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Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard
Diary and short stories by Ivan Chistyakov
Introduction: Irina Shcherbakova
Translation: Arch Tait
Published: Granta 2016
Exactly what it says on the label; A diary (plus three short stories at the end).
In the main, this is not a novel or story, simply diary entries by Ivan Chistyakov during his one year duty as an armed guard on the BAM (Baikal–Amur Mainline) railway during 1935/36.
His diary was lately donated to the Memorial Human Rights Centre, Moscow.
Chistyakov died in Tula Province 1941 while fighting the Germans.
"Our limitation is this: when you are confined in prison or in camp, the personality of the prison keepers interests you only to the extent that it helps you evade their threats and exploit their weaknesses. As far as anything else is concerned, you couldn't care less. They are unworthy of your attention. You are suffering yourself, and those around you who .are unjustly imprisoned are suffering, and in comparison with that sheaf of sufferings, which is too much for your outspread hands to encompass, what are these stupid people in their watchdog jobs to you? What are their petty interests to you, their worthless likes and dislikes, their successes and failures in the service?
And then later, too late, you suddenly realize that you didn't observe them closely
enough.
Without even discussing the question of talent, can a person become a jailer in prison or camp if he is capable of the very least kind of useful activity? Let us ask: On the whole, can a camp keeper be a good human being? What system of moral selection does life arrange for them? The first selection takes place on assignment to the MVD armies, MVD schools, or MVD courses. Every man with the slightest speck of spiritual training, with a minimally circumspect conscience, or capacity to distinguish good from evil, is instinctively going to back out and use every available means to avoid joining this dark legion. But let us concede that he did not succeed in backing out. A second selection comes during training and the first service assignment, when the bosses themselves take a close look and eliminate all those who manifest laxity (kindness) instead of strong will and firmness (cruelty and mercilessness). And then a third selection takes place over a period of many years: All those who had not visualized where and into what they were getting themselves now come to understand and are horrified. To be constantly a weapon of violence, a constant participant in evil! Not everyone can bring himself to this, and certainly not right off. You 'see, you are trampling on others' lives. And inside yourself something tightens and bursts. You can't go on this way any longer! And although it is belated, men can still begin to fight their way out, report themselves ill, get disability certificates, accept lower pay, take off their shoulder boards-anything just to get out, get out, get out!
Does that mean the. rest of them have got used to it? Yes. The rest of them have got used to it, and their life already seems normal to them. And useful too, of course. And even honourable.
And some didn't have to get used to it; they had been that way from the start."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago vol. 2, 1988 (T. Whitney translation)
Chistyakov it seems was one of the educated. A man with a conscience, he was disgusted by the job, the system and the majority of his superiors, but he had been conscripted and had little choice.
His short story 'The Hunt' is quite entertaining.
Edit: Correction on English edition publishing date
Diary and short stories by Ivan Chistyakov
Introduction: Irina Shcherbakova
Translation: Arch Tait
Published: Granta 2016
Exactly what it says on the label; A diary (plus three short stories at the end).
In the main, this is not a novel or story, simply diary entries by Ivan Chistyakov during his one year duty as an armed guard on the BAM (Baikal–Amur Mainline) railway during 1935/36.
His diary was lately donated to the Memorial Human Rights Centre, Moscow.
Chistyakov died in Tula Province 1941 while fighting the Germans.
"Our limitation is this: when you are confined in prison or in camp, the personality of the prison keepers interests you only to the extent that it helps you evade their threats and exploit their weaknesses. As far as anything else is concerned, you couldn't care less. They are unworthy of your attention. You are suffering yourself, and those around you who .are unjustly imprisoned are suffering, and in comparison with that sheaf of sufferings, which is too much for your outspread hands to encompass, what are these stupid people in their watchdog jobs to you? What are their petty interests to you, their worthless likes and dislikes, their successes and failures in the service?
And then later, too late, you suddenly realize that you didn't observe them closely
enough.
Without even discussing the question of talent, can a person become a jailer in prison or camp if he is capable of the very least kind of useful activity? Let us ask: On the whole, can a camp keeper be a good human being? What system of moral selection does life arrange for them? The first selection takes place on assignment to the MVD armies, MVD schools, or MVD courses. Every man with the slightest speck of spiritual training, with a minimally circumspect conscience, or capacity to distinguish good from evil, is instinctively going to back out and use every available means to avoid joining this dark legion. But let us concede that he did not succeed in backing out. A second selection comes during training and the first service assignment, when the bosses themselves take a close look and eliminate all those who manifest laxity (kindness) instead of strong will and firmness (cruelty and mercilessness). And then a third selection takes place over a period of many years: All those who had not visualized where and into what they were getting themselves now come to understand and are horrified. To be constantly a weapon of violence, a constant participant in evil! Not everyone can bring himself to this, and certainly not right off. You 'see, you are trampling on others' lives. And inside yourself something tightens and bursts. You can't go on this way any longer! And although it is belated, men can still begin to fight their way out, report themselves ill, get disability certificates, accept lower pay, take off their shoulder boards-anything just to get out, get out, get out!
Does that mean the. rest of them have got used to it? Yes. The rest of them have got used to it, and their life already seems normal to them. And useful too, of course. And even honourable.
And some didn't have to get used to it; they had been that way from the start."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago vol. 2, 1988 (T. Whitney translation)
Chistyakov it seems was one of the educated. A man with a conscience, he was disgusted by the job, the system and the majority of his superiors, but he had been conscripted and had little choice.
His short story 'The Hunt' is quite entertaining.
Edit: Correction on English edition publishing date
Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Tuesday 10th March 14:15
ElectricSoup said:
Hadn't heard of Chistyakov's book before. Is it a pen name? Chistyakov roughly means "Clean".
For clarity; it's not this chap; Ivan Chistyakov(as I said above; the author of the diary did not survive the war)
The diary in question would have been donated sometime after the formation of Memorial Human Rights Centre in the 1980s.
Tait's translation dates from around 2016 (I've corrected the English edition publishing date above), so it is fairly recent.
First published in Moscow (Russian edition) 2014.
I've just finished "The Templar's Quest" by C M Palov, it really wasn't great. Another book written in what I'd loosely describe as a "fussy" way, with too many asides, too many little fill-in sentences that ram home a point that the reader can pretty much work out for themselves. Story itself wasn't too bad, baddies are searching for a long-lost artefact that will allow them some great power, goodies have a medallion containing a clue to locate it, a bit "Raiders of the Lost Ark" really, but more modern and more drawn out (which of course might be because it's a book, not a 100-odd minute film).
toasty said:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Guy is a fireman who's job is to start fires, burning houses of people who've kept and hidden books where the rest of the world is sedated through television. A chance encounter makes him question his life and purpose.
Short and sweet.
Beautiful book - wonderful thought-provoker. I came to it via the original film which is now so dated, but I understand that there will be someone trying to murder that literary perfection with a new version of film or series - if you like that sort of thing.Guy is a fireman who's job is to start fires, burning houses of people who've kept and hidden books where the rest of the world is sedated through television. A chance encounter makes him question his life and purpose.
Short and sweet.
Laplace said:
Working my way through that at the moment, very good so far.
Recently finished Sniper One which was excellent. One of the best war related books I've read for getting a true sense of what our lads went through in Iraq.
Also recently finished both Jason Fox - Battle Scars and Ant Middleton - First Man In. Foxy has certainly been through the wringer and I was glad to read how he got through it in the end. Ant came across a bit of a cock imo.
Picked up a few more used books from ebay to work through which should keep me going for a month or so. All recommendations from this thread
The circuit is greatRecently finished Sniper One which was excellent. One of the best war related books I've read for getting a true sense of what our lads went through in Iraq.
Also recently finished both Jason Fox - Battle Scars and Ant Middleton - First Man In. Foxy has certainly been through the wringer and I was glad to read how he got through it in the end. Ant came across a bit of a cock imo.
Picked up a few more used books from ebay to work through which should keep me going for a month or so. All recommendations from this thread
Edited by Laplace on Monday 2nd March 21:01
A Country Doctor's Notebook
Author: Mikhail Bulgakov
Introduction & Translation: Michael (Misha) Glenny - 1975
Published: Colins Harvill 1990
First Published: Colins & Harvill Press 1975
Stock photo (paperback)
A collection of short stories by Mikhail Bulgakov in the 1920s inspired by his experiences as a newly qualified doctor working in a village hospital.
Interesting to note that the early stories are pre-revolution and the final story (The Murderer) relates closely to his novel 'The White Guard'.
Having little to no knowledge or special interest in medicine, I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed these bite sized stories. Each one short enough for a bedtime read before sleep but easily engaging enough to be read in a single long sitting.
Entertaining and, unusually for Bulgakov, without political motivation or the deeply allegorical style of 'Heart of a Dog' or 'The Master and Margarita'.
Bulgakov is his usual humorous self without making light of the seriousness of the plight of the people in his more desperate cases.
Author: Mikhail Bulgakov
Introduction & Translation: Michael (Misha) Glenny - 1975
Published: Colins Harvill 1990
First Published: Colins & Harvill Press 1975
Stock photo (paperback)
A collection of short stories by Mikhail Bulgakov in the 1920s inspired by his experiences as a newly qualified doctor working in a village hospital.
Interesting to note that the early stories are pre-revolution and the final story (The Murderer) relates closely to his novel 'The White Guard'.
Having little to no knowledge or special interest in medicine, I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed these bite sized stories. Each one short enough for a bedtime read before sleep but easily engaging enough to be read in a single long sitting.
Entertaining and, unusually for Bulgakov, without political motivation or the deeply allegorical style of 'Heart of a Dog' or 'The Master and Margarita'.
Bulgakov is his usual humorous self without making light of the seriousness of the plight of the people in his more desperate cases.
An excellent , meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book about the tough American racer who secured Honda's first Grand Prix victory in Mexico in '65. Imagine the sound of a 13,000rpm 1.5 litre V12 ...
Ginther's life was a fascinating one and I really recommend the book to those interested in what is now an almost forgotten era .
My full review is on speedreaders.info
A cracking read, and only £3 from the Works.
The story of how the many items of art were removed from the Louvre in Paris to protect them from the ravages of war, but also to keep them out of the private collections of Himmler, Goring and Hitler. Much is written about the intervention of the Underground Maquis, and also the eventual re-occupation of Paris when the works were returned.
As much an exciting war story as a book on art history.
Strongly recommended.
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