GULAG
I post a lot about nature, so I figured that I would post briefly about another interest I have: the infamous GULAG.
It's a Russian acronym for thehe Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies, but it has come to symbolize the entire Soviet prison system, especially after Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. My interest arose from his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a brief but fascinating book about the life of an imprisoned carpenter.
I was reading Shalamov's Kolyma Tales this morning, sick with a headache in bed. It's probably not the best thing to read in such a state, but each story hits me. They're incredible. But whenever I mention his book, or some other memoirs, or even the GULAG itself, I always get blank stares. One person thought it was a type of food.
I have the humbleness to laugh, but it still irks me. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote Santayana, and while it is a bit of a cliche, it is true. I was reading an article sometime earlier this year, and the word Putinism arose. I looked it up, and you can find a wkipedia article on it. More than this, the parallels in the current Russian prison system and the early stages of the GULAG terrify me, especially after the raid Nov. 4 last year where authorities stole 20-years worth of GULAG archival research from Memorial, a human rights society.
Now, I 'm not saying we all have to go around reading Applebaum's 800-page GULAG: A History, which incidentally is a brilliant book, but we should be educated about it. We owe it to those afflicted, living and dead. Moreover, it's shadow still lingers, whether in the ruins of failed canals, closed camps, or children. I wish to forget about it too, but I can't.
It's a Russian acronym for thehe Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies, but it has come to symbolize the entire Soviet prison system, especially after Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. My interest arose from his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a brief but fascinating book about the life of an imprisoned carpenter.
I was reading Shalamov's Kolyma Tales this morning, sick with a headache in bed. It's probably not the best thing to read in such a state, but each story hits me. They're incredible. But whenever I mention his book, or some other memoirs, or even the GULAG itself, I always get blank stares. One person thought it was a type of food.
I have the humbleness to laugh, but it still irks me. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote Santayana, and while it is a bit of a cliche, it is true. I was reading an article sometime earlier this year, and the word Putinism arose. I looked it up, and you can find a wkipedia article on it. More than this, the parallels in the current Russian prison system and the early stages of the GULAG terrify me, especially after the raid Nov. 4 last year where authorities stole 20-years worth of GULAG archival research from Memorial, a human rights society.
Now, I 'm not saying we all have to go around reading Applebaum's 800-page GULAG: A History, which incidentally is a brilliant book, but we should be educated about it. We owe it to those afflicted, living and dead. Moreover, it's shadow still lingers, whether in the ruins of failed canals, closed camps, or children. I wish to forget about it too, but I can't.