Americans in the gulag

Times On Line ^ | December 23, 2008 | Adam Hochschild

[Leisler]

The little-known story of US citizens trying to escape the Depression

Mountainous Kolyma, only a few hundred miles west of the Bering Strait, is the coldest inhabited area on earth. During Stalin’s rule, some 2 million prisoners were sent there to mine the rich deposits of gold that lie beneath the rocky, frozen soil. In 1991, when researching a book about how Russians were coming to terms with the Stalin era, I travelled to the region to see some of the old camps of Kolyma, legendary as the most deadly part of the gulag, some of whose survivors I had interviewed. In a country beset by shortages of building materials, all of the hundreds of former prison camps accessible by truck had long since been stripped bare. The only ones still standing were those no longer reached by usable roads, and to see them you had to rent a helicopter.

[Leisler]

"No one knows how many of the American immigrants were caught up by the Purge and perished either in execution cellars or in the camps, although one mass grave with more than 140 American bodies was found in 1997 near the Finnish border.....

There is a later chapter to Tzouliadis’s story, for a second wave of Americans entered Soviet prison camps – at least 2,800 of them, according to one Russian document he cites – at the end of the Second World War, as the Red Army overran POW camps in Germany, and a third, smaller wave as the Chinese turned over POWs captured in Korea. The Russians refused to give back these men or even to acknowledge their existence.

[Constitutional Patriot]

The communists are/were the most evil species ever to walk teh earth. It still blows my mind how “educated intellectuals” embrace these miscreants and their corrupt and evil ideology as just a different way of living.

I am sorry for the foolish Americans who went to Uncle Joe’s paradise and had the rug pulled out from underneath them - although I’m sure that many of these people were dyed-in-the-wool commies, in which case I say good riddance.

I wonder why the story of these people is not better known here in the US? You would think that the then US Administration would have had something to say about this (except that he was also on Uncle Joe’s team).

[MuttTheHoople]

The first wave I have very little sympathy for...they turned their back on America for a lie, and they paid.

The American POW's they slaughtered after WW II and Korea, the blood is on the hands of Russia. I remember a verse from the Bible that cursed the nation who wouldn't let their prisoners free after war was over. You can now see that Russia is a cursed land, rich in minerals and farm space but impoverished spiritually. The vestiges of atheism still infect that land. Their life expectancy is 15-20 years less than the U.S. Their population is shrinking. I see them becoming a Muslim Caliphate in my lifetime.

[marktwain]

Coming Out of the Ice by Victor Herman is a fantastic book. It is a great story from an individual viewpoint. Victor’s father was an enthusiastic communist, but he was not.

[1rudeboy]

bump for later

[DainBramage]

Cool site Elenafilatova.com Otherwise known as the kid of speed who rides her motorcycle through the banned areas around Chernobyl, explores old russian battle fields and took a bunch of pictures of the goolags.

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for link.

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/camps/camps.html

Very Powerful images. Very Very Saddening.

Such a statement:

“May these photos remind us that no State can build prosperity upon the bones of its own citizens and if all who have eyes to see are tortured and killed, than the rest will live in a kingdom of blind for a very long time.”

[gakrak]

Agree, see EZEK 38-39.. The Bible identifies the land of MAGOG, (Russia)will be destroyed (EZEK38:14-23) . Amen

[idov]

I wish you had put a period after the word Depression. I thought someone had actually escaped Kolyma. I’ve heard much higher estimates of the number of people Stalin killed than 20 million. If we don’t known the number now, we may never know because Putin is cracking down on research into Stalin’s crimes for reasons not yet clear.

[DainBramage]

Everyone shouold spend time on her site going through her explanations of Chernobyl and how the government covered it up at the time.

Her father was a scientist I believe and taught her alot. The photreportage is incredible.

Also she links to some exploration of the bunkers and trenches used during the wars and digs up tons of artifacts and weapons etc.

Very...very cool.

[Dutch Boy]

From time to time I still meet a person that thinks communism and the old USSR were ideal if we only gave them a chance to succeed. They also claim the gulags were fantasies dreamed up by foreigners. My head nearly explodes when I hear that.

[DainBramage]

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/index.html

[MarkL]

I wonder why the story of these people is not better known here in the US? You would think that the then US Administration would have had something to say about this (except that he was also on Uncle Joe’s team).

Your last answers your own question. Heck, the NY Slimes STILL refuses to acknowledge that Walter Durante was complicit in the cover-up of the mass starvation and genocide of millions by Stalin against the Ukraine.

The most we will ever hear from the leftist apologists for communism is that there were some bad people in charge, and they might even acknowledge that there were "some deaths." But EVERY communist regime in history has been one of murderous brutality. Think Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Pohl Pot, etc...

Mark

[Gritty]

It is disgusting we have to learn these chronicles of Soviet horrors against innocent Americans through the British media.

But I guess our media is too busy admiring Obama's pecs to much care.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I see them becoming a Muslim Caliphate in my lifetime.

Siberia gets absorbed by China, either officially or unofficially.

[DJ Taylor]

"The communists are/were the most evil species ever to walk teh earth. It still blows my mind how “educated intellectuals” embrace these miscreants and their corrupt and evil ideology as just a different way of living."

Communism can’t be blamed for the evil committed by evil men in the name of communism any more than the evil committed by evil men in the name of religion can be blamed on religion.

It has been said over and over again that a people deserve the government they have, and if that is true, the Russians deserved Stalin just as they now deserve Putin. If a foolish, ignorant and naïve people can be manipulated by evil men using such words as “Communism,” “Democracy,” “National Socialism,” or “Change We Can Believe In,” then they deserve what they get in a government.

[VR-21]

Santa just brought me this book, and I plan to start it in about two weeks. One of the most significant catalysts of my own personal evolution from a leftist to a conservative started when Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago came out in the 70's. China's "Cultural Revolution" occurred while I was reading it, and I began to see behind the benign mask that Communism wore. For it's whitewashing and acceptance of it (as well as it's vilification of those who opposed it), I also began to see what a mix of stupidity and evil the modern American left had become.

It’s very gratifying that these kinds of books are still being written because they once in awhile help people come to grips with the truth (as did I). Like many others, I’m often frustrated by the way that evil ideology gets a pass from our education system and popular culture. I’m forever amazed at the looks I can get from “educated” people when I tell them that where murderous tyrants are concerned, Hitler was a rank amateur compared to Stalin and Mao.

For anyone wanting a good historical perspective on the ravages of that ideology I highly recommend The Black Book of Communism published by Harvard in 1999.

[Leisler]

I like to think I can read some rough stuff, but I couldn’t get through the Black Book.

Too depressing. Mostly because it was the same, fairly simple process over and over.

I even read to the end, even books I dislike. But the Black Book beat me.

But, you are right, it is a great book.

[Leisler]

True.

Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks and he said because that is where the money was.

Well, there’s money everywhere, but it is concentrated more so in a bank.

Other people built the bank, the money is centralized and you don’t even have to search as people put big signs up that say BANK.

Same with large, organized, centralized government. People gather the power, and then comes along a political robber, thank you very much.

This is what the left doesn’t understand. They don’t realized that putting all power in one place is like giving all your money to Madoff. It’s like going to sea in a ship with no water tight bulkheads.

You are just putting a big sign up to political psychopaths that says, “Here’s All The Power”.

It can’t happen here. Yeah, right.

[sport]

Mark for later.