Crime 29/02/20 Why the top bunk in the Gulag was considered a “luxury” sleeper
“On the top bunk of the space occupied by repeat offenders” is an excerpt from the book of Karl Steiner “7000 days in the Gulag”. About camp rules the author knew firsthand: he spent behind barbed wire for nearly 17 years. This view is echoed by other former prisoners, and historians: do “Verkhotura” was considered among the prisoners a “luxury” sleeper.
the Thieves in the Gulag
As noted in the publication “Prisons and colonies Russia” Valery Abramkin, the so-called thieves are on the highest level of the prison hierarchy. According to Abramkina, to thieves are professional criminals. However, in Stalin’s time, multiple convictions did not give the prisoner the right to consider himself a representative of this caste. So, the one who served in the army, the thieves could not become in fact. In addition, the applicant for such status should not have been at liberty to work in the service sector (taxi driver, waiter, etc.). While the thieves generally work out.
the Thieves had other privileges: for example, they could keep out of the common Fund all that will fit. Generally it is in the hands of thieves concentrated all power in prison. And, of course, the representatives of this caste were the antagonists convicted on political charges. According to Anton Antonov-Ovseenko, author of “enemies of the people”, by analogy with the “enemies of the people”, which is usually called political prisoners, criminals styled “friends of the people”. Most professional criminals to cherish it “the title”, but their government refused.
the Privileged and the outcast
thanks to his belonging to the highest caste and power thieves always took the most “elite” beds in prison cells and camp barracks. Those were considered the top bunks or “Verkhotura” (Jacques Rossi’s “the Gulag Handbook”). A similar position of propheticshe is in the GULAG described in his memoirs many former prisoners. Already mentioned in the beginning of the article Karl Steiner wrote: “On the top bunk of the space occupied by repeat offenders, so-called “criminals” on the lower bunks – political, which was called “the pigeons””.
Thieves prefer to placed exactly on the top bunk for several reasons. In the first place “holders” Verkhoturov did not suffer from rolling in on top of them garbage and pouring of slops. This is particularly mentions in his “Handbook of Gulag” and Jacques Rossi. A similar view is shared by journalist Anne Applebaum, who in his book “the GULAG” was awarded the Pulitzer prize. Applebaum writes that from the upper bunk the prisoners poured out water, mud, yesterday’s soup. The same was done and the “owners” of the lower bunks, so this was most difficult during the “collective farm sector”, that is those who slept on the floor.
“Climate”, space and privacy
But the most important advantage of the upper bunks were considered the “climate”: in the “attic” has always been warmer than downstairs. This is confirmed in the pages of his works and writer Varlam Shalamov, who spent several years in Stalin’s camps. For example, in the book “Typhoid quarantine,” Shalamov describes the barracks where the prisoners lying on the top bunk was stripped to the waist from the heat, and those who were on the lower “floors”, slept in jackets, jackets and even hats. Yes and historian Viktor Berdinskikh, the author of the book “the history of the camp (Vyatlag)” writes that the upper bunks were considered the “Central” places because of the fact that they were warmer to sleep.
in addition, Mr Herman, in his book “Intracamp war between “ideological” and “breakaway” thieves in the period 1947-1953, he” notes that at “the attic” was much larger than on the lower bunk. Wrote about the dignity of the upper bunk and Anne Applebaum. However, the most “elite” in the barracks was not just the top bunks, and those that were in the corner of the room. At least, so says Viktor Berdinskikh. At to the historian, this is the best sleeping place was considered, in addition to these reasons, due to the fact that near the prisoners that he held, it was not a neighbor.
Yulia Popova
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© Russian Seven
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