Recorded on the 19th of July, 1988
It was late in June or early in July – the snow had not yet completely melted away; the spring of the year 1953. I was just walking over to the wash-house near the bath, when my attention was attracted by some black flags fluttering on top of the swing cranes of the watch-towers. There were a couple of such swing cranes between the Guards’ Square and the bath-house. Later these black flags were replaced by red ones with a black border, or, maybe, there was a selvage on the lower and upper edge with a red stripe in the middle. At first the series of strikes spread among the people in the work compound; they did not hang out flags. Here and there the snow had not yet melted away.
At that time I lived in the compressor room of a coal mine called „Ugolniy ruchey“ („coal creek“; translator’s note). In this room there was a kind of balcony, a special place for the operation and supervision of the shutoff and control valves, about five square meters in all. Nothing else would fit into this room but me and a small heap of books. I was released on the 23rd of July 1953. I worked in this compressor room till my release. I was unable to go away, since I had neither money nor clothes – except for an old camp suit, and for that reason I decided to stay, earn some money first, buy myself new clothes and leave the place only then. I would have liked to go to university. At home I had been to the elementary school for six years and then attended the secondary school for another five years. I am the son of a farmer and well-prepared to doing farm work; as I finished the school of horticulture and beekeeping, instead of passing the final exams at the secondary school, I went to the evening school; later I studied at the All-Russian Pedagogic Institute; there they had a professional information center, which was supervised by a certain Kazarin; there also worked a woman named Inna Sergeevna Berlin. I neither left that place then, nor later. I founded a family. Once, during a lesson at the evening school I noticed that the girl beside me gave quite a nice impression on me and also did not behave badly towards me ...
They arrested me on the 17th November 1945 for being a bourgeois nationalist. And, in fact, I did not hide away my conviction – Latvia should belong to the Letts. Until today I have not been rehabilitated. I was sentenced on section 58-1a to an 8 years' term in a camp and 3 years of political and individual civil disfranchisement. I was released early for highly-productive labor. I knew in advance that they would set me free soon; I counted the days that were left.
I do remember that they came for me saying that I should wash my neck and get shaved, since they intended to take my picture at the URCh (Registration and Distribution Unit; translator’s note). Two days later I was handed over the photos as I needed them for my discharge papers. Once again in my life I was given a real name. Until then I had been prisoner No. 196431. I was sentenced in Kolumna near Moscow. At first I had to work as a lumberjack – and then there was a time, when the planting of woods came into fashion. They chased me into the steppe, the place was deserted and bare, there was a fence, darkness had already set in when we arrived. They merely shouted: „Lie down!“ We had to sleep on the ground. Later we built ourselves dug-outs. Many people lost their lives. They appointed me as foreman, put two-hundred workers at my disposal and ordered us to plant trees. I was some kind of a specialist after all, since I had studied at the school of horticulture. But the trees dried up, died from the scorching heat; it was an entirely useless work to plant trees in that place. I refused to continue this job. And then they deported me to Norilsk, to a camp, for reeducation – and I had to stay there with nothing but criminals. This seemed to be the very last true measure – as they put the final cut to a diamond ... I have never been a submissive prisoner, and that is the reason for why I got to this place, to the camp and all these criminal offenders. I disembarked from the barge as prisoner No. 196431. And after my release I had the right to settle down within a radius of 101 kilometers from any big city that would suit me. In those days we earned 6 rubels per year, calculated as per the today’s value of our cuurrency. Upon my release I received 512 rubels and 76 kopeks.
In my opinion the strike of the year 1953 was provoked. In 1953 the NKVD workers were cut some specific allowances and privileges. Secondly, a mass amnesty of the criminals had been started – which was consequently followed by the abolition of established posts. And the NKVD workers had neither completed any useful vocational training, nor were they suited for any special job. Therefore they decided to prove to the country and to Malenkov’s new government that the NKVD was still needed, the more since they feared this threat of becoming liquidated. The method of provoking discontent was the same in all camps, in ours, as well as in Pechora. And this is what I knew about for sure: the execution of male prisoners, who had come too close to the forbidden zone while talking about the women of the neighboring compound. This „camp-fringe area“ or „buffer zone“ was a plowed up strip of ground on both sides of the barbed-wire fence; footprints were visible. It was forbidden to fire at prisoners within the zone, but it was allowed to shoot them when they left it. However, it never happened that they left the zone, and at those times there were no objections against such conversations: we don’t mind if you have a chat, be kind to one another – and the guards would usually turn a blind eye. And then, suddenly, out of a clear sky, four prisoners were killed. In Pechora they also carried out such executions. This was called „shot for having attempted to escape“.
Do you know that I saw a poster hanging inside the riflemen’s barracks of camp No. 15?
„Did you at least extradite one enemy of the people?“ (Maybe the text did not say „extradite“, but „unmask“). The camp was situated near the 115th substation in Medvezhka.
To provoke a revolt and then successfully suppress – that was the aim of Beriya and the NKVD; by means of this method they intended to prove the absolute necessity of their existence and give cause to new arrests, executions, etc.
What did the rebels demand then? The permission to send and receive letters, to lift the existing restrictions (they were allowed to receive one letter per year, the receipt of parcels was strictly forbidden, but this did not apply to me, since I numbered among the criminal offenders and therefore got the benefit of their rights). They demanded the removal and complete abolition of numbers, which were painted on their clothes (the back of the jacket, the cap and the right trouser-leg).
And how they chased us on the run from one side of the waggon to the other, one with a lantern, the other armed with a wooden maul: if you don’t hurry up or dare to turn round, this hammersmith is sure to beat you on your shoulders. And in case someone toddles, then the whole procedure will start again .... The wooden maul, as a matter of fact, was being used to nail down the rails to the sleepers.
They furthermore demanded to keep the barracks unlocked, allow the prisoners to go to the toilets at nighttime, so that they would not be forced to use the latrine bucket anymore – and that is why they should not lock the doors of the barracks during the night. And – to stop checking their belongings and making searches. All demands of the strikers were complied with.
It is really interesting to know that, before Beriya’s arrest, leaflets were thrown from the swing cranes of the watch-towers. The following text was written on them: „Beriya – the enemy of the people! Down with Beriya!“ These leaflets were sheets of paper of the size of an exercise book. The words had probably be written on them by means of a sharpened small stick. I have seen and read such slips of paper myself. But this Beriya was still sitting firm in his armchair. And it appeared to me quite brainless to issue and distribute such leaflets – Beriya seemed to be immortal.
Differences immediately occurred among the strikers, which were made up of minimalists, loyalists and extremists. Each of them tried to put the events straight according to his own imaginations and after his fashion. The group of strikers split up. A most interesting thing was the fact that the archives at once fell into the hands of the rebels, so that they had the opportunity to learn, what they had been defamed of and why they had been sentenced. It turned out that they had been slandered by their own comrades, who had been working with them in the same brigade. It is reported that the executions were carried through during the first two days of the revolt. The informers were executed, but at first they were sentenced. They sounded alarm – on a piece of railway rail. The table was covered with a green tablecloth, men in the black robes of judges were leading the interrogations: informer So-and-so, why did you slander your comrade? The counsil for the defense was asked to speak; the question occurred weather they should allow for mitigating circumstances. If this was not the case, the informers were executed.
The representatives of the camp authorities, which had crowded at the entrance of the compound, were unable to intervene; the guards on the watch towers, although they were armed with machine guns, could not do anything – nobody was in a position to help the informers. The former prisoners Alexander Gogan , who has already passed away, told me about this.
Several times they tried to suppress the revolt, but all their efforts were in vain. A unit of soldiers without machine pistols put the prisoners to flight. Later, fire engines came driving up at high speed. But the men did not succeed to get the hoses ready to be put into operation and connect them to the water-pipe – the driver’s cabs were already covered with splinters of glass. When the prisoners noticed that soldiers with machine pistols approached them, they threw pieces of broken glass at them and poured acid over them. Malenkov decided not to give the order to shoot the rebels. For a long time he did not drop any decision at all, and the revolt went on for four or five months. Two zones were able to held out for a particularly long time – a womens’ and a mens’ camp. Later they cut through the barbed wire, which surrounded the camp, installed loud-speakers, and the camp administration started to convince those prisoners, who had been sentenced to a short term only or who had almost completely served their full sentence, to leave the compound. But the prisoners kept all their comrades away from trying to escape. One night in September MP marksmen forced their way into the zone – it was early in September then. The informers had already let out the names of the instigators and participants of the revolt. They began to sort out prisoners. Everybody was ordered to lay down face downwards on the floor – for a period of several hours. Those, who had not done any wrong, had to step to the right. All others – to the left, and nothing is known about their fate; they were transported away in the direction of Dudinka. But the majority was asked to line up on the right side. They were all transferred to a different place of work, only very few returned to where they had stayed before. The exact number of rebels is not known – the information vary from a few hundred up to several thousand participants; I think, however, that the last figure is exaggerated. During the sorting out process, which carried on for a couple of hours, the prisoners had to lie face down on the ground. The soldiers mercilessly hit everybody over the head, who turned round or merely made the attempt to lift and turn their heads.
I heard about efforts to talk to the prisoners. The local camp administration tried to negotiate with them, Zverev tried to, as well, bit the rebels did not want to discuss with them. Someone came flying over from Krasnoyarsk. At the gates the demand was heard to say ones name. „So-and-so“. There were loud catcalls: „We are not going to talk to him!“ They asked for the chief public prosecutor. He came, and they said: „To him we will talk!“ It is reported that, during the negotiations, they were sitting on tables covered with red tablecloths. The person they were talking to behaved with self-control – that was his tactics. However, he did not promise anything, but only said: „We will resolve this matter and discuss everything in detail!“ He advised them to get back to work.
All this I heard from other people. I myself only saw the flags, heard the shootings and read the leaflets. Later, about two years after the above-described events had taken place, I witnessed a rather strange burial, which is still fresh in my memory. The coffin was lined with green velvet, and many people wore green ribbons around their sleeves; a big procession followed the coffin, the guards maintained their silence. When I asked, who they were going to bury, I was told that one of the ringleaders of the revolt had died. Who?
M.M. Dudutis has some more information about this. He was also aware of the executions carried out in 1941 and 1942 – at that time they executed people in great number for having been unreliable soldiers at the front. Panic, feelings of anxiety. One of the chekists, a former first lieutenant, participant in these mass executions, later came over to Norilsk and tried to get in touch with M.M.