Starting Imperium are true stories about how RK, as a child, barely avoided being deported to the gulag from Pinsk, Poland, in 1939. Fast forwarding to1958, RK relates adventures from his trip on the Trans-Siberian railway. He made a point of personally experiencing almost every city/territory/province/village/mountain range/river/encampment in existence. He writes of Argun, Unda, Chaychar, Chingan, Ilchuri, Dzagdy, Kilkok, Tungir, Bukachacha, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Krasnoyarsk, to name just a few. Oh, and Moscow too. Some people he encountered were Buryats, Kamchadals, Tunguses, Aynovs, Orochans, and Koryats. Got the picture?
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| chaoscott |
Kapusinski’s writing is a pleasure to read. I never thought I’d be interested in a book on Russian history today (although I enjoyed Russian history in college), but RK, by relating his adventures through his grand, lyrical and brutal prose, has a way of making it fresh and new all over again. He writes with incredible narrative power and evokes spectacularly the essence of Soviet life. I definitely recommend RK’s Imperium.
There is so much I could write about Imperium, but my favorite part was RK’s trek out to North Eastern Siberia (1989-1991) to see the former Kolyma death camp. Stalin’s constant purges (1930s, 1940s) ensured Kolyma always remained full, even though many of the prisoners already at the camp were dying every day. The lives of the prisoners were pure hell, reminiscent of those at Auschwitz, minus the gas chambers and ovens.
The slave laborers had to deal with the following:
COLD – Clothed in wretched and thin rags it was common for prisoners to freeze to death in the minus thirty degree environment.
HUNGER – Often times, meals consisted of a crust of bread the entire day.
HARD LABOR – Hungry and frozen, prisoners were constantly pushed past the point of endurance, digging ice, carting it off in wheelbarrows, crushing rocks and ice, and chopping down the forest.
LACK OF SLEEP – Prisoners were afforded only a few bits at a time in icy barracks, on hard boards.
FILTH – Prisoners were not allowed to wash and therefore were constantly covered in a dirt crust and sweat, stinking unbearably.
VERMIN - Prisoners were constantly fighting off swarms of bedbugs, mosquitos, and terrible Siberian flies.
GUARD SADISM – Prisoners were shouted at, punched in the face, beaten, kicked and even murdered for the most minor infractions.
TERROR OF CRIMINALS – Violent criminal prisoners were constantly taking advantage of the rest of the prisoner population.
FEELING OF INJUSTICE – The sheer psychological terror of simply being at Kolyma.
HOMESICKNESS & FEAR – Scared prisoners felt that any day could be their last for any of the above reasons. Sometimes sentences stretched to 25 years, absolutely crushing any hope of getting out alive.
All in all, over 3,000,000 died at Kolyma, so just sit down, shut up, and be thankful Uncle Joe isn’t your travel agent.
