Kolymian Stories
(Varlam Shalamov)
This collection of short stories gives the reader the details about the slave camp hell by the one who went through it. Millions of lives were broken in the former Soviet Union for the sake of the "happy future of mankind". For the purpose of building communism and creating a strong economy literally millions of prisoners were forced to work in the labor camps. The horrors included hunger, long working hours (12-16) without days off, diseases, severe cold, absence of appropriate clothing, inability to be in touch with the loved ones. The most terrifying thing was the fact that innocent honest people, so called political prisoners accused in espionage, sabotage of the authorities and other ridiculous things, were forced to share the living space, barraks, with the cold- blooded criminals who would not hesitate to kill for a sweater, blanket, food...Those creatures knew no remorse, they played cards and bet on lives of other people.
The book will make you cry because it's very difficult to accept the fact that human beings like you and me had to go through something like that. It was just as bad as Nazi concentration camps.
The elite of Russian intelligensia was exterminated in those slave camps- writers, scientists, artists. Millions of hard-working peasants lost their lives there for refusing to join collective farms with communal property. Workers, military men, house wives, children of "enemies of the people" whose parents were executed, went through that hell. The author of the book spent more than twenty years of his life in those camps, and was lucky to survive. This true masterpiece will give a very clear picture to everyone who would like to get an idea about communism, socialism, etc. People, don't believe the myth that in the Soviet Union there was an ugly distortion of the beautiful idea to make everybody equal and happy. Communism is only a dream. It's okey to dream, but it's not okey to try to make the dreams come true at the expense of human's lives, especially millions of them. Just read the book, and you'll make revelations.
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