Prisoner: Vladimir Tchernavin
“This was the beginning of a real friendship with the bandits whose attitude towards me was deeply touching. One of the prisoners brought me some cold soup and some cereal hardened into a gluey mass. I could not eat it. I drew out of my pocket the forgotten apple – to the surprise of my neighbors. ‘An apple? Raw? How did you manage to get it through? It is strictly forbidden.’ ‘I don’t know; they let it pass. I have some more, do you want one?’ ‘Why of course we do,’ Pavel replied, with excitement and eagerness in his voice. ‘We’re terribly in need of something green. Here we are given nothing raw. That’s to produce scurvy. Vania is getting it already.’ Pavel nodded at his companion. ‘We get no fats either and that’s why we have ulcers; sometimes they’re simply terrible, especially on the stomach and back.’”
Introduction
Conflict divided prisoners, yet solidarity and compassion grew among inmates who shared similar backgrounds, especially ethno-national or religious. These strong bonds protected and supported prisoners during their daily lives in the Gulag.
Movie Transcription
Conflict and violence pervaded the Gulag, but so too did solidarity, compassion, and the close bonds forged in hardship. Finding allies was critical to survival. Often, alliances followed the same lines as conflict. Prisoners within the same ethnic group often looked out for one another. Criminal gangs provided protection for their own members and their favored friends. People from the same political party, religion or region, speakers of the same language, people with similar interests, mothers—there were many ways for prisoners to find common cause with one another.
Prisoners who survived their first months in camps were more likely to survive their full sentences, precisely because they had developed support networks.
Prisoners formed particularly intense relationships, whether in love or in hatred. Simple human compassion was not uncommon, even when it meant sacrificing your own chance for survival. At times, even the free Soviet population or Gulag guards themselves would find the courage to help a struggling prisoner. Such acts posed grave danger for those who helped because the Soviet authorities understood any sign of solidarity with prisoners as evidence of an anti-Soviet viewpoint.