Prisoner: Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia
“Bread crust is a dream for all prisoners because they are constantly tortured by hunger, and a bread crust is more nutritious than a crumb. A crust has more substance, whereas a crumb has more water. We got bread in the morning. A loaf of rye bread, undercooked and with various additives, was cut into eight portions: first once along, then three times across. We got four crusts and four middle-crumbs. There are always fewer crusts, so the guards take everything that’s better. Instead of 350 grams we got barely 120-150.”
Introduction
The atrocities of working and living conditions in the camps went unnoticed as Soviet authorities promoted the Gulag as a progressive educational prison system to the general populace and prisoners. Posters displayed at the camps reinforced labor—at whatever cost—as a heroic and honorable contribution to the state.
Movie Transcription
Over many Gulag camp gates, a slogan declared: “Labor in the USSR is a matter of honor, glory, courage and heroism.”
In the barracks, posters screamed, “Glory to Stalin, the Greatest Genius of Mankind.”
At the work place, banners urged, “More Gold for Our Country, More Gold for Victory!”
These proclamations of the glories of socialism, the heroism of Soviet labor, and the possibilities of reeducation and reintegration into Soviet society sat uneasily in an environment saturated with death and deprivation.
Millions survived their Gulag, but they would have laughed at the notion that they were re-educated. Most would have used words such as “traumatized,” “brutalized,” or “disfigured”—terms not featured on the propaganda posters.