. Some of them picture a
formation of national, totally independent states following the over-
throw of Communism, believing that it will be necessary to break off
completely and forever with the Russian people. The first paragraph
to be inserted iritthe constitution of this nation will read that all
affiliations with Russia dre forever revoked. Others, on the other
hand, say that this is totally unnecessary and that political and
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cultural autonomy is fully sufficient, for the general trend of events
in the world today does not tend toward the creation of tiny destitute
states with limited economies but, on the contrary, toward the creation
of federations and federal governments. Such tendencies also exist.
Of whom are these representatives of the various national groups com-
posed? A great many are former members of the German army who had
been in the West, Georgians, Armenians, mountain peoples, Azerbaydzhanis,
and Central Asiatics who had been in the West and had come into contact
with those of their fellow-countrymen who had long lived in exile and
had organized several anti-Soviet and national-independent centers to
fight for national liberation of their people from foreign domination
or, as sometimes even said, from the domination of the Communist party
of chekists. I myself have heard such expressions.
In the camps, there are also various religious groupings. These
are mainly sectarians. Strangely enough, the majority of them originate
from the North Caucasus, Southern Ukraine, and Siberia, and fewer,
strictly speaking, from the European part of Russia proper. The
sectarians present are extremely diverse. I know as many as ten dif-
ferent sects. In this regard mention should be made, first of all, of
the so-called "Jehovah's Witnesses." They are very numerous and active.
Secondly, mention should be made here of the so-called "Seventh-Day
Adventists." In third place, are the "Evangelical Christians." Then
Conte the "True-Believing Christians," and the Baptists. In addition,
there are the so-called "Baptist Adventists," apparently, a very tiny
religious group, for in one camp I met only three individuals and I
never heard anything more about them. Also represented in the camps,
of course, are all the traditional religions, which, strictly speaking,
should not be related to the so-called sectarian movement. This, of
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course, refers primarily to the Moslems, who in general are very
numerous. I do not say this because the number of Moslems is so large
but because there are very few non-devout Moslems. They are without
exception all believers and adhere very firmly to their rituals.
Mention must also be made ti the principal group of religious
believers represented in the Soviet Union despite all the losses which
this group had suffered. I am speaking, in particular, of the [Russian]
Orthodox Christians. Generally speaking, there are very many believers
in the camps, although there are not so many priests. The difference
between the Orthodox and the representatives of the small, tiny sec-
tarian groupings is that the latter are very active, conduct endless
religious meetings, and preserve secret copies of bibles and various
religious books. As for the Orthodox, they behave more passively,
though very firmly. They pray but do not hold special gatherings and
do not behave as the sectarians do. The number of believers in the
camps is very great. It should be mentioned that, as a rule, even
many who are non-devout, when they find themselves in the camp system,
became so. The sectarians in their propaganda usually lodge the ac-
cusation at the Orthodox that the Orthodox Church has ceased to be a
church but has been converted into an arm of the State, i.e., they say,
"How strange it is that, strictly speaking, your patriarch even in
his does not say a single word about God, or says very little, but
always talks mainly about only the authorities and about subordination
to the State authorities. The Orthodox believers deny this point of
view but almost all agree that, of course, the official Church, as such,
has capitulated to the regime, does not think of opposifig:the regime
in any way, and has long since been transformed, strictly speaking, into
an organ which, by means of religious authority, trains the people into
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fr.,1-st
obedience to the authorities, passiveness, support of the Soviet regime,
and into the proper unquestioning attitude toward it. Nothing very
nice is expressed concerning the patriarch. In general, he is not very
'net
well regarded. People say that he isAreally a spiritual leader but
almost, strictly speaking, an official of the Soviet regime for church
affairs. People often also speak ill of many other Orthodox leaders,
who are openly accused of being connected with State Security organs
and it is derisively said that they are nothing but chekists who, with
Nagant revolvers in their pockets, have pasted beards on themselves
for the sake of form. Whereas the official Church of the leaders does
not enjoy confidence, the low, rank-and-file priests and devout be-
lievers, who hold themselves very steadfast, enjoy great confidence
and respect. I know of the case of an Orthodox priest who refused to
go out to work, maintaining that this contradicted his beliefs and
debased his dignity as a priest; he was held in custody for a long time
and, according to rumors4not confirmed, it is true, this unfortunate
was finally- shot. Here and there in the camps an Orthodox service
is held. In 1955, in a camp where the majority [of the inmates] were
Germans, I personally attended an Easter service in a separate building
which contained the so-called "Chinese kitchen," i.e., a kitchen in
which prisoners had the privilege of cooking things with their own food
products. Naturally, these things were not allowed to be cooked in the
big kitchen. Here [in the "Chinese kitchen"] was conducted the entire
Easter morning service, for which a great many people had come. Because
space here was comparatively very limited, many were unable to enter
this tiny building and stood outside. When a guard, a foreman fstarshinal,
I believe, the chief of the camp regimen, appeared and tried to enter,
he was simply rather rudely driven away, the door was not opened, and
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he was told to leave, that there was freedom of religion, and that
he had no business here. In general, the Orthodox love and respect their
Church very much, regard it as a martyr Church, and go far from identify-
ing the true believers and the lower Orthodox clergy with those leaders
who for one reason or another are, of course, accomplices of the Soviet
regime itself.
I should like to say a few more words about Vorkuta. The civilian
population of Vorkuta is a strange conglomeration. As everyone says,
this is a city of both erisoners and chekists. Nowhere else and
hardly anywhere in the USSR will one find such a city where the percentage of
chekists and, at the same time, ex-prisoners, is so high. People who
are not former prisoners and/or do not belong to the chekists are,
strictly speaking, very rare in Vorkuta. This creates a special type
of relationship. All the ex-prisoners take the part of the not yet
liberated prisoners, while the chekists, on the other hand, represent a
special caste. However, Vorkuta is a country still far from being
mastered by the Soviet regime. Of course, sometime before my arrival I
wanly
heard a rumor of the uswitibt of so-called Gen.Belyayev. I was also
informed of one other mutiny, which took place south of Vorkuta, some-
where on the Pechora, among former Vlasovite soldiers. Unfortunately,
I no longer know the details.
I should like to say a few more words concerning relations between
the administration and prisoners, in particular, about the use of the
latter as a labor force. As is known, every prisoner, by law and accord-
ing to camp procedure, must perform only such labor as is stipulated by
his labor category, i.e., labor which is not beyond his strength and
which will not result in injury to him. That is the way it is officially.
In reality, the situation is quite different. The camp administration
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k TL
always tends to give you a higher labor category. Sayiyou have light,
individual labor; then you are simply given labor Category 2. Several
times, I personally found myself suddenly and unexpectedly in labor
Category 2. You do not see your personal papers and do not know what
is ordered for you at the medical examination. You are examined and
written about [?] at the medical examination, then are suddenly told,
"You are transferring to Brigade No 47." "Why, please? That, you
know, is heavy surface work, unloading at the lumber depot." So, you
are told that you have Category 2 surface labor. You begin to protest.
You write a statement, and take it to the medical examination. You are
told, "Wait a little while, there will be a new medical-exabilination,
see, one month, two, three will go by, and you work there until you
make a fuss or are discharged from there." Of course, the tendency is
always to drive the prisoners to heavy work. In 1950, when I arrived
in Vorkuta, the so-called Gorey brigade, a brigade for those unfit
for work, was there. In it at the time were 147 men. Three years
later, when I left Vorkuta, this brigade, despite , numbered about
420 disabled persons. Thus, the camps are constantly being littered --
if it is possible to use such an expression -- with the incapacitated and
for that reason workers constantly arrive in the camps and the prisoners
lose their fitness for work. In comparison with the years 1944, 1945,
1946, and even 1947, when nightmares and mass extinction virtually
prevailed in the camps -- everyone talked about this and medical help
was very poorly organized -- in 1948 and in 1948 there began a considerable
improvement.
Concern is shown for the health of the prisoners. The concern is
identical, say, to that shown by a veternarian over the health of a
work-animal. In Vorkuta there are medical establishments. This is the
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so-called "sanchast'" [medical section], headed by the sanchast' chief,
usually a serviceman of the medical service, sometimes male, sometimes
female, to whom a number of civilian medical workers is subordinate,
usually very few. Then came medical workers composed of prisoners.
The trend, it is true, is always to fill all positions of, let us say,
doctors allotted to the staff of a given camp -- if I am not mistaken,
according to the regulations one doctor is required for every 400 camp
inmates -- by civilian doctors, who receive handsome salaries. Some-
times these positions are not filled by doctors at all, but by "fel'dshers"
[medical assistants] or even nurses, who by law receive the salary of a
doctor and attached to whom, filling the position of a fel'dsher, even
of a hospital orderly [sanitat, in Russian] is a real doctor, who
performs all their work for them.
Doctors in the camps constitute a privileged class. They command
respect, because there is a large number of very fine doctors, but
primarily because doctors, in general, are in short supply. As a rule,
there are not enough doctors and for that reason a doctor can take many
a liberty for which someone else might simply be "written off", i.e.,
sent to common labor. A doctor is permitted many a liberty because,
in the second place, there are excellent doctors, especially the for-
eigners, and many are better than:the local doctors. [Sense of this
too
aentence notAclear.] As is known, almost all the civilian personnel,
as a rule, also all civilians able to enter the camp and simply free
people are treated or try to be treated by the camp doctors. I per-
sonally had occasion to meet a large number of very outstanding doctors,
famous German professors, and several Hungarian and Soviet professors.
For example, the famous Ukrainian gynecologist, Prof. Khokhlov, was in
camp.
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In all, I spent
in
Vorkuta, when suddenly and unexpectedly, I was taken to an "etap". I
was thoroughly convinced that I was being taken to Moscow for renewed
interrogation but, instead, I travelled a short while in another
direction. Again the Black Maria to Vorkuta and the Stolypin railroad
car. True, I was noW travelling under better conditions: not so
many people were taken away from Vorkuta as were brought to Vorkuta.
I rode four days as far as Kirov, where there was a layover for two
days [for changing trains]. This afforded an opportunity for resting
in camp. Then off for Gorkiy, from there to Ruzayevka Station, and
from there to Pot'ma.
Potima is the terminal of my journey. In short, I had arrived
1)1
in Mordovia, the Mordvinian SSR [sic], *Is the system of regimented
camps of the so-called Dubrava% camp. This system completely corresponds
to the river camp in Vorkuta in its organization, structure, and
traditions. Everything is absolutely the same. The population of
the Dubravayy camp at the time was also about 35,000-40,000, but the
line of work was completely different. Whereas in Vorkuta everything
revolves around the extraction of coal and the mines; in Mordovia
there are no mines; there the work is forestry, peat mining, or work
in various manufacturing operations and woodprocessing factories. For
instance, in the eleventh camp division, where I subsequently was,
there was a furniture factory.
Dubravaa camp has borne this name only since World War II.
Until then this system of camps was called the Temnikovskiye camps.
Besides this there are in Mordovia two other camp systems, the names
of which I do not know. And one camp system in which some kind of
strategic constructions are produced, but there were absolutely no
foreigners there; virtually only Russians with 25-year sentences
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4.1
work there. Information is very meager. It is known that some
type of underground plants requiring a considerable amount of
pipes is being built there.
The MVD Dubravsa camp system embraced about 20 different
camps. They all are located along the railroad siding which
branches out from the main magistral and from the siding from
Saransk to Ryazan'. It extends in a northwesterly direction for
a distance of 60 kilometers. And over these entire 60 kilometers
this region is considered restricted -- lies the so-called DubravsOr
camp system. This also is a regimented system, but somewhat different.
Life in Mordovia is considerably better for the camp inmates than
In Vorkuta. In the first place, it is a different climate. The
climate is moderate. Absent is the terrible, severe, ferocious
Vorkuta winter, which begins in mid-September and stretches out to
the end of May. In Vorkuta,besides the specific jobs assigned to
them, the camp inmates are worn out by the so-called "snow struggle,"
i.e., you could work 10 or 12 hours, return to the barracks, and go
to sleep. During this time a snowstorm would cover your barracks
with snow. In the morning, whether you wanted to or not, you had
to get up earlier and shovel away the snow for two hours. In the
MVD Dubravsa camp, there were somewhat different circumstances.
In the first place, the work there was easier. In composition, the
camp inmate contingent was exactly the same as in Vorkuta? i.e.,
mainly Article 58 convicts, although there were also some camps in
which common criminal prisoners were represented, i.e., those
sentenced other than under Article 58. For that reason, the
personal and physical condition of the people inhabiting these
camps was considerably weaker, i.e., the percentage of sick and
disabled was considerably higher. It may essentially be said that
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4,J
in the Dubramacamp there were almost no Category 1 workers, of
which there were a great many in Vorkuta. Hence a great many
were incapacitated, both because of unfitness for work and advanced
age. Here the mood was completely different. It should be said
that in the Dubravaa camp sentiments were not at all so radical
as in Vorkuta. This is explained by the fact, as I later learned,
that within a year after my departure a wave of military (?)
uprisings had spread all over the northern part of the Soviet Union,
including Vorkuta. There were no such uprisings in the Dubravaa
camp. However, when our transport was leaving, many Russian
prisoners said that they were only waiting for us foreigners to
leave, and then they would raise a commotion here that would be
more orderly than in Vorkuta. But these were the words just of
prisoners who had arrived in the camp from Vorkuta.
With respect to proportions, the proportion of foreign prisoners
in the Dubravaa camp was, generally speaking, higher than in Vorkuta.
In Vorkuta, it should be stated, the foreigners -- I am counting
both foreigners and inhabitants of the people's democracies,
but I am not counting those from, say, Lithuania, Latvia, and
Estonia, which were formally annexed to the Soviet Union --
constituted approximately five percent (of the camp population], no
more. In the Dubravaa camp the percentage of foreigners was
higher: about 10-12 percent, and for some time -- for example,
the 11th camp division, where I was -- it was, generally speaking,
reserved for foreigners, i.e., 80 percent of its inmates were not
Soviet citizens, but mainly Germans, Hungarians, Rumanians, Turks,
Frenchmen, and representatives of a few other minorities, of whom
there were not very many.
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L.
la?filAt
When I was in the Dubravya system I because of the deteriorated
state of my health, was placed in the ninth camp division, the
so-called central hospital. Here in Dubravaa people were saying
rather openly that some camp reforms were being prepared. Such
talk occurred even before the death of Stalin. When, then, in the
spring of 1953 Stalin died, everyone unanimously began to say
that great changes were now to be expected, both in world politics
and in the Soviet Union, and, of course, first of all in the camp
system. And, as a matjer of fact, changes were not long in coming.
First of all, an amnesty was proclaimed, a Supreme Soviet ukase
pardoning those convicted under the criminal statutes with the
exception, I believe, of those serving especially long terms and
those convicted for murder or something similar. The mass of these
prisoners poured out into freedom. The result, according to
Information transmitted from the outside, was most undesirable.
Nowhere in a railroad station is it possible to leave a suitcase;
In an instant it is stolen. The people were a little disillusioned.
Later, an amnesty for those sentenced under Article 58 to terms of
three years or less was proclaimed. This amnesty brought nothing
but the most profound disillusionment. As everyone knows perfectly
well, the proportion of people sentenced under Article 58 to terms
of three years or less cannot be more than one in a thousand. For
example, during all my eight years [imprisonment], I believe that
I actually encountered only one such person. Even that was not
certain. Thds? the result of this was practically nothing. Then
came silence, though persistent rumors circulated that there was
to be more leniency in the camps. On the heels of these, indeed,
came the downfall of Beriya, in June 1953. The following incident
took place in our camp division: a convoy guard ordered a brigade
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rtc)mr..1107P,
ur0:911L.L.:
going out to work to fall into columns of fours. One place remained
vacant. Then he said, "Anybody, fill in this place!" One of the
prisoners turned around to him and said, smilingly that we were
saving this place especially for Beriya. Holy terror was mirrored
In the face of this guard, as though some sacrilege had been uttered.
"All right," the guard said, "rust wait; I'll fix you right now."
And he ran back to the guard post to report this. Someone came out
of there and began to shout. Then the prisoners rather maliciously
said to him, "Pardon us for saying so, commander, sir, but you do
not listen very carefully to the radio." Just at this time the
latest news, which came on at 0730, began to be broadcast, and
the confused guards, in view of the circumstances, went back without
taking any repressive measures. The majority of camp inmates,
however, reacted rather skeptically toward the fall of Beriya. They
simply said, "One fiend has eaten another." In reality, nothing
good was expected. Everyone was glad that the man who had, without
question, spilled an ocean of blood had been punished and destroyed,
but in reality, most of the camp inmates, with their inherent
skepticism, believed that no substantial changes would or could
come. However, everyone expected something to happen. Subsequently,
there came an amnesty for the so-called "maloletki," i.e., individuals
who had committed their crimes before the age of maturity, age
twenty-one. Their convictions were set aside and they were allowed
to return home. This was an amnesty solely for Soviet citizens.
In the summer of 1953, however, foreigners began to be assembled,
particularly the Germans. We (fl found out about this. The first
transports left for the West. I believe that a transport of 1,500
Germans departed from Dubrava camp. Following these came transports
of Hungarians, Rumanians, and other nationalities. Liberated most
of all and on several occasions were the Poles.
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7,14
It should be said that in Potima the attitude of the population
was also very good, though not the same as in Vorkuta. Former
prisoners [in Vorkuta], they considered themselves 50 percent camp
inmates and simply caused disturbances for the administration,
guards, and military personnel. The attitude in Pot'ma, and,
generally speaking, in Mordovia, in the villages located near the
camps was somewhat different. Here there were very few people who
had served time in camps, but all around, instead, were a poor
kolkhoz and sovkhoz population and railroad workers who earned
very poorly. The camp inmates noted a very good and truly cordial
attitude toward them on the part of this entire populace. It should
be mentioned that none of the surrounding population could, of course,
help the camp inmates, since Mordovia was in general one of the
poorer autonomous republics of the Soviet Union and the majority of
the people were hardly any better off than the camp inmates. For
instance, it was known quite well that at one time bread was not
portioned out but was left over. Everyone was entitled to receive
700 grams of bread, yet there was bread left over. Therefore, a
large tray simply lay in the dining hall, on which was placed
some sliced-up bread and everyone coming for breakfast, dinner,
or supper would take as much as he needed. Some even fed horses
and pigeons there, for which they were prosecuted [?] Thus, it
Is known that a large number of civilians, such as nurses [?], and
many others, would simply come with bags and take bread out of the
camp; they would be very satisfied. Having the personal opportunity
to obtain material at the furniture factory, the gauze [marlya, in
Russian] with which sofas were upholstered, simply rags, I frequently
gave away the rags to free people, including guards, to be used as
foot cloths. Here, they say, after all, foot cloths don't lie on
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UNFIBilkit
the streets, you have to buy them, they cost something. Just the
same, here they are obtained for nothing.
The populace was dressed very poorly. Often I was asked by
many people, since I worked at the time in a laundry, to, say, wash
their linens for them for nothing. I would ask, "But,why, don't
you have a laundry?" They would say that they had to wash things
themselves, for there was no laundry. Besides that, soap costs
something, and you manage somehow. See, you save another ruble.
Just as a favor. For this, a civilian would buy fats, which were
not available in the camp storelfor me. It should be said that he
could not buy much for me, because the store in the village of Pot'ma
was really not much better in goods than the camp store, i.e., it
contained just those things which no one needed: magnificent
perfumes, eau de cologne, and elastic suspenders; a suit for 1,800
rubles could be bought, but butter, sugar, fats, and white bread
were nowhere at all.
I should like to add a few words concerning relations among
the nationalities. In camp the situation was generally as follows:
in camp there is only one enemy -- the Soviet regime. Everyone
considers himself equally victimized and outcast. This was especially
so, of course, in the Stalin period. I saw the most unbelievable
friendly companies, where two Jews, former inmates of German
concentration camps, were on amiable and intimate terms and ate
together with two former SS-men and with one Frenchman, who turned
up by chance in camp. They were bosom friends. In camp the situation
was such that if there was a necessity to clear up some problem,
it would always be possible to ask the appropriate expert. For
example, say you are interested in the situation in German
concentration camps, haw Jews were treated there by the Germans.
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You immediately call an appropriate Jew, who you know had been there,
and a German, and a discussion ensues. If you do not know how
guards in the concentration camps treated people, then you call
some former SS-man who had served as a guard, and, in a completely
friendly manner, while sipping tea, they sit down together and thrash
out this matter. There is almost no animosity. They criticize,
but do not hate, amtanother. For example, almost everyone agreed
that the policies of, let us say, Germany during the war and
particularly of Hitler, himself, had been wrong, but no one sees
an evil design. A man's prestige rises in proportion to the extent
that he has damaged the Soviet Union. The more he has done this,
the more authority he enjoys in camp. There is, of course, no
national antagonism or enmity. The only clash that may occur is in
personal interests. For example, there were several Afghans there
who built themselves a musical instrument right in the barracks
and for hours on end would strum plaintive melodies on it. This,
of course, acts somewhat upon the nerves. Sometimes a clash would
occur, for example, if someone wanted to read while others wanted
to sleep and put out the light. There are these thingsabut national
discord, as such, does not exist. It must be said that the
representatives of the various nationalities who have been in camps
inspired one another with deep respect, and a cultural influence
was even notable. I, for example, saw with my own eyes many
Germans studying Russian and learning a great many things of which
they had previously been unaware.
1 the same thing
was true with the Russians and Ukrainians. A cultured person who
wished to occupy himself in something in camp could always engage
in anything he wished, even in the study of Chinese. I worked
together with Koreans and knew a German who studied Korean diligently
for a year and, I believe, learned it rather well.
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25X1
general impressions concerning feelings in the
concentration camps of the Soviet Union.
In the first place, my feelings and my impressions concerning
concentration camps of the Soviet Union are purely subjectitre, because
I was in two Camp systems altogether; specifically, in two systems
of strictly regimented camps, first in Vorkuta in the so-called
oSs?
systemkregimented camps of the river camp, and then in Mordoviya
near the station of Porma [?] in the system of the strictly regimented
camps of the so-called Dubravnyy [?] MVD Camp.
The general impressions and feelings in the camps now can be
described by one word: disillusionment. After the death of the head
of the government of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, everyone
instinctively felt that the entire Soviet nation would be faced with
very important and) in the present circumstance, perfectly unavoidable,
a
reforms. These reforms were to have unvoidably affected the camps,
A
especially since rumors had been circulating that within the Soviet
government there were many who were highly dissatisfied with the
state of affairs of these vast masses of prisoners. And indeed, the
first thing that occurred was an amnesty for prisoners, the so-called
common criminals, that is, persons convicted for [non-political]
criminal offences. Then followed a reform of amnesty of Article 58;
namely, of persons sentenced up to three years according to Article 58;
nothing was given to anyone, since the number of such people was
quite negigible, perhaps even less, let us say, than one percent, or
about one person in one thousand [sic], because under Article 58, as
a rule, a sentence of less than 10 years is never given. Then further
relaxations ensued. The regimen was eased. Then occurred the release
from the camp of so-called juveniles; that is, persons convicted under
Article 58 when they were under 21 years of age; that is, when they
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had not yet attained their legal majority. A certain number of people
fell under this category, but only a portion of them were sent home,
in spite of the fact that the ukase said that all of them had to be
sent hame; such was the order of the Soviet government. Many of them
were sent to the East, to exile in Krasnoyarskiy Kray, and in regard
to this it was said quite clearly that this was arbitrariness on the
part of the lower, local4camp administration. Then followed further
indulgences in the camps, in particular the amnesty or release of invalids;
that is, disabled persons. Medical examinations, called "kontsovkin
in the camp language, took place. The intention_of the administration
was clearly manifested: to limit the number of invalids;. A number
of totally disabled persons, who obviously, theist if everything had
proceeded in accordance with the law, had the right to be invalids and
who could have been sent home, were not recognized as invalids ? The
case was even more complicated with the invalids than :with the persons
who had been amnestied previously; and indeed, same invalids were
not allowed to return home at all. This happened in instances where
the family or rayon refused to accept the invalids as such. They
were then sent to so-called invalid homes, which were nothing but
the very same barracks or building put up comparatively well.
A resident of an invalid home has the right to move approximately to
the rayon of the given village. There they live in common roams; that
is, so to speak, the same as barracks; they do not have their own rooms,
but it is, of course, better than in the camp. Generally speaking,
the invalid home, because of its mild features, represents a golden
cage. Of course, it does not suit the majority of people, because
everyone wantsf,to have Axil freedom, or at least to live with his own
family. The war invalids as such had already been sent to the East,
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tAIWTY".
namely to Krasnoyarskiy Kray or even to the virgin lands, in spite of
the fact that they had protested in the summer. Here the administration
of the given camp system was usually the deciding authority, and the
invalids being released felt quite clearly that they essentially were
being subjected to arbitrary rule; that is, that anything could be
done with them. It is perfectly inexplicable why same were sent home
to their place of residence or to their own family, and othercwere
sent elsewhere. ladle the initial period of the new government was
linked with great expectations, and everyone said that things could
not be worse than they had been under the government of Stalin ?
especially did spirits rise after the exposure of the Beriya plot ?
all these reforms, which embraced a very small number of persons and
which, moreover, were carried out quite disgracefully, even from the
organizational and bureaucratic point of view -- all these reforms
led to the greatest disillusionment Tar all the prisoners in the
camps. All things considered, not more than 10 perr'cent of the camp
inmates were affected by these reforms of Article 58. It is true that
a rather large number of people were released from the camps; these
were people who had been arrested approximately in the period of 1943,
1944, and 1945; that is, when the Soviet Army advanced after the
sudden change on the front and after the Stalingrad victory. These
people, as a rule, had not received more than 10 years, and in about
'54 and '55 they finished their sentences and went their normal way,
namely, Krasnoyarskiy Kray, and part of them went to Irkutsk....
to eastern Kazakhstan, or finally to the regions of the virgin and
unfallowed lands. As for the current condition in the camps, in
regard to the Fall of 1554
one should note a quite distinct tendency of extremely deep disappointment.
Morale had distinctly fallen. No one counts on anything anymore. In
September, 1955, a further reform took lace, namels the amnesty of
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prisoners who had collaborated with the German authorities or with
the allies of so-called Fascist Germany during the [second] world
war; that is, from 1941 to 1945. The convictions of all of these
persons were to be revoked with the exception of certain paragraphs
of Article 58, namely: 58-8, that is, terror. If I am not
mistaken, it seems to be under both the paragraph of diversion and
paragraph 13. Strange as it may seem, it is under the sixth paragraph,
which,isvIthink, the most severe; but in this whole ukase of the
Supreme Soviet the stipulation is made that the persons who were
implicated or had personally taken part or done something in respect
to the abuse and torture of Soviet citizens, are not subject to the
reform. It is perfectly well-known to everyone however, that in
regard to every person who had collaborated with the Germans, that is,
who had worked either in German organs of civil administration, in
organs of the police administration4or finally with the German Army,
they usually write in any investigation that he had insulted someone,
struck someone, or put someone in prison. And this is interpretable:
ar4
expressly as torture of Soviet citizens. The people whoAcompletely
,inek
unprejudiced)well-in4P0Med andhpessimists say that on the 'basis
of this reform not more than five percent would leave the camps, e.g.,
oi
in the camp where I was, namely the second camp divisionhthe Dubravnyy
MVD Camp in the Nordovskaya RSSR, of the 1,500 persons staying.. in this
camp, approximately 50-70 persons or a maximum of 100 would go free
on the basis of this reform. Everyone waiting in the camps.
Nevertheless there is disillusionment in the camps; everyone sees that
within the Soviet government two schools are clearly struggling: on
the one hand the Soviet government understands perfectly well the
impossibility of the further existence of the camps. For example, the
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maximum figure cited to me for people in the camps was 42 million
persons; the minimum, 25 million. I never heard less than the latter
nor more than the former figures. .
These figures were cited to me by all camp inmates and prisoners
of the most diverse views, from people who, despite their confinement,
still considered themselves supporters of the Communist regime to
the so-called hardened Fascists, who considered themselves sworn and
implacable foes of the Soviet regime.
It is also said that during this period prior to 1955 the number
of persons arrested under Article 58 fell sharply. The great wave
of arrests surged throughout the country only after the downfall
of Beriya and of his, so to speak, supporters. The number of persons .
executed, was estimated at several hundred, and the number of persons
arrested, allegedly numbering 5000 to 7000, were placed in special
camps. Not a single supporter of Beriya, that is, a person arrested
in connection with the Beriya ease, has been, discovered either in the
general camps, in the exile settlements, or in the closed prisons.
They are kept somewhere in special places. These people simply do not
appear. Moreover, according to certain information, a whole network
of new camps is springing up, namely in the extreme north of Siberia,
on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. This conforms fully with the Soviet
camp system; it is a known fact that from the very inception of the
Soviet government, the camps have been continuously advancing toward
the north. While camps were established in Korea, for example, or in
the Solovkas 25 years ago there are no camps there now. In the last
15 to 20 years camps have begun to spring up in Vorkuta. Already
the Vorkuta camp system and the whole northern, central, and southern
Urals, which are completely covered with camps, belong to a system
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of outdated camps. The land has already been conquered, and according
to unconfirmed rumors, it is true, subsequent new camps are springing
up in northern Siberia, mainly along the coast of the Arctic Ocean,
in the Vrangell Islands, in the Novosibirsk Islands, etc. It is
vigorously stated that not only are prisoners convicted according to
Article 58, being brought here but also common criminals, that is, the
so-called camp "blatnyy" element, people who have long been accustomed
to camps and continue to carry on criminal activities in the camps.
Question: Of the prisoners wham you have met, do a large percentage
of those convicted under Article 58 consider themselves enemies of the
present regime?
As a rule, almost all of them consider themselves enemies of the
present regime in some form or another. There are very few people
convicted under Article 58 who still consider themselves supporters
of the present regime and who believe that, as they say, a legal
or organizational error had simply occurred. The number of such
people is insignificantly small. Usually they are former members of
the party and many of them are among those who were let us say, unjustly
arrested by individuals who today have been exposed by the Soviet
regime, namely Beriya and Abakumov. Did you not haze occasion to
meet one or two persons convicted in the so-called Leningrad case,
who later were rehabilitated? Yes, that is quite true. These people,
as before, remained loyal to the Soviet regime. There are many people,
it is true, who harbor a grudge and pretend in camp to be Soviet
patriots, hoping to improve their condition. But insofar as we are
speaking of genuine feelings, certainly the shortcomings, negative
qualities, and the essence of the Soviet regime are completely clear
to them,,
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Question: What approximate percentage do the political prisoners
constitute in the Soviet concentration camps?
Political ciminals, if the general mass of all prisoners is taken,
that is, of all those people in the camps, including the strictly
regimented, the not strictly regimented, and the concentration camps,
that is, if the total range of all the people is taken, from the most
severe to the most lenient regimes, then we must estimate an approximate
percentage of 50 to 60 percent, or, one might say, one-half.
Approximately 40 percent belong to those convicted under the ordinary
articles, which, however, may very easily be added in with Article
58, because in the Soviet Union a violation of the criminal laws is
also a special type of ant nf ar-essinn against the Soviet government.
It should be mentioned that the most common criminals wham I met in
the exile settlements, that is, the clearly criminal element, for
example, thieves murderers, housebreakers and burglars - all say
frankly that the Soviet government does not let them alone. "It took
everything from me; my father was a victim of the collectiviation
program, and I have no other way or possibility of fighting the Soviet
regime. They took everything from me, and I am going to take what I
can from them." That, in general, is the theme of those convicted
under the ordinary articles. It is true that there are certain others
among them who say that it makes no difference to us what sort of government
prevails. Any government will imprison us, and of course we will
not stop engaging in cripinal offences under any government.
But those, generally speaking, are in the minority. The majority
of criminal offenders believe that they fell beneath the wheel of
criminal elements of the regime and that none of them would have been
a thief or a criminal, and would not be serving time if the situation
in the country were not completely abnormal.
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L
QActstiog: Did you meet any in the camps who had been convicted
preseht
for active opposition to the emboirimg regime, opposition of a
political nature?
Unquestionably. It is, of course, rather difficult to answer
this question, because first we must agree upon what is meant by
"active opposition". In the period of the dictatorship of Stalin,Lit
was enough to have spoken a few words about some person, or simply to
displease someone or merely to allow oneself some trick against a
high4p, and one was convicted under Article 58. And this, from the
point of view of the Soviet regime, was considered active opposition.
Nevertheless, these people cannotjof course, be considered direct
convicts; they simply fell under the wheel of the political machine.
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..?mc
But there are other individuals; for example, in the camps there is a
very numerous element of, first of all, those who collaborated during
World War II with the German authorities. The majority of these people
collaborated Completely from the ideological point of view and not at
all from considerations of personal or material advantages, so much the
more so since personal and material advantage was very insignificant.
A large number of people after the end of the war began to oppose the
Soviet regime ideologically. Strange as it seems, these often were
people who were Soviet soldiers and officers during World War II, i.e.,
they had quite sincerely defended their homeland, i.e., they considered
it their primary duty to defeat the external enemy in order that the
Russian state as suchh e preserved in general, even the red dictatorship
of Stalin. Then they proceeded to fulfill their next aspirations and
desires, namely, to achieve domestic reforms and modifications of those
reforms which the Soviet regime had so generously promised during the
World War. Strangely enough, I had occag:ion,: to meet people who had
received the highest orders and awards, Soviet soldiers and officers who
literally had reached Berlin triumphantly.
QUESTION: Were there many Soviet army servicemen?
Very many. The percentage of servicemen during the World War II
period was extremely high. The number of regular army soldiers and
officers was, strange as it seems, particularly large. It was these
regulars, i.e., individuals on whom lay the general burden of World War II,
who saw that victory had not brought the people liberation or fulfillment
of their hopes, who believed that these were different times, began to
protest in one way or another, and sometimes simply resorted to openly
tactics,
counterrevolutionary ,toikrior.
After the war, the Soviet Union was covered with a large number of
the most diverse anti-Soviet organizations. The majority of them, in
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?ci0,.._
regard to conspiratory and revolutionary matters, were not up to par,
i.e., they were established by inexperienced people and very frequently
failed. It is absolutely necessary to mention the sharp and deep
antagonism remaining to this day within the regular army, and among the
police organs, i.e., the MOB organs, Ministry of State Security, and
Ministry of Internal Affairs. I know a considerable number of anecdotes,
for example, of a:.certain lieutenant colonel who was4herrepairing
machine authorized for the operations of a certain motorized corps and
despite his high rank as commander of this corps, was literally scolded
half-jokingly in his office for repairing his own machine. When he
said, "I beg your pardon, but the order was given and signed by you; I
cannot help but repair its" Using some strong expressionsjthe other said,
"Don't you know what to do in such a case? Simply say that no spare
parts are available and nothing can be repaired. Let it be repaired as
you wish. Now we must obtain spare parts."
Such occurences are very frequent. The army is not very fond of
the police apparatus. This is evident in the entire regular army.
QUESTION: Did you have instances of personal encounters with leaders of
the various anti-Soviet organizations created after the war
in the Soviet Union?
First, I should like to say a few words about organizations going
under the all-Russian flag, i.e., of Russian organizations. When I went
to Vorkuta in 1950, a group of students of Moscow State University imeni
Lomonosov went with me. This group consisted of young demobilized of-
ficers. There were a few soldiers. They had formed a small counter-
revolutionary group without even a special name, with a very simple
objective: to overthrow the Soviet regime. They no longer considered
themselves Marxists. They wanted the conversion of the Soviet Union into
a national state.
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QUESTION: Overthrow it by what means?
By revolutionary and combat means. This was a purely conspirative
military group with all the attributes and characteristic features of
such. Unfortunately it did not have adequate skill in regard to con-
spiracy. Finally, a traitor was found. Everyone received 25 years each
and departed.
QUESTION: Was this group large?
I saw a few of them. As far as I know this group contained a few
dozen men. Generally, there were a great many such groups. One thing
in general was evident after the war: this was an ideological recoil
and departure of Soviet academic youth from under the influence of the
Communist Party. The rising academic generation has broken away or is
attempting to break away from Marxism. This is especially strong among
students of the philosophy faculties.
QUESTION: And what are their ideological aims?
These aims, it is necessary to say, are rather hazy. It is very
difficult to speak of a developed ideology, So much the more so since
I found them in the exile settlements in very difficult straits. But
they all had one aspiration: the preservation of the unity of the
Soviet Union, but on democratic principles, in order that the people
might really have a genuine opportunity to govern themselves and to take
some part in the government; transition to a lawful state; andIfinsi%
the introduction of a number of reforms. Despite all differences, every-
thing narrows down to aim: the liquidation of the kolkhoz system, which
1"06t
they consider us the basic evil of the Soviet State; and second to get
A
rid, finally, of state capitalism in the economic field, i.e. to give
an opportunity to private initiative, within limits, of course.
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E Wialia
In regard to the concentration camps, they all, naturally, atm at com-
plete liquidation of the latter. They feel that the concentration camps
may be retained for a certain time only for the strongly pronounced
criminal element. In the Soviet Union, unfortunately, this element,
which is in no way reeducatable, is absolutely enormous. There is a
vast number of professional criminals whom it is simply impossible to
set free. As for the conviction, as a matter of principle, of all
political enemies, all these individuals were opposed to it. It must be
stated, of course, that in the Soviet Union there exist small opposition
and even revolutionary groups which still have not broken with Marxism.
These groups are encountered chiefly in student circles.
QUESTION: Of which cities?
In Moscow, in Leningrad, and in university towns of Siberia. To
my personal knowledge, there are less of them in the Ukraine, where
other groupings prevail. These people have not yet broken with Marxism.
They believe that the world actually is progressing according to the
Marxist theory, that the laws of changing formations, which Marx dis-
covered, are unshakable and correct, and that Lenin carried out the
correct policy, but with his death the predatory lawless Stalin regime
distorted this line, and therefore, the entire task consisted in return-
ing to the Leninist course. It is true that they have certain doubts.
They do not picture Marxism at all as it is officially interpreted in
the Soviet Union. Besides these small groups there are innumerable groups
which have definitely broken with Marxism. This element is the most
literate and most intellectual youth, often of the philosophy faculties,
which simply had formally completed a course in logic, and from the
point of view of logical construction and preparation, had proceeded to
a criticism of Marx. It saw that what was written in this allegedly
not
unshakable doctrine not only wasebsolutely correct, and was not an unshakable
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law, but often contradicted the most common elementary human logic.
A criticism of Marxism developed in them. It is true their own ideologi-
cal equipment is weak, because it is very difficult in the Soviet Union
to fashion an ideology. It is impossible to print or write anything or
to publish a single printed work in which the ideology of a given group
is set forth. Nevertheless such clandestine works exist, and, as I was
told, not only political ones. There allegedly exists unprinted in the
Soviet Union a considerable amount of fictional literature, quite fre-
quently by young authors, which simply cannot be printed because no
publishing house will accept it. They go into the hands of [word
illegible].., or simply they are kept hidden. There are a considerable
number of unpublished poets, for example, who are far more talented
then the official Soviet luminaries, not excluding Konstantin Simonov and
others. The same situation prevails with political ideology. Neverthe-
less, the ideological equipment of all of these small groups is rather
weak. These groups are usually transitory. They are broken up, con-
vitted)and sent away to camps. But in spite of this, it must be said,
they are not discouraged. The morale of all of them, especially the
youth, is exceptionally cheerful and optimistic. They all believe that
they will not be in confinement for long and during interrogations and
under questioning they act very heroically and far more sta+ly than the
so-called older generation.
QUESTION: What is the attitude of both these imprisoned groups and the
general mass of prisoners toward the idea of revolution and
forcible overthrow of the present regime?
Youth and anti-Soviet groupings which do not belong to the category
of those sailing under the Marxist flag believe that the overthrow of
the Soviet regime can be accomplished only by means of force. They do
not believe either in evolution or in gradual change. They know Soviet
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eirm .,f111:Zti.711141,1
Uii? .1 ill
reality too well for this. Concerning Leninists, the Leninists often,
I shall not undertake to state a general... they still believe in the
possibility of preserving the Soviet regime and in particular in the
possibility of reforms and evolutionary change. They frequently lay
emphasis upon certain circles in the top echelon, inume of the Soviet
government, base themselves sometimes on Marshal Zhukov, sometimes on
Molotov, some3times on someone else, believing that these people will
begin from above to effect a change in the Soviet regime in the direction
necessary for them. As for those groups which have broken with Marxism,
they generally take a sober view of things and they do not in any event
count upon any help from above.
QUESTION: Did you or your friends encounter anti-Soviet literature the:1-e
in the concentration camps?
No.
QUESTION: [How about] lists of any kind, leaflets, proclamations?
I heard of them, but I did not personally see any. I saw one man
who told me rather vaguely that -- this was in 1954, approximately one
year before, that is, about in 19531?he had come across an anti-Soviet
leaflet. He was at that time still free. He was lying sick in the
hospital. Exactly what was in the leaflet, he was unable to tell me.
But doubtlessly such leaflets turn up, although in rather smell numbers.
However, I cannot say, for the Soviet people are very secretive and very
disciplined in this regard; so I cannot say anything here.
QUESTION: What do you know of uprisings in the concentration camps of
Vorkuta, Nori1's17nd. other places? What do they say about
this in the camps?
I personally did not participate in uprisings because I [left?]
Vorkuta [remainder of sentence not reproduced on photostat].
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aVITIAL
iba
I was suddenly taken to an "etap" [halting-place], and I thought
I was going to an interrogation in Moscow; but I turned up here in the
Mordovskaya system of camps of the river camp. Then soon after this
came the death of Stalin. And after this there was a very misambritUipt.
atmosphere in the camp. It is necessary to say that during 1951-52 the
situation in the camps in Vorkuta, as everywhere in general, became
very much worse. Not only labor camp prisoners, who always wore numbers,
but also ZIC [7] prisoners, who previously had worn the designation of
the given camp system) --for example, as a prisoner of the MVD river
camp in Vorkuta, I wore a letter "R" [in Russian,"Pn] approximately ten
centimeters in size on my left sleeve -- received numbers. This of
course strongly embittered and discouraged everybody. They began to
e
revert to what had been changed in about 44-45-46, namely, to lock up
the barracks. Naturally, this was a terrible thing. The barracks were
overcrowded with people and, as a rule, there is no bathroom in the
barracks. To satisfy physical needs, a chamber-pot box is installed.
There was a stench in the camp and ih:general this was a dondition which
weighed terribly against the everyday life of the prisoners. It was
forbidden, when the barracks were unlocked, [-to go] from one barracks to
another, a restriction which, of course, strongly embittered the prisoners.
All of these things brought about the isiandiftsui atmosphere in the camps.
Later, of course, the camp administration permitted itself a number of
other measures, and at this time,,beginning with 1951, wages for labor
had been introduced, but they started to act very arbitrarily with the
payments, i.e., they raised the norm so that in essence you earn and
work but get nothing to show for it. Then, about 1953, as far as I
know from eye-witnesses, a wave of uprisings broke out in Vorkuta and
other places throughout the north. Properly speaking, the uprisings
had not been prepared. The aim was only to demand that the [camp iciiic11411111117621)
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the prisoners to live as genuine human beings and that the letter of
the law be Observed. In view of the protest they at first stopped
going to work; they formed committees, called in camp jargon, "po-
khoroshemu" ["in a friendly way"], and wanted to talk with the admin-
istration. They began to request that representatives be sent from
Moscow. The camp authorities at first became frightened; they tried to
act as always by deception; by persuasion: "go to work," "don't worry",
"disperse", "surrender the instigators and all the rest of you will be
satisfied." Having already been tricked many times, the prisoners did
not believe this. They ceased work and the mines actually stopped.
Then reprisals began to be applied. A large number of mines were sur-
rounded by troops. Machine guns and mortars were set up; in particular,
such was the case at Mine 29... They opened fire. The total number
killed in the northern part of European Russia who perished in the camps
during this uprising is computed at 1500-2000 men. Approximately two
or three times as many were wounded. The usual measures for suppression
were applied beginning with shooting and ending in one camp, if I am not
mistaken, in Campl6 of the MVD river camp in Vorkuta. The camp was sur-
rounded by a cordon of troops, about two battalions. There was no
shooting; they suddenly cut the wire and from all sides stormed into the
camp armed with hard objects and butt-stocks; i.e., they were armed but
did not shoot, only beat up the prisoners unmercifully. Nearby was
J-tr"
located the camping common criminals; those sentenced for criminal [i.e.,
non-political] crimes. They all went to the fence and watched what was
happening. Then the Article 58 prisoners shouted, 'What is the matter
with you scoundrels?"T-with stronger expressions ,?"they beat us and you
watch?" The common criminals broke the fence, overturned it, burst into
the camp, and attacked the wounded soldiers. Several scores of soldiers
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were wounded so that the battle ended not at all successfully for the
troops, because shooting was apparently forbidden. In other camps as a
result of such slaughters, very many people were killed. Because of
the butt-stocks people remained with broken bones and broken skulls.
After this it is necessary to tell of reprisals. Many people were
sent to penal camps and other places. Where they are is not precisely
known. Many were sent to-closed prisons. A small percentage was ex-
ecuted, the so-called instigators.
QUESTION: Do you know of a repetition of the uprisings and disturbances
in the camp system in 1954 and 1955?
Yes, disturbances have been going on since then, flaring up periodically
in different places. They ended in Vorkuta; later uprisings took place
in camps of the so-called.., although they were less intensive, and
generally throughout the entire system of regimented camps and even the
unregimented ones located along this very Vorkuta-Kirov railroad magistral
in the so-called Komi ASSR, which is full of camp systems. These up-
risings occurred also in Siberia, in the north. One Lettish physician,
after his release told about them. These uprisings occurred in the
North, If I am not mistaken, of the Obskaya Guba [Bay], in the north of
the Yenisey, even further beyond the Artie Circle than Vorkuta. There
also was shooting here and many were killed. The authorities effected
a number of reforms: numerals were abolished, the practice of locking
the barracks was discontinued, prisoners were permitted outside the
limits of the camp, a system of so-called "bezkonvoyniki" [unescorted
prisoners] which had existed earlier in broader form, was instituted;
their number was increased, and many prisoners were simply granted the
privilege of living outside the limits of the camp, merely showing up
to register, if I am not mistaken, at a police station or designated
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Utaiti Eatosl't
place; i.e., the authorities exhibited a tendency toward distinctly
placating the prisoners. Since that time. uprisings in the camps have
not ended but go on incessantly. The most recent uprisings of which I
heard were in the summer of 1955, about May and June. I witnessed one
somewhere in Siberia and another in the northern part of the Komi ASSR.
On what scale, I cannot say exactly, because the number of people who
had arrived from outside into the camps where I was, as very large.
But in any case, uprisings occur uontinuously.
QUESTION: Please tell us of the hierarchial system which exists in the
concentration camps. You mentioned prisoners of the Ts. K.
[Central Committee?). Haw do they differ, and in general,
how is the administrative system as well as the distribution
of prisoners according to the articles of the criminal code
tandjorganized,lin general what is the system of these....
? As it is known, the Soviet Union is a nation of camps. The system
is extremely large. In the first place, there are three [sic] categories
of camps: regimented camps and unregimented camps. People sentenced
under Article 58 for longer than a certain term, longer than ten years,
go?as a rule,to the so-called regimented camps. There the routine is
more strict. If a certain prisoner had made some slip, then he goes to
the so-called double-regimented camp. There the routine is still stricter,
with a large number of other drawbacks for the prisoner. If the prisoner
in som.sPay here) too... for example, con nit some murder or periodically
violates camp discipline and especially indulges in acts of violence [word
illegible] upon prisoners but upon the camp administrative staff, then
he may land in the so-called penal chain gangs. Such camps exist where
prisoners go around all day long in shackles and upon whose personnel
files appears the notation: "in case of slightest infraction, execute."
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I personally saw one such prisoner upon whose file this appeared. He
saw it himself. He succeeded in getting out of it. Camps exist which
are enveloped in complete silence. People sent to these camps do not
have the right to correspond; they are simply crossed out of life.
Materially, they do not live very badly in these camps, I believe.
However, they do not work. These are small camps containing usually a
few hundred men, but not more than 500. Where they are located, no one
knows, for, while people serve time there, hardly anyone ever comes back.
Then in another direction: from regimented camps it is possible to
transfer to the unregimented. In a non-regimented camp, discilline is
considerably more lax. Seeing relatives is permitted, i.e., your wife
can come to visit you, and you can live with her for a certain period
of time if you have been fulfilling the norms and are generally on
good terms with the camp administration in regard to discipline.
In such camps a special little house is built, the so-called "hotel"
or "guest house." Of course, there are many other, unprintable,
names [for it; in the camp. Some of them are not badly laid out,
with tiny, separate cabins. Others, on the contrary, are very poorly
laid out, where you and your wife have to live under the eyes of five
or six other couples, which, of course, is very difficult and very
unpleasant. Then there are camps with lax regimens. In these camps
there is a very large percentage of so-called "bezkonvoynyye"
46unescorteds!7, who are privileged to go outside the camp to work
without escort. There is a considerable number of other leniencies
there. For example, very often volunteer artists visit there. From
there permission is very simply given to live outside the borders of
the camp. In some such camps there does not even exist a tower guard
made up of service troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but a
so-celledsamokhrana" 27iself-defense, made up of the prisoners
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I personally saw one such prisoner upon whose file this appeared. He
saw it himself. He succeeded in getting out of it. Camps exist which
are enveloped in complete silence. People sent to these camps do not
have the right to correspond; they are simply crossed out of life.
Materially, they do not live very badly in these camps, I believe.
However, they do not work. These are small camps containing usually a
few hundred men, but not more than 500. Where they are located, no one
knows, for, while people serve time there, hardly anyone ever comes back.
Then in another direction: from regimented camps it is possible to
transfer to the unregimented. In a non-regimented camp, discilline is
considerably more lax. Seeing relatives is permitted, i.e., your wife
can come to visit you, and you can live with her for a certain period
of time if you have been fulfilling the norms and are generally on
good terms with the camp administration in regard to discipline.
In such camps a special little house is built, the so-called "hotel"
or "guest house." Of course, there are many other, unprintable,
names [for it; in the camp. Some of them are not badly laid out,
with tiny, separate cabins. Others, on the contrary, are very poorly
laid out, where you and your wife have to live under the eyes of five
or six other couples, which, of course, is very difficult and very
unpleasant. Then there are camps with lax regimens. In these camps
there is a very large percentage of so-called "bezkonvoynyye"
46unescorteds!7, who are privileged to go outside the camp to work
without escort. There is a considerable number of other leniencies
there. For example, very often volunteer artists visit there. From
there permission is very simply given to live outside the borders of
the camp. In some such camps there does not even exist a tower guard
made up of service troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but a
so-celledsamokhrana" 27iself-defense, made up of the prisoners
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L.
number on their backs, caps, and right knees, which they are never
allowed to remove. I know of a case of a convict--a certain sick
convict traveled with me--who was being treated in connection with
his obviously poor state of health and had arrived with me in the
Mordovian system of camps of the Dubrava camp. Simply to amuse me,
he threw his cap with the number on the front, out of the train;
and in two days the cap was delivered to him in Gorkiy It had
been found and picked up. His identity was traced through the number,
and the cap was brought to him; the name of convict so-and-so had
already been recorded, so that everything was done in order
the possible escape of prisoners. I 'Would not have believee this,
but I saw it with my own eyes.
QUESTION: How were the prisoners classified socially?
In regard to classes....It must be said that if we take the camp
system as a state within a state in the Soviet Union, then the pro-
portion of intellectuals in the camp is higher than on the outside.
It is especially high, of course, in the labor and regimentee camps,
i.e. in the stricter camps, excluding, of course, the chain-gangs,
where only criminals land, so it is very high. Thus, the more severe
the penalty and the stricter the camp, the higher the number of intel-
lectuals. Especially irreconcilable intellectuals, who had actually
been involved in large scale crimes (political) or actual leaders of
political parties are not sent to a camp but are kept in closed prisons
or solitary confinement, if these are Soviet people. It is known, for
example, that Sulinskiy and many others are in solitary confinement,
but some are treated with special strictness--this is little known to
anyone there--they are locked up in psychiatric hospitals. There are
two of the latter: the psychiatric prison hospital in the city of
Kazan', and a similar one in Kiev. As far as I know, these are the
only two in the ertire USSR. Here are sent political offenders who
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v&.'.tziiiN
AAnit,
are really sick, although not all by far. I met several individuals
who had been there; there had not been a single common criminal
there, only political ones, and among the latter only the importantal*S.
The mentally-ill political prisoners of minor importance are kept in
the hospitals which exist in every camp system. The important people
are confined in Kiev and Kazan', especially Kazan'.The former presi-
dent of the Estonian republic, now probably dead, once was imprisoned
there. Unfortunately, I have forgotten his name. Several Japanese
generals, perfectly normal people, were confined there, I know; so
were some German professors and in general people whom the Soviet
regime considered important.
QUESTION: Are these people perfectly normal who are sent special]y to
the psychiatric hospitals?
kAlsk to sch
If a person mmilmonlbomiimmeemt here, he can be sent simply to hide
not
him. Of course, any prisoner, after having undergone suffering, is,
very nervous strte; therefore, grounds practically always exist. In
Moscow there is the so-called Institute imeni Serbskiy, to which all
prisoners suspected of mental disease were sent for what is called in
camp jargon, "komisovka," or simply a medical examination. Ordinarily
the following Solomon's decision is made: "sick, but responsible for
his own acts," i.e., if necessary, he can be placed in a psychiatric
hospital as a sick person, but he is to answer for his own actions. I
personally knew a German professor, wgth whom I was in a cell for three
months, who had been in Kazan', and he related all this to me in detail.
A few additional words corce fling psychiatrid hospitals in Kazan':
This is the place about which one high officer who ha ,4 arrived here
remarked, "It is very difficult to get into a prison psychiatric hospital
in Kazan', but it is still more difficult to leave there." A man seldom
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leaves less than two years after his arrival. And it is necessary to
say that a considerable number of prisoners, who were not mentally ill,
virtually became so when they landed here. Everyone knows what it means
for a sane person and what happens to him to be in the company of the
mentally ill. In 1949 I served time in the Yegimented Lefortovskaya
prison in Moscow in cell 72 with a certain German Professor Schueleinern.
He had earlier been inVolved in some kind of Bavarian separatist under-
taking. In addition, he was a half-Jew, and after a long odyssey he
tht
crossed over to e Soviet demarcation zone in Poland in 1940. He received
eight years for illegally crossing the border, and despite the fact that
he openly announced that he was a half-Jew and that he had been oppressed
by the Hitler regime and was comfng over as a refugee, he was sent to
Pechora, and something happene to his nerves. So he was sent to the
psychiatric hospital in Kazan', where he spent the entire war between
the Soviet Union and Germany; in 1949 he arrived in Moscow for the
solution and investigation, i.e. reinvestigation, of certain problems.
He told me of thfs most dreadful institution in which a large number
of sane prisoners go out of their minds. In particular, there was a
tendency there to place the sane ahd insane together. Even this
professor Schueler [sic] had himself been in a difficult situation.
He related a case he knew of some individuals who had lost their minds
in this hospital. In this hospital, it is true, there is one privilege;
everyone there has the right to say what he thinks. It is possIble
there, for example, to deliver anti-Soviet ledtures. A man who is
mentally ill is for that reason not liable to any punishment or
repressions. True, a definite feature is introduced into the appropriate
statements, according to which it follows that it is still impossible
to discharge a certain person. There are occasional instances of persons
being released from the hospital, but they are very rare. The death rate
there is comparatively high, despite the fact that material conditions
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are not bad. People are kept there whom for some reason it is necessary
to hide.
As for the system of closed prisons, rumors came into the camp that
beginning in 1950 intensive construction of closed prisons took place
throughout the Soviet Union. A great many of these were put up. The
following individuals are kept in closed prisons: the most important
political criminals, ideologically dangerous; leaders of anti-Soviet
groupinFs and parties are usually kept permanently in central prisons
right in Moscow, later in the so-called "Big House on the Mokhovayan
Atreet7, and in others. There they live until they end their earthly
txistence,fb; to live a long time in a closed prison, even if so-called
"good conditioneare created for you, is beyond human power. It is much
harder than the camps. People of minor imrortance are nct kept in
central prisons; they are sent to closed prisons. Especially veil-
known among closed prisons is (1) the former Aleksandrovskiy central in
Irkutsk; (2)the Vladimirovskaya prison; (3) the Tambovskaya prison; and
several others. Also sent to the closed prisons are people who had
committed serious crimes, i.e. a man commits4camp crime.;, not of a
mihor category, such as, let us say, absence from work or breach of
discipline, but he commits a camp murder. At the present time the penalty
for camp murder, pursuant to the ukaze of 16 January 1953, is supposed
to be, as for any murder,execution. Rarely, however, do executions for
the murder of a camp prisoner take place. Sometimes executions are
reported over the radio as a warning to prisoners, but anyone aware of
ho,.' many murders are committedAcamps knows that about ten percent, no
P"4*
more, are executed; and the remainder are sent for a certainhtime to
closed prisons. The term is from one to five years. There are three
categories in the closed prisons: One is kept in solitary confinement
and is not sent out to work. This is most oppressive and terrible. One
or two years is t,sually quite enough to break the physical or mental
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rs'
17
L 10 !A, - ? t,'
strength of even a very strong prisoner. The secord category consists
of those who are kept in a solitary confinement cell but who go out to
a A1410
work. The third and final category of prisoners i ose who live in
common cells and who go out to work.
Besides closed prisons there also exist prisons for special
prisoners. For example, in the Soviet Unior there is a large number
of servicemen not of the Soviet army, for instance, military personnel
of the American army who had been serving in Germany and were abducted
from here; also British and French. Almost no one ever sees these
people anywhere. There are many rumors that they are in the interroga?
tion prison at the Lyubyanka. One has been in a cell with someone; then
his case has ended, and the man completely disappears. He should have
landed in a camp, but he goes to another place somewhere. It is suspec?
ted that there are some special prisons for such abducted individuals
and for unabducted foreigners.
QUESTION: Did you meet any Russians or Ukrainians from the Soviet Union
who had been abducted here after the war?
Personally, I did not mert such people, if my memory does not
1) 4 a b1.2
deceive me. Later, however, I think that I mayjill this gap. But
right now, frankly speaking, I cannot remember.
QUESTION: What do you think of the use in the future of concentration
camps as a kind of base for an armed uprising for revolution?
The concentration: camps are, of course, the Achilles' heel of the
Soviet regime. The representatives themselves agree in this. Because,
of course, this is an attempt to diminish the volume of concentration
camps, it is determ'ned by two factors: (1) The economic unfeasibility
of concentration camps; despite the fact that many people believe that
this is a cheap labor power, 41.11 there is a considerable number of
precedent factors. Then, according to information of people totally
met
unbiased and versed in this case--at one time I had/persons who until
the time of thejmpliErmytTflyorked in the GULAG IIain Administration
RL
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'
of Campi7 system--for every five. prisoners) employee is required from
the moment that a person has been arrested, counting workers of the
prosecutor's office, guards, etc. The guarding of the camps undoubtedly
uses the million-man army of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But
everyone well knows that these troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
receive higher wages that the sol44rpof.the.regular army. In spite
of this, it is a known fact that in case of war the police troops always
exhibit very low combat efficiency; because it is one t!'ing to escort,
guardoand watch prisonersA quite another thing, of course, to go under
tie enemy machine guns. The Soviet soldier is well aware that where
wwirkt
any sort of military action is concerned, the MVD troops NW very weak
support. In addition to this, many of them fall under the influence of
the prisoners. Unlike the camp guards, who, as a rule, oppose and hos-
tilely troat the prisoners, the convoy guards merely say: "Behave your-
sel4Sproperly at work, do not try to escape, do not violate what it says
in our rules, and do what you wish--we are not your enemies." I, was
often in a position, because of the fact that I worked in a laundry,
where those poor soldiers, for a package of makhorka or a ruble or any-
thing of small value, sometimes simply brought me something to wash, which,
let us say, they could not get washed free, for which it was neeessary to
pay. II of course, always fulfilled these requests and chatted with many
of them. There was nothing hostile in their attitude toward the prisoners,
On the contrary, they are all oppressed by their work and then even say
whicJA exists
that a manifestly hostile attitudeif&ar em on the part of girls and
women of the villages is appreciable. One even expressed this in the fol-
lowing humorous sentence: "As long as I serve in the NKVD troops, I cannot
approach a girl on any kind of a goat." That is exactly the way it was said.
They were oppressed by their status. They sense their inferiority in
relation to soldiers of the regular army. So it is perfectly obvious that
the concettration camps are the Achilles' heel of the Soviet system. In
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L Mt
the event of serious military activities, it will be necessary to tighten
up the system in the camps to such an extent and to dispatch such a huge
number of people to guard them that a great amount of military and labor
power will be dissipated. If, on the other hand, this is weakened, the.
fact is clear that chaos will ensue in the camps. In time of war, I
know this from an informed source, it is possible, of course, to expect
a great uprising in the camps. In the camps, generally speaking, senti?
ment is very radical, and many inmates say that at the first actual
military shot starting another great war.)ftenerk, we, of course, would
do everything possible. Words are just words, but in any event this
sentiment exists.
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47i,P4
QUESTION: Does information concerning events in the Soviet Union
penetrate into the camps?
Undoubtedly. The vast majority of prisoners are still in
contact with relatives. It is true, letters are subject to censorship,
but they are written quite openly. Sometimes in the letters rather free
remarks at the expense of the regime are permitted. It is true, not at
the expense of the regime?this is prohibited, it is a legal offense--
but at the expense of individual representatives of the regime. For
example, any local follower of Beriya not yet arrested is abused. Of
course, this is not a Beriya follower but simply an ordinary Soviet
roughneck; but it is insurance. In the camp everyone is very well in-
formed of what goes on all over the Soviet Union. They are informed
splendidly - -even better than on the outside.
QUESTION: What was said concerning the dismissal of galenkov?
The dismissal of Malenkov had been expected for a long time,
and it was said that this, properly speaking, was an act of Nikita
Sergeyevich Khrushchev. Between them, it was alleged, were hostile
feelings. It is true, ideas were vague concerning Who represented what
course. Some said that this was only personal enmity or a struggle for
power. Others, however, said that Malenkov stood on a more moderate and
liberal dotirse. It wee also said that Malenkov was hostile to Kaganovieh,
that he was an anti:-Semite, and that it this respect he was a great friend
of Marshal Zhukov and many others. Speaking of the reaction to the dis-
missal of Malenkov, I must say that in the campspeople are seasoned and
very skeptically disposed. No one believes everything entirely, and they
say that if anything good is done for us, it is not for the sake of our
looks or for humanity's sake, but because this is the way of things. The
Soviet regime does not pardon anything and does not forget anything. Con-
cerning the dismissal of Malenkov, it is said only that this indicates
first a weakness of the regime, and then that it doubtlessly makes for a
corresponding impression abroad. This testifies at least that the dicta-
torship is beginning to crack to some degree and that the same thing that
happened after the death of V. I. Lenin is beginning. It is undoubtedly
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the developer of internal party strife. Truthfully speaking, just as little
was expected from 214Nrim as from N1inthol4 And nothing is expected thtse
days. Far more is expected from the West. That is, when Dr. Adenauer
arrived, everyone said that the situation of the Germans would certainly
improve. And when it was said that the Soviet regime had okiamdr decided
to release all (lemons, no one believed it.
Conditions outside the colt), of course, interest everybody,
because to leave the camp for freedom and to begin a normal life and
routine is, of vourse, the dream of every camp inmate. Therefore inside
the camp conditions on the other side of the barbed wire are highly inter-
esting. The vast majority of prisoners are especially interested in the
situation in the kolkhozes, for a large percentage of the prisoners belong
to that class of the population which works and which worked in the kolk?
hozes prior to confinement. It should be said that after the death of
Stalin the new government widely publicized a program for improving the
situation in the kolkhozes. A whole series of these measures of the Soviet
regime was drawn up and even begun to be put into operation. In particulars
there began a period of colonizing and cultivating virgin and reclaimed
lands. However, in spite of this, the situation in the kolkhozes remained
absolutely unchanged. Not only does no one whthin the Soviet government
A
discuss or think about the liquidation of kolkhozes, but there is even a
tendency toward the curtailment of private plots. In particular, it was
established that somehow private plots periodically swelled, just slightly,
of course, at the expense of the kolkhoz lands. And then extremely stern
telegrams and circulars were sent from the centers to the local areas to
see whether these personal plots of kolkhoz workers actually conformed to
the dimensions which they should have had according to the law. In the
kolkhozes the conditions, of course, did not change. It should even be
said, on the contrary, that the situation on the food front, generally
speaking, became worse. It was established by the Government that the food
base of the population of the Soviet Union had not yet attained the level
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to which, properly speaking, it was supposed to correspond. For this reason,
there was begun a whole series of campaigns for 4. increasing the producti-
vity of kolkhoz production. This was reflected by the fact that--this news
reached the camp--the kolkhoz members had to work even harder. A large
number of authorized representatives of all kinds were sent to the kolkhozes.
There even appeared cartoons in the Soviet periodicals of about 20 authorized
representatives on a truck who, after having issued a whole mass of all kinds
of orders, are leaving the kolkhoz, and at the time are singing the well-
known song, "Live Richly, and We Will Leave for Home, for Home." In the
kolkhozes, the situation did not change.
As for the situation of the ordinary people in factories and
plants, it is just the same there as in the past. Employees, and especially
the workers, are cOnotantly harassed b- all sorts of labor watches: a
watch in honor of the November holidays, a watch in honor of Artillery Day,
etc. A plant worker must, in addition, work off a great deal of the timei,
on a voluntary-compulsory basis.
MJESTION: Didn't the people begin to act and speak somewhat more freely
after the war?
At the beginning, about from 1945 to 1947, the people did speak
very freely, as, perhaps, never since the birth of the Soviet regime. But
in 1948 there began [last three words of sentence illegible A wave of
arrests occurred, and everyone saw that everything was as it had been in
the past and that it was necessary to hold his tongue. After the death of
Stalin, people began to talk again. However, today in 1955, the intention
is evident and the tendency already exists, as it is said in camp jargon,to
"tighten the screwy." There is no doubt that in recent times the number of
arrested persons has again been growing. I spoke with some, and they indeed
said that a wave of arrestsgiord illegible) as before.
After the death of
Stalin, people began to speak more freely, but only in a certain plane.
Strictly speaking, it is notrso necessary to eulogize a dictator no longer
alive. But any criticism, of course, of measures of the government--I
speak of an actual criticism--is absolutely impossible. Everywhere in the pril
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it is written that criticism is suppressed and that it is not permissible
to criticize. But by criticism is meant only the case wherelbehind the
scenes appropriate documents are given to a person and he is told, "Here,
you must criticize this one and that one."
No one, of course, dares to come out personally with a genuine
and serious criticism. The question, of course, is of self?criticism.
They do not criticize but vituperate. That's the way things are. I know,
for example, that a large number of officers from our camp engaged in the
camp administration, the chief of the regime Las7 was subjectedlat
the railroad station of the village of Yavyas near our camp, to harsh
criticism for maltreatment of prisoners. It was said here that the Beriya
times had not ended. In general, both prisoners and outsiders bake use
of the name of Beriya. "Listen you, these are not Beriya times; they are
over." A prevalent expression is "soon you will get the Order of Beriya."
This means you will either be executed or be exiled somewhere to serve a
sentence. Well, that is the situation.
QUESTION: When you were returning to the Weld., were you able to meet any
of the free people?
to Germany
Yes, at the time that our train trateled for six day, we mingled
with the people. First they told us that we on the outside of the camp were
now free pear*. We went out. A buffet was set up. Everyone immediately
rushed to drink and chat. The populace was not afraid to chat with us.
Apparently there were no special injunctions. We came closer and talked.
As we went along, badly dressed women and children approached out train
at many stations and begged us to give them a piece of bread, since the majority
of us were grellg supplied. The militia stood by and said nothing. The
majority of us were supplied with articles from packages received from
Germany. I personally was monitor of the car, and therefore all the bread
for about 50 men was at my disposal. I consulted with my comrades about
So,
how mueh could be given. They said: Well, give it all: Milk; each one
cut.; off several slices for himself. That's the way the bread was distributed,
generally speaking, in every station.
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QUESTION: Did you meet many of these begging women and children?
Not so very many, but not too few. In any case they were
everywhere. Poorly dressed. And everywhere the population would run
up to sell something.
QUESTION: How were the people dressed?
The people are dressed rather unpresentably apples and so
forth 5pparent1y an expression of some sort7 Id, for example, you pay them,
let us say a ruble, they thank you sincerely. It is evident that a ruble
has great importance for them.
QUESTION: What do they bring out to sell on the market?
They usually bring to the market to sell what grows on their
private plots, or that which belongs directly in their homes, such as
fruit. Milk I did not see. They often bring hard?boiled eggs. Milk, I,
generally speaking, did not see in a single station. But I saw fruits,
pears, apples, often of rather fine quality. They are usually rather
expensive. Good apples cost five rubles a ':kilogram. This, of course, is
very expensive.
QUESTION: Didn't you have occasion to go into any of the Soviet stores and
shops?
Yes, when our train traveled around Moscow. Then I went into a
small shop. There, generally speaking, everything sells at the usual prices.
It is true that such articles as, for example, butter, were very qulckly
snapped up, because customers upon whom no one counted had arrived; that is,
a trainload of several hundred people, who were rushing to 1r up everything.
In general, in every store in the Soviet Union, as a rule, there is always
a shortage of something. For example, if there is butter, there is no
sugar. If there is sugar, there is no butter, but there is a fat mixture.
coovomly
So, from this circumstance it would not happen apparently in a single stimme
that there would be white bread, butter, fuel oil, fat mixture, and sugar,
at the samb time. Such a combination occurs very rarely.
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In general, the food situation, in spite of all attempts to raise
the productivity of agriculture, is not improving. All kinds of rumors
circulate. They say that great transports go into China and other places,
and that great reserves are being created in case of a military clash.
QUESTION: How do the Soviet citizens evaluate the present period of smiles,
the "Geneve Spirit," and the period of coexistence?
Soviet citizens are skeptical. Those who sympathize with the
Soviet regime say: "Our leaders are doing a good job and are leading the
Westerners by the nose." Those who do not sympathize say: "Here, fools,
what they don't understand in the West is that they are simply being led
by the nose and deceived." And with some fears they say: "Nevertheless,
?
it is clever the way our leaders are conductihg their policies. No one
in the Soviet Union, neither the intelligent, nor the stupid, nor the
old, nor the young, believes in honorable intentions. Only a few speak
of this deception with enthusiasm, so to speak; others speak with indig?
nation or anger, depending on their political leanings.
QUESTION: Did you have occasion en route west to meet people who wished
to tell you something in parting?
When our train stopped on a siding of Byelorussian Station in
Moscow, I, with all the Germans, of course, rushed to explore Moscow.
It is true, the leader of our train, a very humane officer, apparently of
the regular army, who treated us very well, said: "Don't go far. At
two o'clock the train leaves." But apparently the order had already been
given or an agreement was reached with the administration of the station
and with all p&lice precincts that Germans dressed in burshlag, in camp
jackets, distinguishable from all, could be allowed-everywhere. They let
us pass onto the platform; the people approached and chatted in German.
Those who knew Russian spoke. Everyone expressed regret that there was
no war, but one little old man, perhaps a little drink, declared, "Yes,
yes, sure, he says, they are going to the West. Soon they will come with
machine?guns to the East." I remembered this sentence. I, I must say,
was even a little frightened.
After this, he disappeared.
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QUESTION: What do you know of the possibility of a military clash between
the Soviet Union and the West?
When I was arrested and found myself in prison, in the MGB's
so-called interior prison on Dzerzhinskiy Square or simply the Lyubanka)
everyone in this sad pli#ht, of course, hoped for war, as a drowning man
clutchds at a straw. For example, the mall bulbs in the ministry suddenly
began to be painted blue. This was, of course, interpreted at: "Look,
look, the war is starting." This was eight years ago. Subsequently, when
seeing
we landed in the camps, all the camp inmates, naturally,/the complete
futility of counting on anything and of hoping for anything, counted upon
war, especially during the lifetime of Stalin. But everyone said that
real basis. Everyone in the camps well knew that in the Soviet Union a
vast armaments program was being carried
this.
done for war. People talked about fTy
arrested civilians, spoke. For example,
was developing a very special system for
out, and that everything is being
arrived ex-soldiere?recently
they said that the Soviet regime
a hAti
waging warfare In particular)
bbirikw strange as it seems, a military doctrine personally defended by
Stalin and Voroshilov themselves prevailed among organs responsible for
preparations, namely, the doctrine of partisan warfare; on the assumption
that huge masses of the enemy would invade the Soviet Union, it would
therefore e necessary for saving the apparatus to flie into the forests.
They said that great reserves of food and weapons had teen compiled in
wooded regions, especially in the Siberian taiga; and that in every region
bases were being created to which all reliable people would flee in the
event of an enemy break-through in this area, in order to fight from
there with the same methods with which they fought the Germans and pre-
cisely because the hostile military unit which is victorious in this region
will undoubtedly step on the toes of the population, will undoubtedly
disappoint it, and will undoubbedly create dissatisfaction, and that these
malcontents will have a center in which to operate. They said that the
diedcritical food situation was caused serves that were being
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compiled. The great constant shortage of fuel in which the kolkhozes
found themselves was explained by the fact that everywhere througrthe
country depots of fuel,food, am* grainand medicines were being created,
according to an entire fixed system. Let us say the capture of some areas
by enemy armed forces does in no way denote a loss of these areas for the
Soviet Union. Preparation for war went on constantly. Everyone said that
if Stalin had not died, there would have been war either by 1953 or by the
end of l9?4, and that the Soviet Government did not want to give in and
was going to war directly. At the same time, they spoke of a grandiose
(word illegibls7 blow at the West.
Now they say that the new government takes a more sober view
of things and is of the opinion that the Soviet Union is incapable of
waging war. It would be too dangerous. The Soviet Union realizes quite
well that it does not have the sympathy of the great bulk of the people
and that if war broke out, the Soviet Union would have to wage it against
a powerful coalition. This will not be against Germany, which with
several allies was pounced upon by the coalition of world powers. In
this case, the Soviet Union will be surrounded on all sides by enemies.
The only salvation for us here is the support of the population.
QUESTION: What about China?
The sentiment of the satellites is thonoughly defined. There
is talk of extremely anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland. When our train
passed through Poland, it was rather strange. Many Poles waved and
talked of several things. The Poles were quite courteous to the Germans.
It is necessary to say that China is not, of course, a war
power. Secondly, two Chinese worked with me, who spoke simply; I became
friendly with them. They were very decent people. One of them was a
very cultured man. They said that in China all whites were disliked,
and , in particular, the Russians, ahd that even Mao Tse-tung was not
much of a russophile. He wants to use the Soviet Union and if a world
revolution is to be achieved wider red banners, let the center of the
world revolution be in Peking and in no event in Moscow.
CONFI"11:1113-C
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ivra g ItigL
QUESTION: What in the minds of the camp inmates was the most detestable
feature in the Soviet Union?
The feature most detested by the Soviet population was of course
the fact that the entire country, speaking figuratively, was being crushed
by the boots of the police, this terrible, all-knowing police regime,
distrustful of everyone, evoking thereby the most colLossal hypocrisy, where
a person was not safe from denunciations even in his own family. There was
a famous case where a man was subjected to repression and only later did he
find out that his own wife, who had taken offense at him forrsomething or
for nothing, had denounced him. In general until very recently, the entire
i.4m5
Soviet Union was ruled by the political apparatus. No one gins the risk
of falling out with the State Security Committee, as it has since been
called ,following the downfall of Beriya. A large factor is the fact that
a vast majority of the most well-known women in the Soviet Union, such as
movie actresses, athletes, etc.) have all married high officials of the
former Ministry of State Security. In this regard well-informed people
living in Moscow and moving in these circles, say that not one dared to
refuse because no one dared to quarrel with, the police apparatus.
Police domination was the first condition hated by the people; the second,
of course, was the fact that the people were in a state of subjugation.
Everyone must do what he is compell4o, always necessarily bad for him.
But all the time the sword of Damocles of some campaign is hanging over
you. Expeditions to the virgin lands, transfers to other work--all this
is done very politely, sometimes even in a civilized manner, frequently
even with the observation of material interests, but done just the same.
So go to Chukotha, go to that is, you are not free. One has to be
clever somehow.
In the field of economics, everyone sees that the Soviet
Union lives worse than the West. Much worse. Reports arrived, for
example, of the striking prosperity of West Germany. Somehow this is
known. Where there were Germans in camps, where packages arrived, and
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were partially placed on sale, at which time it was explained 4w-what a
chocolate bar really cost in kopeks., everyone was completely astonished
and said, "How is that?" A country which had fought the entire world for
six years, totally devastated, transformed by us into a heap of rubble,
suddenly after only ten years has gone so fa f as to become the richest
state in Europe? How could this have happened? Why are we in such a
critical economic plight?
QUESTION: How do the prisoners regard the limit of existence (f the
Soviet regimt7? How long do they think this will continue and what
limiting concessions can the Soviet regime make?
The prisoners all believe that the limit of existence of the
Soviet regime will be a great war. That's what all the prisoners believe.
As for concessions, they all boil down to the fact that concessions will
be directly proportional to the pressure which will be exerted tomorrow.
The greater the squeeze, the more they will be inclined to make concessions,
so that if the West actually starts to exert serious pressure, the Soviet
regime will make every concession.
QUESTION: Is it true that in recent times there have begun to be fewer
informers in concentration camps? And are the prisoners taking measures
of physical action?
The camps are always permeated with a so-called subordinate
network of operupolnomochennyye ?perational authorized agents(?17, or
so-called camp "Stukachi" of all ranks. Methods of physical action upon
them always were employed and are employed now in, of course, a lesser
degree. Execution for camp murder was introduced, but this did not stop
seksots from being murdered, and does not stop it to this day. Of course,
this does not occur on the same scale as, for example, 1944-5-6-7-8. As
for their reduction, that is noticeable only in camps under special con-
ditions. In particular, in the camp where I was, there was a great num-
ber of foreigners who were being repatriated. Here theyg.e. seksoti7
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' ? igq4--0
were not needed, because the camp operational authorized agent is totally
uninterested in the thoughts of a German, who in any event would be outside
W11.111)
the borders of the Soviet Union within a week. However, "stukach"rdid not
disappear but still gows on. Particularly interesting, of course, are the
attitudes of Soviet citizens in the camps and especially the preparations
for such things as, for example, camp uprisings, escapes, etc.
QUESTION: You mean people escape from the camps?
They do. But not many Article 58 prisoners escape. Only those
convicted for common offenses escape in large number, because they are
helped by an organization of "blatnyye" [roughly "outlaws:7, embracing
the entire Soviet Union. They have allies in every city, where they can
find shelter. To escape without the aid of any orgaiization is almost
hopeless. For foreigners, of course, this is particularly difficult.
OUESTION: Please tell us about the religious feelings of the Soviet people
in concetttration camps.
In the camps there are very many religious believers, undoubtedly
as many as on the outside. Besided the Orthodox, there are in the camps
also representatives of other religious sects, for example, Baptists, so?
called Seventh Day Adventists, True Christians, later Evangelists, and
many others. There are also Methodists. I even encountered one lone
Stundist. This is quite rare. These people are very intensive believers
possessed of the typical traits of small religious groups, sticking close,
helping one another out, holding themselves aloof from the general mass,
and steadfastly adhering to their views. It is necessary to say that
representatives of the Orthodox clergy, and of Soviet citizenship, who
have been sentenced to camp, adhere to their views with special staunchness.
There are not too many of these. In general, the clergy as a class of
society has strongly decreased in number in the Soviet Union. It is
characteristic, however, for those who who land in prison to behave more
4
or less individually; while the:sectarians constituteAvery expressed
political organization, the representatives of the Orthodox clergy act
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!AtTC
alone with extraordinary steadfastness and heroism. Many from the ranks
of the representatives of the sects, when a matter comes to a serious
clash with the camp administration, usually acquiesce at the end. Materially
they live very well. They help themselves. But I know of several instances
of perfectly inflexible conduct on the part of the Orthodox clergy; in part-
icular,on the part of one priest whose name I do not know, who did not go
dad IlWimoto work and was ultimately shot.
QUESTION: Tell about the attitude of the nonreligious segment of the
prisoners toward the believers.
It is of two types. There is no hostile attitude. There is
no malice or indignation. Nonreligious people as, for example, the
representatives of the Communists regard them as an undesirable anachronism.
Oh, they are ignorant people; they don't know anything; they navigate under
old sails. But there are no bad ones among them. They even make interest-
ing conversation. Indifferent people are treated indifferently. As for
the basic mass, when a pious man appeared, he was treated with respect
in camp and became the subject of intensive inquiries.
QUESTION: From what age groups are the religious-minded composed?
Believers are from evry group. It is necessary to say that
there are many religious-minded youths in the camps, but they believe in
a manner completely different from the older people. Whereas the older
generation believes more in ritual and dogma--they pray and cross themselves
considerably and conduct frequent religious services, as for example, Easter
services.
I myself attended an Easter service this year, during which the
doors were locked and no guards were allowed in until it was over; everyone
went away so as not to cause a scene--the youth believes less dogmatically,
prays less, but more philosophically and consciously, i.e. the philosophical
and methodic side of religion interests them more than the ritual side.
:2f
QUESTION: Were there many prisoners at the service this Easter?
Many were not able to be. They stood inside. This was done .?
0
in a so-called Chinese Kitchen. In camp jargon a "Chinese kitchen" is a ?Ah.
-1490
kitchen where prisoners have the right to cook their own products. This
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was a small building located off thlopgular kitchen. There is a stove
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L. uuk0
and a man to keep the place in order, and there you can cook for yourself
what you want from your own products. So that is where the Easter service
was held at night. Many stood outside. Even foreigners attended, Yes,
there were many.
QUESTION: What is this KGB--State Security Committee? What is its role?
What is the structure of its organs? Are there KGB representatives in
local areas? Is there a low-level network, or is this only a committee
which regulates the whole system of state security, troops, KGB, etc.?
The State Secutiry Committee in my opinion is merely a title
given to the former Ministry of State Security, if I am not mistaken. It
has simply been revived. Frankly, the people who know say that nothing
has changed. The Ministry of State Security simply received a new label.
It has ceased to be a separate ministry. Work in the camps Lord illegible
the same as on the outside. Absolutely all types of work are available.
Everything that is done on the outside is also done in the camp, the only
difference being that in the regimented camps they work longer, usually
ten hours, while in the nonregimented camps, eight houts, and under one
pretext or another, it is less well-paid. The prisoners have fewer rights.
The nature of the work depends on where the camp is located. In Vorkuta
a vast number of the prisoners work, for example, in mines, because this
is a coal region. Another part works on the surface. These are types of
work which [remainder of sentence illegib127. There is very intensive
building activity in Vorkuta. This is perhaps the hardest type of work.
26mainder of 41,010 almost entirely illegible]
QUESTION: Let us return bnce more to the political enemies of the Soviet
regime in concentration camps. Are they distinguishable in any way among
the general mass of prisoners?
What sustains them--what idea - -what belief?
Are they bound to one another more closely than the common criminals, and
do they have discussions with one another on political topics, arguments
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of a theological or philosophical nature, and do they abandon or defend
their own opinions before those with contrary opinions, etc? And also
tell about those people -- without names -- wham you met and who had
been here abroad and also about those who landed directly from the Soviet
Union into prison.
It is necessary to say that in the camps they speak far more freely
than they do on the outside. Frankly, they are far less afraid. Say a
man has 25 years; that is the limit. What more can be done to him? He
can, for example, be sent away to a closed prison, but if everyone who
says something is sent away, .soon the entire population of the camps
would be enclosed in prisons. What is necessary is only to avoid making
big scenes. For example, it is impossible to assemble a meeting, as
one abnormal old man did, and to begin to chant the old anthem "God Save
the Tsar." After this he, of course, disappeared from the camp. But
generally speaking, groups of people who trust one another gather and
talk about all subjects. It should be mentioned that, strange as it
seems, I completed my studies in the camps.for, no matter what you were
interested in, you were able to learn everything. You could take a
university course in any field, although in raw form, You could, for
example, almost acquire a knowledge of engineering as lbng as there was
the desire. It is very hard and difficult, but with a certain amount of
tenacity, will-power, and persistence, it is fully possible. Arguments
on ideological subjects are held very, very intensively. And they are
held not only by those who belong to the various political groups but
by absolutely everyone. There are also camp propagandists -- people who
belong to political groups, no matter which ones, they always try to
drag the other prisoners into their circle. Thus, purely ideological
battles frequently took place. In the camp this is very simple. Let
us say the discussion concerned German concentration camps, then Immediately
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it is recalled who among the Germans here had been a concentration
camp overseer. He is summoned here. Then, let's say, a Jew who had
been imprisoned in this concentration camp is summoned. And they
peacefully drink tea on a bUnk and we all listen as they discuss what
had happened in the camps -- one from the point of view of a prisoner
doomed to death and the other from the point of view of an overseer.
They chat quite peacefully, without any malice, for all hatred is mani-
fested, of course, against those who are keeping them in the present camp.
Strange as it seems, the relations between Germans, former members of
the Nazi Party, and Jews is generally very good. Arguments are held.
For example, attempts often occur in the camps to find a middle neutral
course. Representatives of the various anti-Soviet groups attempt to
fashion some kind of ideology in the camp. Everyone has plenty of time;
there is no hurry; they are serving a_verk.long time, they figure that
if in five or ten years you will be released by some sort of amnesty,
you will go out more or less politically learned and equipped. Great
interest is shown in camp to people of intelligence, to the politically
learned and interested, and to those who know something. No intelligent
camp inmate can complain that he has no audience. This, of course, is
somewhat dangerous, because frequently questions are broached which,
since they are posed by simple people, are completely naive but usually
very difficult to answer. The politically-minded prisoners do not dis-
continue their work in the camps. On the contrary, they conduct it far
more intensively and with far less danger than on the outside. There is
nothing more to lose, and.. audience is far more grateful. Particularly
heated battles occur between opponents of the regime and those in camp
who cantinue to support it. I am speaking, of course, of that self-
seeking element which pretends that it is loyal to the Soviet regime in
order to obtain some nice little position, such as, let's say, that of
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Lat.!
tki4,
bookkeeper, supply clerk, a clerk, etc. I am speaking of those who
actually defend the Soviet regime sincerely -- there are such persons.
This was usually a very unfortunate scorned element,pitied by all)of old
ideological Communists of whom there was a very large percentage in the
camps -- from the old Lenin guard and so-called Lenin set of the NEP peiod.
There are a specially large number of them. They had spent their entire
lives in the struggle for Communism, and,of courssdo not possess the
mental strength to judge values, to acknowledge that what they had
struggled for and defended was in the end worth nothing, that all the
blood spilled and their own crippled lives had really been sacrificed
for nothing and that the price of their blood was negligible. For that
reason they cling to their old ideology. But these are tragicomical
characters; for example, the argument ends on the note that "you are 20
years behind the times." An ideological strugglesof course, takes place.
But everyone realizes that this element of old ideological Communists was
completely harmless. They were an anachronism, a bygone element. Far
more dangerous are the silent self-seekers who in reality are not Com-
munists but opportunists. They were opportunists both on the outside and
inside the camps. In general camp life is a complete copy of life on the
outside, except that everything is far poorer, stricter, and more limited.
QUESTION: Did you not attempt to test the idea of solidarism among your
fellow prisoners?
I spoke to the prisoners on the idea of solidarism, as much as I
know of it, of course, in approximately the condition it was ten years
ago. It is necessary to say that it evoked the manifest interest of the
prisoners. But the fact is that4like anyone not possessed of materials
and cut off from the surrounding world, I was deprived of my stature
because I alone did not possess the power to promote the idea of solidarism
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by myself. Concerning the development and advances which it made during
my absence, I of course knew nothing. Many are sympathetic to our idea
and say directly that the idea of this compulsory collectivism should
really be replaced by the idea of voluntary solidarism. With several
persons wham I could trust, I endeavoured to set forth briefly the program
of labor solidarism from the aspect of its practical application. For
example, the idea of replacing the compulsory kolkhozes which are now
being simply converted into state agricultural dominions, for the
process of expanding the kolkhozes, begun during the time of Stalin and
not halted to this day, goes on continuously. Later the kolkhoz workers
are deprived of any opportunity to participate in the administration of
the kolkhozes. Of course, since the time that several secondary schools
were created for training kolkhoz chairman, i.e., a kolkhoz chairman is
transformed simply into an academically-educated bureaucrat, he loses
all ties with the kolkhoz members. I spoke on this subject and also cr
the fact that a replacement of kolkhozes is contemplated, juridical
permission to leave the kolkhoz; the kolkhoz simply.... in normal state,
and beyond this the people themselves must decide voluntarily. He who
wants to cultivate the land collectively has the right to establish,
together with those who want this, a type of agricultural cooperative,
but on fully voluntary principles, and from the view point of benefit
to the coop member rather than for the benefit of the government alone.
The idea of dividing up the kolkhoz into, let us say, farmsteads, meets
with great support. Many say, however, that most kolkhoz youth have
grown out of the habit of cultivating the land by themselves and that
it is no longer so simple now. The older generation is still able to
do so. But the modern kolkhoz youth has become used to considering
himself a kolkhoz worker, not a landowner.
And in regard to industry, everyone fully realizes that factories
and plants belonging to the workers have been converted into nothing
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but enormous, state-political enterprises, which are directed by
bureaucrats, and the lion's share of the profits, which do not, of
course, fall into the hands of the workers but go in far greater and
sharper form than in capitalistic states for the benefit of the State,
that is, in outrageous quantities.. ..into the hands of the dozen in-
dividuals who control the entire country. The idea of the possibility
of turning over part of the enterprises and plants to interested people
on a concession basis meets with great interest, especially the authoriza-
tion of private enterprise in order that, for example, every person might
have the opportunity to establish and personally manage his own private
business. It is asked, "Well, that's fine, but where will the funds be
taken from?" When you say that, of course, the State will simply mutually
allocate the appropriate funds out of State funds and that at least all
light industry must be turned over to private hands; that competition
must be established in order to reduce prices; and to create that state
of affairs in which economic crises are so successfully overcome in the
nitivvrt
West, i.e., private and personalAbefore everything, with the retention
of the most important key enterprises of heavy industry in the hands of
the future national state. [above not complete sentences in original
Russian]
QUESTION: Can you tell us anything of the counterrevolution in Soviet
terminology - arthe revolution from our point of view --
organizations in the army?
No. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything.
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