2. World Book Online: Escape from a Russian Prison: This article is a primary source written by Peter Alexeivich Kropotkin, a revolutionist during the late 19th century in Russia. This article gives us a nice concrete insight into how the early Gulag looked. This Gulag was in St. Petersburg and as Kropotkin states, there were a lot of murder and torture in the prison. He states that many prisoners were either buried alived, murdered, or driven to insanity. The prison also had a lot of ties with political figures as many of them were thrown in or personally involved. Kroptikin gave the reader a nice discription of the cell he was in: iron bed, oak table, yellow walls, oak stool, and a little slit on the door where the guards could spy on them. Kroptikin also explains how prisoner communicates with others: by knocking.
3. Encyclopedia Britannica: The Gulag Archipelago: The Gulag Archipelago is a long, historical memoir written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It has three volumes in its series and it is based on Solzhenitsyn's own 8 years in prison, other prisoner's stories, and historical sources. The author used this book to represent the comprehensive but irrational soviet prison system that relied on terror to suppress all oppositions. The effect of this book was profound, as it gave "new impetus" to the critics of Soviets and doubt to the sympathizers. The first two volume discusses the arrest, conviction, transport, and imprisonment of Gulag's victim from 1918-1956; the author use the combination of harrowing personal experiences with historical facts to display his message. The third volume discusses attempted escapes and corruption within the system.
4. Gale Virtual Reference Library: A day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: This article gives a comprehensive historical lesson on the gulag. The pre-revolutionary Russian government established numerous labor
camps in Siberia. These gulags contained those considered a threat to the country,
and more than one million individuals served, including future
revolutionaries such as Lenin and Stalin. After the revolution, the labor camps
were closed. But Stalin soon reopened the camps, and
filled them with political prisoner. As stated in the article, temperatures in the
camps could reach ninety degrees below zero, and death rates in some reached
30% per year.
5. SURVIVING RUSSIAN PRISONS: PUNISHMENT, ECONOMY AND POLITICS IN TRANSITION, by Laura Piacentini. Reviewed by Kathryn Hendley: This review gives the reader an insight into the post-soviet prison systems in Russia. The book states that the Russian prison system had completely changed their goal from punishment to rehabilitation. In Smolensk, prison officials moved away from the Stalin-Lenin ideology in which prisoners were seen as social deviants to evaluating them psychologically. However, the Russian penitentiary system still possess a sense of nostalgia for the feeling of unity as experienced in the Stalin-Lenin era. Prisoners are still required to labor everyday, but not for the economy of the country but for their own emotional growth. This article shows that, though the whole penitentiary system has transformed completely in regards to the way it deals with its inmates, nostalgia for the gulag still remain(as shown in the forced labor).
6. www.loc.gov: The Gulag: This article just gives a simple introduction to the Gulag. It states that the system of forced labor camps was established in 1919 under the Cheka, but not until the 1930s did the camp population reach significant numbers. The Soviets called the Gulag the Main Directorate for Corrective Labor Camps and had several million inmates by 1934. The prisoners included thieves, murderers, and political criminals. The article also stated that the Gulag, which were located mainly in remote regions of Siberia and the Far North, made significant contributions to the Soviet economy in the period of Joseph Stalin. Gulag prisoners constructed the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Moscow-Volga Canal, the Baikal-Amur main railroad line, numerous hydroelectric stations, and strategic roads and industrial enterprises in remote regions. Gulag manpower was also used for much of the country's lumbering and for the mining of coal, copper, and gold. The conditions in the camp were inhumane, with prisoners receiving inadequate food ratios and insufficient clothing. As a result, death rates from exhausion and disease was high (30%). The Gulag continued until the Gorbachev period, when it was completely shut down.
7. Locked Up Abroad: Escape from the Gulag: This Nat-Geo blog is dedicated to the show Locked Up Abroad where it portrays the lives of American citizens inside international jails/prison. This story is about a American man named Jerry Amster who was caught smuggling drugs in Russia in 1976. Amster was sent to the Gulag for forced labor for 8 years. After serving 4 years, Amster could not stand the harsh conditions of the Gulag and successfully scaled the prison wall to escape. He ran all the way to Moscow where he was eventually rescued by the U.S. Embassy. Amster tells about the conditions of the Gulag where the temperature reached -50 degrees and giant mosquito that bite in the summer. He also stated that he was constantly hungry and lonely. Amster labor included carpentry, manufacturer of wooden chairs, and supervisor for an infirmary. Amster lastly stated that there were 300 Westerners in the Gulag at the time of his capture.
8. A Guard's Perspective: Dovlatov's Zona: In this blog, the author gives us a introduction into a former Gulag guard's life in the prison. The guard, Dovlatov, was an prison guard in the Gulag during the 1960s. He states that he had a rather unremarkable life prior to becoming a guard. Dovlatov states that when he arrived at the gate, he "saw the truth". ‘For the first time, I understood what freedom is, and cruelty and violence […] I saw a man who had been completely reduced to an animal state. I saw what he could be gladdened by. And it seemed to me that my eyes opened. The world in which I found myself was horrifying. In that world, people fought with sharpened rasp files, ate dogs, covered their faces with tattoos, and sodomized goats. In that world, people killed for a package of tea.’ Dovlatov states that he sees no ideological purpose to the camps, instead all he saw was cruelty and darkness. This blog gives us a different perspective to the Gulag, it is the people outside of the community but the closest.
9. Free Gary Boyd blogspot: This blog was created by an inmate, Gary Boyd, who was sentenced to 15- life years for murder in Ohio. The point of the blog was to create support for Gary Boyd's, or Sol Amen Ra,
release from prison. This year is his 22 year in prison and he uses this blog to demonstrate that he had changed as a person. Gary Boyd writes about his growth with his inner-self in prison and wrote a book about it which was denied by the prison to be published. This blog clearly demonstrates Gary Boyd's transformation from a wild, careless, indiscipline young man to a mature, controlled grown man.
6. www.loc.gov: The Gulag: This article just gives a simple introduction to the Gulag. It states that the system of forced labor camps was established in 1919 under the Cheka, but not until the 1930s did the camp population reach significant numbers. The Soviets called the Gulag the Main Directorate for Corrective Labor Camps and had several million inmates by 1934. The prisoners included thieves, murderers, and political criminals. The article also stated that the Gulag, which were located mainly in remote regions of Siberia and the Far North, made significant contributions to the Soviet economy in the period of Joseph Stalin. Gulag prisoners constructed the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Moscow-Volga Canal, the Baikal-Amur main railroad line, numerous hydroelectric stations, and strategic roads and industrial enterprises in remote regions. Gulag manpower was also used for much of the country's lumbering and for the mining of coal, copper, and gold. The conditions in the camp were inhumane, with prisoners receiving inadequate food ratios and insufficient clothing. As a result, death rates from exhausion and disease was high (30%). The Gulag continued until the Gorbachev period, when it was completely shut down.
7. Locked Up Abroad: Escape from the Gulag: This Nat-Geo blog is dedicated to the show Locked Up Abroad where it portrays the lives of American citizens inside international jails/prison. This story is about a American man named Jerry Amster who was caught smuggling drugs in Russia in 1976. Amster was sent to the Gulag for forced labor for 8 years. After serving 4 years, Amster could not stand the harsh conditions of the Gulag and successfully scaled the prison wall to escape. He ran all the way to Moscow where he was eventually rescued by the U.S. Embassy. Amster tells about the conditions of the Gulag where the temperature reached -50 degrees and giant mosquito that bite in the summer. He also stated that he was constantly hungry and lonely. Amster labor included carpentry, manufacturer of wooden chairs, and supervisor for an infirmary. Amster lastly stated that there were 300 Westerners in the Gulag at the time of his capture.
8. A Guard's Perspective: Dovlatov's Zona: In this blog, the author gives us a introduction into a former Gulag guard's life in the prison. The guard, Dovlatov, was an prison guard in the Gulag during the 1960s. He states that he had a rather unremarkable life prior to becoming a guard. Dovlatov states that when he arrived at the gate, he "saw the truth". ‘For the first time, I understood what freedom is, and cruelty and violence […] I saw a man who had been completely reduced to an animal state. I saw what he could be gladdened by. And it seemed to me that my eyes opened. The world in which I found myself was horrifying. In that world, people fought with sharpened rasp files, ate dogs, covered their faces with tattoos, and sodomized goats. In that world, people killed for a package of tea.’ Dovlatov states that he sees no ideological purpose to the camps, instead all he saw was cruelty and darkness. This blog gives us a different perspective to the Gulag, it is the people outside of the community but the closest.
9. Free Gary Boyd blogspot: This blog was created by an inmate, Gary Boyd, who was sentenced to 15- life years for murder in Ohio. The point of the blog was to create support for Gary Boyd's, or Sol Amen Ra,
release from prison. This year is his 22 year in prison and he uses this blog to demonstrate that he had changed as a person. Gary Boyd writes about his growth with his inner-self in prison and wrote a book about it which was denied by the prison to be published. This blog clearly demonstrates Gary Boyd's transformation from a wild, careless, indiscipline young man to a mature, controlled grown man.
10. Quality of life and Historical value in Russian Prison: This blog talks about the social injustices in Russian prisons. It explains the conditions of life in prison as they are exposed most commonly to HIV and tuberculosis. It is also stated that prison guards regularly beat the inmates for "bad behavior"; they often force them to do unnecessary actions that deprives them of sleep everyday. Regarding diseases, Russian prison are extremely vulnerable to them as overcrowding is one of its factors. This blog gives an insight on the inside conditions of the present Russian prison and contrasts with the Gulags of the Soviets. The information given however, does not show that the prison have improved in regards to sanitary means.
