MVI_3124

... ... ... (what was you were saying?) I was saying that in the 30s Those who lived before the 30s they so to say were not corrupted. They were different, much better. Of course Gulag was a very bad experience. Varlam Shalamov wrote about it. He said that even one day can mess you up. That's why he said that he never wished it to happen to anybody and it's a bad experience for anybody. I think he was right because, for expample, during Perestryka there were many publications in a magazine called "Ogoniok". And I read a very interesting article about one woman before she was arrested, she was a political prisoner herself, so, she was arrested in the 30s and before that she used to be a historian who studied Ancient Greece. She could read Homer and others in the original and travelled quite a lot. She spoke many languages and that woman all over sudden was sent to Gulag and she spent there many years and when she was released, she was a different person. Of course her life was completely ruined and the only thing she was proud about was that she could swear for 20 minutes without a break. She was proud about it. She used to say that she perfectly mastered prison talk. So that's why there in every camp the criminals ran the show. They usually have their own rules. That's why it's not a place for someone who is intelligent and well educated. And such people usually didn't survive. They persih there. Like Mandelshtamm for example, he just broke down in Gulag, or anoher example, Shalamov, who survival can be considered as a miracle. He was a nurse. Somebody helped him. In general in such conditions for anybody who was intelligent and well educated was very difficult to live through. Those who survived were mainly common people. They were able to endure. Countrymen or workpeople were able to adapt themselves. But intelligent people would not survive. First of all the work itself was strenuous, then the conditions of cold, then the sanitary conditions were very poor. Camp fever was there and people died because of that. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Well and the criminals were the ones to run the show and they would kill many and they would gamble away themselves and etc. There were internal squabbles between different groups of criminals. ... They would kill each other and etc. ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... Of course it was like that in Khandyga. Khandyga was a camp poit so to say... It was a transit camp for 700 people. And there always... They always needed more people for the Magadan highway and they all went through Khandyga. They would come to Khasyga and from there they would be distributed to different parts of the road. And that's why some were sent to mining camps and some would be sent to the road camps and they built it there. The conditions were extremely difficult. Climate at that time... the temperature was -46 -56 C. Now with the climate change the winters are not that severe. And those times the winters were very cold from -46C to -54C at an average all winter every day. And they had to work in winter too not only in summer and in summer there were mosquitoes and other difficulties. And the food and their clothes were very poor. Once someone by the name of Kuzin Anatoly Ivanovich who lived in Khandyga that when he came to Magadan through all staging posts, he said that he almost had no clothes. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... ... ... .../. ... ... ... .... .... ... .... .... .... .... ... .... .... ... .... .... .... .... ... ... .... .... ..... .... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ....