Sveshnikov sketch of "goners" digging through the trash heap for scraps. Some prisoners became so overwhelmed by continual hunger that they were driven to eating anything they could find, including trash. They were known as "goners" in camp slang, as they had only a slim chance of surviving the camps.

Color sketch from Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia's self-illustrated memoir of goners waiting for camp cooks to dump out food trash. In the accompanying text, Kersnovskaia descibes an episode when "dokhodiagi" (or "goners" in camp slang) were waiting for leftovers from the camp's hospital. They ran to the trash bin and took bits of food including fish scales causing one former professor to regurgitate his meal.