Chapter 51 Chapter 20 The Dog's Duty

The title of this chapter is not intended to be insulting, but simply because it must follow the tradition of the labor camp.If you think about it carefully, this fate is indeed chosen by themselves: isn't their job the same as that of police dogs?Moreover, their duties themselves are related to dogs.They even have special regulations for the use of police dogs, and a formal committee of military officers is responsible for supervising the work of each police dog and training them to have good ferocious performance.If it costs the people 11,000 ex-Khrushchev rubles a year to feed a pup (feed for police dogs is more nutritious than food for prisoners), isn't it much more expensive to feed an officer? ?

We have encountered a difficulty throughout writing this book: what should they be called in general? "Sir, sir"--too general to say of life outside prison and in the country as a whole, and both words are overused. "Master" -- same thing. "Re-education camp administrators"?This avoidance of substance only shows our incompetence.Calling them "dogs" outright in camp parlance? -- seems too rude, like a curse. The word "Ying Li" is completely in line with the spirit of the language: the difference between it and the word "reform-through-labour prisoner" is like the difference between "prisoner" and "prisoner".It conveys one precise and only meaning: the person who runs and manages the labor camp.Therefore, after obtaining the understanding of strict readers for using this new word (since there is a gap in the language for this word, it is not quite a new word), we will use it from time to time in the future.

This chapter is about these "battalion officials" (the prison officials are also discussed here).It would be wonderful to start with the generals, but we have no material.It is impossible for us insects and slaves to know about them, nor to see them up close.And when we see them, we are always dazzled by the glittering golden light on them, and we can't see anything clearly. So we don't know anything about the revolving gulag bosses - the tsars of the archipelago.If any of us got a picture of Behrman or heard a word from Apeltel, it would be a big deal right away.We know about the "Garanin massacre," but we know nothing about Garanin himself.We only know that he is not satisfied with just signing; when he is patrolling in the labor camp, if he sees someone's face as unusable, he doesn't like to take a shot with a Mauser himself.We wrote about Kasketin, but we never met him (thank God!).A little material was gathered about Frenkel, but nothing about Zaviniakin.This recently deceased figure escaped being buried with Ezhov Beria and his gang.The newspaper ruffians are still talking about him as "the legendary builder of Norilsk!" Could it be that he has laid bricks by himself?However, considering that he was favored firstly by Beria and secondly by Zinoviev, an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we can bet that he was a complete beast.Otherwise, he couldn't have built a Norilsk.

Regarding the situation of Antonov, the battalion commander of the Yenisei labor camp, thank you engineer Boborz for writing to us.We would urge everyone to read this Scene: The Unloading of the Barges on the River Taze.In the heart of the tundra where the railway has not yet arrived (will it?), Egyptian ants have switched locomotives to the snow.Antonov stood on the hill overlooking the site, and set a time limit for the completion of unloading.He came from the sky, and he will fly back from the sky after a while.He was surrounded by fawning companions.What is Napoleon worth?Right here in the arctic permafrost, his personal chef laid out fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on a folding table in front of him.This kid didn't know anyone, and he was reimbursed all by himself.

In this chapter we shall examine characters below the colonel.Let's talk about the officers first, then move on to the rank of sergeant, and incidentally the guards -- that's all.Whoever has seen more, please ask him to write more.Here's our limitation: when you're in a prison or a labor camp, you're interested in the characters of the prisoners just to avoid their threats and exploit their weaknesses.You don't want to care about other aspects at all, thinking that they don't deserve your attention.You yourself are suffering, and people around you who are wrongly imprisoned are suffering.Compared with the huge pile of grievances and sufferings that you can't even embrace with open arms, these "wooden heads" who serve as police dogs, their sleazy dogs, their boring hobbies, and their successes and failures in their jobs are nothing in your eyes. What's up?

And you realize now, too late, that you have been too careless in your observations. Can a man capable of any useful activity of any kind serve as a prison and labor camp guard? --We don't care about this kind of personal talent issue.We only ask this question: Can a "battle official" be a good person in general?What process of moral elimination does life arrange for them?The first elimination is when they are incorporated into the army of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, schools or training classes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Anyone who has left the slightest trace of spiritual upbringing, who has the slightest scruples in conscience and who can still distinguish between evil and good will instinctively and do everything possible to avoid joining this black army.But let's assume that they can't get away with it, and then the second elimination will come: when receiving training and performing the first mission, the chiefs will personally pay attention to showing all the looseness (kindness) instead of strong will and firmness. Mental (cruel and heartless) people are removed.After that, the third elimination that lasted for many years began: People who didn't know where they were going or what they were going to do before now knew it all and felt terrible.To act as a tool of violence forever, to act as a permanent accomplice to crime-after all, this is not acceptable to everyone, nor is it immediately acceptable!You are trampling on the fate of others, but something is tensing and breaking inside yourself.You can no longer live like this!So even though they have already retreated greatly, people are still trying to break free: claiming to be sick, getting a doctor's certificate, switching to a lower salary, taking off their epaulets-anything, as long as they can get out, get out, get out!

So, the rest of the people are used to it?Well, the rest of us got used to it all.They already feel that their lives are normal, certainly rewarding, even honorable.For some people, even a process of habituation is not necessary: ​​they have been that way from the beginning. In view of such a process of selection, it may be concluded that the proportion of ruthless people in the camp is far greater than in any random group of inhabitants.The longer, uninterrupted, and famous a man's service in the "government," the more likely he was to be a villain. We do not ignore Dzerzhinsky's noble words: "Whoever among you has become callous, whose heart cannot be sympathetic and caring for imprisoned people - ask him to leave this institution!" But we There is no way to match these words with reality.Who is this for?How serious is it? --if it is taken into account that he defended Koselev at the same time (Part I, Chapter VIII).Who cares about these words?Neither "terror as a means of persuasion," nor "suspicious" arrests alone, nor the early concentration camps fifteen years before Hitler, can give us this sympathetic and chivalrous feeling.If anyone in these years left the institution by himself, it was precisely the one Dzerzhinsky suggested to stay—that is, the one who failed to become ruthless.And those who had become ruthless or had been ruthless remained. (It is also possible that he made another suggestion on another occasion, but we do not have his quotations.)

How sticky are those buzzwords that we like to accept without thinking or examining! "Old Cheka!"--who hasn't heard those words uttered with respect in a drawl?If you want to point out a battalion officer as different from the inexperienced, rough-handed, yelling battalion officer who lacks the teeth of a real bulldog, you usually say: "The battalion commander there is an old--Cheka! "(Like the major who burned Krempner's Sonata in Shackles.) This phrase was coined by the Chekists themselves, and we followed it without thinking. "Old Cheka"--this at least means that he was a popular figure in Yagoda's time, Yezhov's time, and Beria's time, and he was a person who satisfied each of them.

But we do not talk about the general situation of "Cheka personnel" in general.Regarding the Cheka personnel in the original sense, and the Cheka personnel engaged in operations-reconnaissance-gendarme work, this book has already introduced a special chapter.And what the officials like most is to call themselves "Cheka personnel", and this title is what they most pursue.Some of them did come here to rest from that kind of post.I say rest because the nerves do not need to be overly tense here, and the health will not be damaged.Their work here does not require the level of education and vicious initiative required there.In the Cheka-Gebo organization, you need to be sharp and fast, and you must hit the opponent's eyeball accurately, but it doesn't matter if you are dull in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system, as long as you don't miss the opponent's skull.

Despite our great sorrow, we cannot undertake the task of explaining why the successfully implemented slogan of "workerization of labor camp cadres and communistization" failed to create in the archipelago the kind of unease advocated by Dzerzhinsky love for people?From the first few years after the revolution, in the training courses of the Central Bureau of Corrections and the Provincial Corrections Department, they have been training junior administrative construction personnel (that is, internal caretaker).By 1925, only six percent of the Tsarist caretaker remained (hardened veterans!).Before that, all middle-level reform-through-labor cadres belonged to the Soviets.They continued to study: first in the law faculties belonging to the Commissariat of Education (yes, to the People's Commissariat of Education! And not without faculties, but—law faculties!), and since 1931 to Specialized courses on reform through labor at the Law Faculties of the People's Commissariat of Justice in Moscow, Leningrad, Kazan, Saratov and Irkutsk.Seventy percent of the graduates there are workers, and seventy percent are members of the Communist Party!From 1928 onwards, in accordance with the resolutions of the People's Committee and the Central Executive Committee, which had never opposed it, the powers of the governors of these worker-oriented and Communist-oriented places of detention were further expanded in terms of regulating the management system.But you see, it’s not surprising that love for people still hasn’t been produced for some reason!Their victims were millions more than those of fascism—and these people were not prisoners of war, not conquered, but compatriots of their own country, on their own soil!

Can anyone explain it to us? ... Will the same way of life and the same status lead to the same character?Generally - no.Not for the mentally and intellectually strong.They have their own decisions, their own characteristics, sometimes very unexpected.However, the personalities of the officers who have undergone strict negative elimination (moral and intellectual) are surprisingly the same.Perhaps we can describe their basic common features without much effort: arrogant.He lives on a separate island as high as the sky and far away from the emperor.On this island he was absolute number one: all the prisoners obeyed him humbly, even the free ones.The star on his epaulettes is the largest here.His power is boundless and infallible: anyone who complains is always wrong (repressed).His house is the best in the islands.The best means of transportation.The cronies and camp officials who are one level lower than him are also superior and pampered.Since their whole previous life has not buried in them a single spark of critical power, it is impossible for them not to understand themselves as a special race-born rulers.From the fact that no one had the power to resist, they concluded that it was their ("organized") genius that they ruled with great wisdom.Every day and every ordinary occasion enables them to see their own superiority clearly: people rise before them, stand to attention, bow down; To execute, but to run to execute.If he (Bearague, Dukelski) went to the gate to watch his filthy workmen march in file, surrounded by police dogs, then he himself was a man in a snow-white summer suit. plantation owner.If they (Ongerag) suddenly remember to ride horses to inspect the labor situation in the potato fields-the female prisoners in black are struggling in the mud in their stomachs, trying to dig potatoes out of the ground (but they are too late transported out, and after the spring, they can only be buried in the soil to be used as fertilizer),--at that time, their team wearing polished leather boots and stiff woolen uniforms galloped past the sinking female slaves gracefully The knights are like the real gods on Mount Olympus. With self-sufficiency comes dullness.A person who is alive and worshiped as a god is naturally omniscient and omniscient. He does not need to read or learn anything, and no one can tell him anything worth thinking about.Among Chekhov's officials on Sakhalin Island, he met some intelligent, accomplished, scientifically interested people who had conducted in-depth research on the local natural environment and life, and who had written research works on geography and ethnology.But even for fun it is impossible to imagine such a battalion in the whole archipelago!If Kudrati (the head of a dispatch point of Ustvim) decides: 100% fulfillment of the national quota is not 100% at all, but must be fulfilled by himself (thought out with his head) Only the class tasks can be counted, otherwise everyone will be fined to eat disciplinary rations-you can't make him change his mind.After completing 100% of the quota, all of them will be given disciplinary rations.In Kudrati's office are piles of the complete works of Lenin.He called B.F. Vlasov in and taught him: "Look at what Lenin wrote here about the attitude towards parasites." The proletarian is himself. These two ideas are juxtaposed in their minds: This is my estate! I am a proletarian!) But the upbringing of the old serf owners was beyond their reach.Many serf owners studied in Petersburg and other places, and some studied in Göttingen.After all, there were Aksakov, Radishev, and Turgenev among them.But none of our staff from the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been released, and there will never be one.The main thing is that the serf owners either run their own manors themselves, or at least have a little knowledge of the management of their own manors.But the high-spirited officers of the Ministry of the Interior, bathed in all the ideas of the state, can never assume the responsibility of economic leadership.They are too lazy, too dull for this task.They hide their idleness with a smokescreen of security and secrecy.As a result, the country (which is by no means always governed from the top down. History will know: the lack of development of the country is often determined by the inertia of middle-level officials.) had to set up a bureaucracy parallel to their golden epaulettes. Another similar bureaucratic system of trusts and integrated factories. (But this has never surprised anyone: what is not the same in our country? Beginning with Soviet power itself.) Autocratic.Do whatever you want.In this regard, the camp officials are completely comparable to the worst serf owners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.The examples of ridiculous orders abound.Their sole purpose is to demonstrate power.The deeper you go into Siberia and the northern regions, the more examples there are.But even in Khimki on the edge of Moscow (now Moscow city) there is such a thing.Major Volkov noticed in May that the prisoners were unhappy.So he issued an order: "Everyone must be happy immediately! I see whoever looks sad and put him in the punishment area!" In order to cheer up the engineers, he sent a group of female thieves who had been sentenced for the third time to sing obscene songs to them. the minor.People will say that this is not arbitrary, but political work.Yes.A new group of prisoners was brought into the labor camp mentioned above.The new prisoner Ivanovsky introduced himself as a dancer at the Grand Theater. "What? The actor again," Volkov became angry, "entered the punishment area for 20 days! You report to the head of the punishment isolation room yourself!" After a while, he would call and ask, "Is the actor squatting there? ""Squat.""He came by himself?""Own.""Okay, let him out! I'll make him an assistant warden." (As we have already written, this Volkov ordered a The hair of the female prisoner is shaved, and she thinks it is too beautiful.) The head of the solitary labor was dissatisfied with the Spaniard surgeon Foster, "send him to the quarry!" Sent.But soon he became ill and needed surgery.Other surgeons can also go to the central hospital.No, he only believed in Foster!Call Foster back from the quarry!Let him operate on me! (But on the operating table he died.) A labor camp leader discovered a treasure: the prisoner geological engineer Kozak could sing theatrical tenor, and he had learned from the Italian Liepetto in Petersburg before the revolution.The battalion commander discovered that he also had a voice.This is 194-42.The war is going on somewhere in the distance.But the battalion commander, who was firmly protected by the right of exemption, let his serfs give him singing lessons.The prisoner, already very sick, asked the authorities to help find his wife.His wife, Kozak, was also traveling from exile through the Gulag in search of her husband.Both missing persons letters were in the hands of the battalion commander, which could have helped the couple connect.Yet he doesn't.Why?He "pacified" Kozak by saying that his wife ... was exiled, but was doing well (she was a teacher, now a cleaner at a grain shopping station, and later worked on a kolkhoz).He still wants him to teach singing.By 1943, Kozak was completely broken.The battalion commander thought about it and helped him go through the formalities for his release due to illness, and let him go to his wife to die. (According to this, the battalion commander is not a villain!) The feeling of having a hereditary domain was characteristic of all camp leaders.They understood the labor camps not as part of some kind of state system, but as an exclusive hereditary territory handed over to them throughout their tenure.All arbitrary manipulations of life and individuals flow from this.This is also the reason for the self-show off among the chiefs.A correctional officer in Kengil said, "I have a professor here working in the bathroom!" But another correctional officer, Captain Stadnikov, knocked him down with a single sentence: "In the In my place - there is an academician working as a handyman, carrying toilet buckets!" greedy.greedy for money.This is the most common feature among battalion officials.Not everyone is dull, and not everyone acts recklessly, but every battalion official, whether it is the main officer or the deputy here, knows how to get rich from the free labor of prisoners and the state property to make himself rich Work hard.Not only have I never seen it myself, but none of my friends can remember a single disinterested clerk, and none of the ex-cons who wrote to me could point to one. No matter how many legal interests and privileges can satisfy his desire to earn as much as possible, whether it is high wages (double, triple "Arctic subsidy", "remote area subsidy", "dangerous work subsidy" ); whether it is a bonus (Article 79 of the 1933 Labor Reform Code stipulates the bonus for the leading cadres of the labor camp. At the same time, this code does not prevent them from setting twelve hours a day for prisoners, without Sunday labor); whether it is A particularly advantageous method of calculating years of service. (In the northern part of the archipelago where half of the islands are concentrated, one year of work is counted as two years, while "military personnel" only need to work for 20 years to receive a pension. Therefore, an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at the age of 22 After graduating from the military academy, you can retire with a full pension at the age of thirty-two and move to live in Sochi!) It's all impossible!Every channel that can flow free labor, food or property, no matter whether it is a mighty river or a trickling stream, every camp official has always made a lot of money and swallowed it.As early as on the Solovets Islands, the governors began to find free female cooks, washerwomen, grooms, and woodcutters among the prisoners.This favorable custom has not been interrupted (nor prohibited above) since then.In addition to this, the camp officials also asked prisoners to serve as female breeders for them.Keeping the vegetable garden or teaching their children.In the years when equality and socialism were loudest, as in 1933, in Beagag, any freelancer could get money from prisoners for a small fee to the cashier's office of the labor camp. Get a maid.In Knyazh-Pogost, Aunt Manij Utkina raised cows for the battalion commander - for which she was rewarded with a glass of milk every day.That was generous in Gulag fashion. (To be more precise, according to the customs of the Gulag, the cows are not considered to be owned by the battalion commander, but are "raised for the purpose of improving the diet of sick patients", but the milk must be sent to the battalion commander's home.) Whoever had the possibility of getting food and drink out of the prisoner's rations did so.This is no longer about cups, but about barrels and pockets!Reader, read again the letter from Lipai in Chapter 9, the wail of a man who must have been a custodian.You must know that these Kuragin, Boisy-Shapka, and Ignachenko took things out of the storage room in bags and vats not because of hunger, not because of need, not because of poverty, but just Because: why not make a fortune out of these silent, defenseless, starving slaves?What's more, in wartime, everyone around is desperately trying to get benefits.People will laugh at you if you don't live like this! (As for their treacherous attitude towards the servants who were punished for lack of supplies, I will not mention it as a special habit.) The prisoners who spent time in Kolyma also remembered that anyone who might have come from the prisoner Whoever steals from the big kitchen—battalion commanders, management section chiefs, culture and education section chiefs, freely hired staff, and guards on duty—must steal.Even the doorman stole tea with sugar into the doorman!Although it is a small spoonful of sugar, it was scraped from the prisoner for nothing!Know that something sweeter is snatched from the dying... Let's see what happens when "American gifts" (items collected by American residents for the relief of the Soviet people) reach their hands!According to Torre Scovio, in Usci-Ner in 1943, Colonel Nagorny, director of the labor camp, Goloulin, director of the political department, Bykov, director of labor management in Indigir, and Geologist Director Rakovsky and their wives personally unpacked all the donated items, picked them arbitrarily, and robbed each other.They took what was left for themselves, and gave it to the freemen as prizes at the convention.As late as 1948, the Chief's orderlies were reselling leftover American donations on the black market. It's best not to think about the chiefs of culture and education -- it will make people laugh.They are all unwavering, but they are all small hands and feet (they are not allowed to make big ones).The chief of culture and education called the custodian and gave him a bundle—a pair of torn cotton trousers wrapped in Pravda—here you go, he said, and bring me a new pair!In 1945-146, the head of the cultural and educational section of the Kaluga Checkpoint labor camp brought out every day a bundle of firewood, which the prisoners had picked for him on the construction site. (And then I have to take a bus to walk in Moscow... Wearing a military overcoat, carrying a bundle of firewood. It seems that life is not sweet...) For the owners of the labor camps, the masters in the camps make shoes and clothes for themselves and their families (even the "Peace Dove" costumes worn by the chubby ladies who work alone for the masquerade ball are sewn in the general affairs compound) It is not enough; it is not enough for the camp to make them furniture and any daily necessities; it is not enough for the camp to cast shotgun for them (for them to poach in the nearby nature reserve); it is not enough for the camp kitchen to give them The supply of feed for pigs is not enough.This is too little!The difference between them and the old serf owners was that their power was neither lifelong nor hereditary.Because of this, the serf owners did not need to steal their own things, while the labor camp commanders were all thinking about how to steal something from the property they managed. In order not to make the description too cumbersome, I will only give a few examples.The sullen, hunchbacked Nevizhin never left our Kaluga checkpoint labor camp empty-handed, always wearing a long-tailed officer's overcoat, carrying either a small bucket of drying oil, or a windowpane, Or putty.The general quantity is more than a thousand times what a family needs.The 15th solitary worker who lives on the Kodelnychesky Embankment is a little long, a big belly captain, and every week he takes a car to the labor camp to get dry oil and putty (in post-war Moscow these things are equal to gold!).These things were all stolen from the production area and transferred to the camp for him in advance-these were the prisoners who had been sentenced to ten years in prison for stealing a bunch of straw or a bag of nails!But we Russians have been reformed a long time ago, and we are used to what happened in our motherland. We just think these things are ridiculous.But look at how the German prisoners of war in the Rostov labor camp felt!The battalion commander sent them out every night to steal building materials for himself: he and the other officers were building a house for themselves.These obedient Germans knew that the same battalion commander had court-martialed them and sentenced them to between ten and twenty-five years in prison for stealing a small pot of potatoes.How do they understand it now?The Germans came up with a way: they went to the female translator every time C.Go there and present her with a document; a statement of being forced to steal on such and such a day. (They were building a railroad structure, which was built almost on sand because of the frequent theft of cement.) Today in Ekbastuz you go into the house of Matveyev, the head of the mine administration, and have a look! (He is now at the Mines Authority, due to the contraction of the Gulag. He was formerly the commander of the Ekbastuz labor camp, which took office in 1952.) His house is filled with paintings, sculptures and indigenous other items made by their free hands. Debauchery.Of course, not everyone has this, it has something to do with their physical condition, but the status of the labor camp commander and his overall power have opened the door for them to play with women.Grünberg, head of the Breepolom labor camp, immediately called every new young and beautiful female prisoner into his room. (What alternative is there to her but death?) In Cochemas, the battalion commander Podelesny likes to conduct night rounds in the women's sheds (as we also saw in Hovrino like that).He pulled the woman's quilt away with his own hands, as if to search for the hidden male criminal.He lived with three female prisoners at the same time in front of his beautiful wife. (He shot one of them out of suspicion one day, and shot himself.) Filimonov, head of the cultural and educational department of Kindermitragh, dismissed for "corruption of life", Sent to Belago to correct the mistake (retained).Here, he continues to drink and mess around with women freely, making his concubine wife become... the head of the culture and education department. (His son hooked up with a gang of bandits, and he himself was in prison for his banditry not long after.) Fierce and cruel.No practical or moral bridle can restrain these instincts.Unlimited power in the hands of finite people always leads to cruelty. Tatyana Merkulova, the female beast (No. 13 lumberjack women's solitary point in Onzhrag), gallops like a savage planter among her slave girls on horseback.According to Promman's recollection, if Major Gromov didn't put a few people in the forced control room one day, it was as if he was sick.Captain Medvedev (Ustvemlag No. 3 labor camp) personally stood on the watchtower for several hours every day, noting the names of the male prisoners who entered the women's shed, so that they could be placed in solitary confinement later.He liked that his isolation room was always full, and if the rooms in the isolation room were not full, he would feel that something was missing in his life.Every evening he likes to ask the prisoners to come out and line up, and give them a lecture like this: "Your cards are lost! You will never be free again, you don't have that hope anymore!" Still in this Ustvemlag , Minakov, the head of the labor camp (he used to be the warden of Krasnodar Prison, served two years in prison for exceeding his authority, and now he has resumed his party membership.) personally grabbed the feet of those who refused to go to work, and pulled them down. When he came to the board shop, he encountered thieves among those people, and those guys even waved the wooden boards to protest. At that time, he ordered the window frames of the entire workshop to be removed (minus twenty-five degrees), and he used a bucket to pass through the window opening to the shop. Splash water inside. They all knew it (and the natives knew it too): the telephone line was flattened here. The plantation owners were ferocious to the point of perverted, so-called tyrannical maniacs.A group of newly-arrived prisoners lined up in front of Shulman, the head of the Breborom Special Section.He knew that this group of people would all be assigned to do general labor.Still he wouldn't pass up the chance to have some fun by asking, "Any engineers? Hands up!" A dozen hands went up above the hopeful face. "Oh, that's right! Maybe there are academicians too? I'll bring you pencils and chips right away and they did... iron bars. Karev, the commander of the Vilnius labor camp, saw Lieutenant Beliski ( He was still wearing boots and a frayed officer's uniform). Not so long ago this man was a Soviet officer like Karev, with the same striped epaulettes. Why, this frayed Does the uniform arouse Karev's sympathy? Does he at least maintain an indifferent attitude? No - the desire to single him out for insults arises! He orders him to be placed (precisely not to change his uniform for a labor camp camp clothes) to deliver manure to the vegetable fields. Lithuania’s labor camp administration officials often enter the camp’s shower room. They lie on wooden boards and force the prisoners to wash themselves, but not just any prisoner, but must be Fifty-eight female offenders. Take a close look at their faces, and you must know that they are still walking among us today, and they may take the same train (of course not inferior to the carriages with private rooms) and the same plane with us.In their lapel buttonholes hangs a medal of unknown what, and the epaulets are admittedly not sky blue anymore (they're sorry), but the piping is blue, maybe even red, or crimson .The cruelty that had become as hard as oak was etched deep into their faces.They always show a gloomy and discontented expression.Their life seems to be going well, but there is this expression of dissatisfaction.Is it that they feel they are missing out on some better opportunity?Or must God mark the faces of the villains with all their evil deeds?In the first-class compartments of trains from Vologda, Arkhangelsk, and the Urals, such soldiers make up a high percentage of passengers.Dilapidated labor camp watchtowers flashed outside the window. "Is it your belongings?" asked the passenger sitting next to him.The soldier nodded contentedly, even proudly: "Ours." "Are you going there?" "Yes." "Madame works there too?" "She takes ninety rubles. I take two hundred and fifty ( Major). Two children. Not well off." This one, for example, was a very pleasant train-talker, even in a city manner.As he passed the collective farm fields, he explained: "The situation in the countryside has improved a lot. They can now sow whatever they want." (Socialism! But when humans first crawled out of their caves, in the When sowing seeds on the open ground in the forest -- don't you just plant "whatever you want"?...) In 1962 I traveled by train through Siberia for the first time as a free man.Does it have to be so! --The person in the private room with me was actually a young employee from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.He has just graduated from the Tavda School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and is now reporting to the Irkutsk Labor Camp Administration.我假装成一个抱同情态度的傻瓜，于是他就对我讲了他们在当代的劳改营里实习的情况。这些犯人是如何的蛮不讲理、麻木不仁和没有改好的希望。那种永恒的残忍表情还没有在他的脸上固定下来，但是他给我看了一张塔夫达第三期毕业生的庄严的合照。那里面不仅有青年，而且还有一些主要是为退休金而不是为工作需要在这里补足学历（训犬、侦查、劳改营管理学和马克思列宁主义）的老资格的营吏。我虽是个久经世故的人，仍不免愕然。他们灵魂中的黑色直透到脸上！从人类中把这种人挑拣出来的工作做得多么巧妙啊！ 在阿赫特姆（爱沙尼亚）战俘营里发生过这样一件事：一个俄国女护士和一个德国战俘发生了暧昧关系，被发现了。并不是简单地把她赶出她那高雅的环境就算了--噢，不行！专为这个戴俄国军官肩章的女人在门房附近钉了一间只留着一个小窗眼的木板亭（不辞辛苦！）。把这个女人在这间亭子关了一个星期。第一个来"上班"的和下班回家的自由人都朝亭子里扔石块，叫喊："德国婊子……"吐口水。 他们就是这样挑拣出来的。 让我们帮助历史留下科雷马的那些从不知道（三十年代末期）自己的权力和花样翻新的残忍手段的界限的刽子手营吏们的姓氏吧：帕夫洛夫、维什涅维茨基、加卡耶夫、茹科夫、科马罗夫、库德里亚舍夫?M?A?洛戈维年科、梅里诺夫、尼基绍夫、列兹尼科夫、季托夫、瓦西里?"杜罗沃伊"。让我们也提一下斯维特利奇内这个姓氏。他是诺里尔斯克有名的残忍拷打者，许多条犯人的性命都丧在他的手里。 没有我们的帮助，也有人会讲出像切切夫（由波罗的海沿岸共和国内务部贬到斯捷普拉格当劳改营长）、塔拉先科（乌索尔拉格营长）、卡尔戈波尔拉格的科罗吉岑和基多连科这样一些活阎王的事情，以及关于残暴的巴拉巴诺夫（战争末期上任的伯朝拉格营长）；关于斯米尔诺夫（伯朝铁路劳改营管理处长）、切皮格少校（沃尔库塔拉格管理处处长）等人的事情。仅仅这类著名人物的名单就可以占据几十页的篇幅。我的一技孤独的笔不可能追寻到他们所有的人。况且权力照！日掌握在他们手里，目前当局还没有给我成立一个负责收集这些材料的办公室，也没有建议我通过全苏广播电台发出呼吁。 我再谈一件马穆洛夫的故事，说完它也就差不多了。说的还是那个霍夫里诺劳改营的马穆洛夫，他的兄弟是贝利亚的秘书处长。当我军解放了半个德国，许多内务部大头头都涌到那里去的时候，马穆洛夫也在其中，他从那里一趟趟地发回车皮加封的列车--直拉到他的霍夫里带车站。车皮被拖进劳改营区，以免被外边的铁路员工看到（表面上说是为工厂运来的"贵重设备"），专由他自己的犯人们卸货，他对这些人是不在乎的。发了狂的掠夺者们匆忙抢来的东西全都乱七八糟的堆在这里。从天花板上扯下来的枝形吊灯、古老的和日用的家具、用揉皱的桌布胡乱包着的全套餐具、厨房用具、夜礼服和便服、女人和男人的内衣、燕尾眼、大礼帽，甚至还有手杖！这些东西在这里细心地分类，凡是完整的东西都运到他的各个住宅，分送给熟人。马穆洛夫从德国还运回来能停满整个停车场的没收来的小汽车。连他十二岁的儿子（刚好是娃娃犯人的年龄！），他都送给了一辆"奥培尔-卡代特"牌的小汽车。劳改营的缝纫车间和制鞋车间好多个月都堆满了改制赃物的活儿。马穆洛夫在莫斯科的住宅可不止一处，他需要保障供给的女人也不止一个啊！拉夫连季?帕夫洛维奇?贝利亚有时候亲自到这里来。从莫斯科调来了一个真模真样的茨冈合唱团，还特准两个犯人--会弹吉他的费季索夫和会跳民间舞的马利宁（原来是红军歌舞团的）参加他们的纵酒宴饮。事先警告过他们：如果你们在哪里漏出一个字，我要你们一辈子烂在这里！马穆洛夫就是这样一个人：一次他们钓鱼回来，拖着小渔船经过某个老爷爷的菜园子，把菜踩坏了。老爷爷好像嘟嚷了几句。给他点什么报偿才好？马穆洛夫让他饱尝了一顿老拳，叫他趴在地下朝地皮去呻吟，像俗话说的："吃了我的五谷，打了我的屁股" 但是我感到我的叙述变得千篇一律了：是不是会觉得我在重复以前的话？或者这一切我们已经在别的什么地方读过了，读过了，读过了…… 我听到反驳！我听到反驳！是的，确实有过个别的事实……但主要是在贝利亚时期……但是你为什么不提供光明的事例？你也描写几个好的嘛！表现一下我们亲爱的父辈嘛…… 这我办不到！让见到过的人去表现吧。我没有见到。我在概括性的议论中已经归纳出这样的结论：一个劳改营长不能是一个好人。不然的话他或者要碰得头破血流或者被赶走。我们姑且设想一下：一个营吏想做好事，把本营的狗的管理制度换成了人的，--人家能让他这样干吗？能准许吗？能通过吗？这不等于把茶炊搬到冰天雪地里又要它在那里变热吗？ 我愿意接受这样的看法："好人"是那些急于挣脱，还没有挣脱但一定能挣脱这个职务的人。例如，莫斯科制鞋厂厂长M?格拉西莫夫被收缴了党证，但没有开除出党（有过这种形式）。可是暂时把他安置到哪里去呢？派到乌斯特维姆去当了一名营吏。据说他对这个职务感到很不痛快，对待犯人态度比较温和。五个月以后争取离开了。可以相信他在这五个月里是个好人。另外还有人说在奥尔套（一九四四年）有过一个劳改点长，叫斯梅什科。没见过他干过什么坏事，--可他也是一直在争取离开。在东北劳改营管理局有个以前当过飞行员的处长（一九四六年）莫罗佐夫，对犯人的态度很好，可是这么一来上级对他的态度可就很坏了。要么再举一个西维尔金大尉的例子，据说他在内罗勃拉格的时候是个好人。结果怎么样？把他派到了帕尔马的惩戒派遣点。他只做两件事--喝烧酒和听西方广播--在他们那个地区干扰电波很弱（一九五二年）。就连我车厢里的这个塔夫达毕业生同伴也还是有一些善良的冲动：在走廊里有一个没有车票的青年，站了一天一夜。他说："我们挤挤，给他腾个座好吗？让他睡一会。"但是只要让他当一年的官，他便会做出另一件事来。他会走到列车员那里去说："把这个无票乘车的人带走！"难道不是这样吗？ 好吧，说实话我知道一个很好的内务部人员，诚然他不是营吏，而是狱吏--楚卡诺夫中校。他曾当过一个短时期的马尔发特种监狱典狱长。不是我一个，而是所有那里的犯人都承认：没有人领略过他的坏处，而所有的人都体会过他的好处。只要能把条令扭得对犯人有利，他一定会扭的。只要在什么事上可以放松一些，他必定会放松的。但是怎么样呢？把我们的特种监狱升了一级，看管得更加严厉了--而他就被调开了。他年纪不轻了，在内务部工作了多年。我不知道他是怎么工作的。是一个谜。 对了，阿诺尔德?拉波波尔特向我保证：米哈伊尔?米特罗法诺维奇?马尔采夫上校工程师，原在工程兵部队，一九四三至一九四七年在沃尔库塔拉格（包括建设工程和劳改营）当负责人，肯定是个好人。他当着契卡人员的面和犯人工程师握手，客气地称呼他们的本名和父名。他不能容忍职业的契卡人员，蔑视政治处长库赫季科夫上校。当授予他国家安全部的"少将政委"头衔的时候，他没有接受（这可能吗？）。他说："我是工程师。"他终于达到了目的：当了一名普通的将军。拉波波尔特保证说，在他当政的年代，在沃尔库塔没有搞过一次营内的案件（但要知道这是战争时期，正是营内案件搞得最凶的时候），他的妻子是沃尔库塔市检察长，她使得劳改营行动特派员们的创造能力发生瘫痪。如果A?拉波波尔特不是由于自己当时的享受特权的工程师地位而不由自主地夸大其词的话，这倒是一条很重要的见证。我总觉得这不大可信：为什么那时候没有把这个马尔采夫搞倒？要知道他必定会妨碍所有的人！让我们希望将来哪一天有人能查明真相吧。（当马尔采夫在斯大林格勒城下指挥工兵师的时候，曾把一个团长叫到队列前面，亲手把他枪毙。他到沃尔库塔来是受贬的，但不是为了这事，而是为了别的什么事。） 在这件事和另外一些类似的事例上，记忆力和个人印象中后起的积层有时会使回忆发生歪曲。当人家说到一些好人的时候，我便想问一句：对谁好？是对所有的人吗？ 从前方下来接替工作的军人一点不比老牌的内务部人员强。丘尔佩涅夫证明说，当类似叶戈罗夫团政委这样在前线受了点伤的军人接替了（在战争末期）劳改营的老狗以后，情况不是改善了，而是变坏了。他们对劳改营的生活一点也不懂，发出一些马马虎虎、浮皮潦草的指示就带着娘儿们到营外寻欢作乐去了，把全营交给杂役中的恶棍们去支配。 然而那些高声称颂劳改营里的"好契卡"的人们（即思想纯良的正统派们）所说的"好人"，和我们理解的意思完全不同：他们指的不是那些试图以偏离古拉格的兽性条令为代价，为所有的人创造一种一般的人道的环境的人。不，他们认为的"好人"是那些忠实地执行恶狗的职责，对全体犯人扑咬残害，但对前共产党员却宽容体恤的人们．（思想纯良者的胸怀多么宽阔！他们永远是全人类文化的继承者！……） 这样的"好人"当然是有过的，而且还不少。例如有着整套列宁全集的库德拉蒂不就是一个吗？季亚科夫讲到过一个。请看此人有多么高贵的风度：劳改营长到莫斯科出差的时候访问了在他营里关着的一个正统派的家属，可是回来以后又继续执行恶狗的全部职责。戈尔巴托夫也记起一个科雷马的"好"营长，那人对他说："人们惯于把我们这些人看作是吃人的魔王，但是这种看法是错误的。能把好消息通知给犯人，我们也很愉快。"（可是戈尔巴托夫的妻子写给他的信中，有关他的案子即将复审的那一段，被营里的检查人员抹掉了，他们为什么要剥夺目已通知好消息的快乐呢？但是戈尔巴托夫从这里也看不出矛盾；营首长说什么，部队将军信什么……）这位科雷马的"好"狗关心的……是戈尔巴托夫将来不要"在上面"讲他的劳改营里的胡作非为。因此才产生了这一场愉快的谈话。谈话快结束时营长说："您今后说话要谨慎。"（而戈尔巴托夫又是什么也没有明白……） 列夫科维奇在《消息报》（一九六四年九月六日）上写了一篇被誉为"热情洋溢"、但我们看是别人授意的文章。她说，她在劳改营里知道几个善良、智慧、严格、忧郁、疲倦以及如此等等的契卡工作人员；在江布尔市有过这么一个卡普斯京，他试图给共产党员的被流放的妻子们安排工作，结果因此而被迫自杀。我看这纯粹是痴人说梦，瞎胡诌……管理人员有责任给流放者安排工作，甚至为此而采用强迫的手段。如果他真的自杀了的话，那不是因为他犯了盗窃罪，就是因为他在男女问题上闹出了事。 慢点，这里还有一个"好的"--我们埃克巴斯图兹的马特维耶夫中校。在斯大林时代牙齿露出半尺长，咬得咯咯响，可是亲爸爸死了，贝利亚垮了--马特维耶夫变成了带头的自由派，土著的慈父。嗯，直到下一次变风向。（但是就在那一年他还背地里指点作业班长亚历山德罗夫说："谁要不听你的--就按他，我担保你没事！"） 不，这样的"好人"对我们没有一点用！这样的"好人"一个大钱不值。照我们的意思，只有他们自己蹲进劳改营的时候，他们才好呢。 也的确有进来的。但是他们受审判并不是为了那个。 劳改营看守被称作内务部的初级指挥人员。这是古拉格的军士。他们的任务也一样是牵人和管人。他们也站在同一个古拉格的楼梯上，只是矮几级。因而他们的权力小些，需要自己动手的事情多些。不过他们倒是不吝惜自己的手，如果需要让什么人在惩戒隔离室或看守室里遍体流血，他们可以三人一起勇敢地对付一个，哪怕打得他爬不起来。一年一年地他们在这个职务中变得越来越粗暴，在他们身上你发现不到像一小片浮云那么点大的对水湿、冰冷、饥饿、疲惫和垂死的囚犯们的怜悯。犯人们在他们面前也像在大首长们面前一样地没有权利和没有保护。他们同样可以任意压迫犯人而觉得自己是人上人。在泄怒、逞凶方面，他们遇不到任何障碍。而当你可以打人而不受惩罚的时候，你一开了头就不想罢手了。暴虐行为有兴奋作用，你会觉得自己真的已经是这么威风凛凛，以至自己都害怕自己了。看守员们既在行为方面、也在性格方面积极地模仿着他们的军官，但是他们身上没有那块金牌牌，军大衣也是脏兮兮的，到哪里去都得走路，也不许他们使用犯人当自己的用人。他们自己在菜园子里挖土，自己照管家畜。当然，提溜个把犯人到自己家里去半天--劈柴、擦地板--这可以，但是不能规模很大。工作时间的犯人不能占用，那就占用休息时间的犯人吧。（塔巴杰罗夫--在别列兹尼基，一九三0年--下了连续十二小时的夜班以后刚刚躺下，看守员就把他叫醒，派他到自己家里去干活。你不去试试！……）看守员们没有世袭领地。劳改营对于他们究竟不是世袭领地，而是工作单位，因而他们既没有那种傲气也没那种大权独揽的气魄。在偷盗方面他们面前也有障碍。这是不公平的：大官们钱本来就很多，又可以偷得很多；看守人员钱很少，可是也只准许偷得很少。从保管室里大口袋地拿，人家是不让的。顶多是一小提包、现在我好像还看到那个大脸庞、亚麻色头发的基谢廖夫上士怎样走进会计室去发命令（一九四五年）："犯人厨房一钱油也不要发！只发给自由人员！"（因为油脂不够分配了。他们就只有这点特权--可以按定量领到油脂……）要在劳改营的缝纫车间给自己缝点什么，需要经营长批准，还得排队。在施工场地上可以强迫犯人给自己做点零活--焊补、焊接、打造、车削点什么。可是比小凳子更大的东西并不是总能拿得出去的。在偷窃方面受到的这个限制使看守员们，特别是他们的妻子非常生气，因此对上级常有许多抱怨；因此生活还显得是极其不公平的；因此在看守员们的胸中能出现一些心弦不能说是心弦，而只能说是一些没有填满的、空虚的地方。人类的呻吟在那里还能产生反响。有一些等级最低的看守员还能够有时怀着同情心和犯人们说几句话。这种事不常有，但也不是希罕得不得了。无论如何，在监狱和劳改营的看守员里发现一个真的人还是可能的。每个犯人在自己的经历中都遇到过不止一个。而在军官里几乎不可能。 其实这就是社会地位和人性之间的反比关系的普遍规律。 真正的看守员，这是在劳改营里一连干十五年、二十五年的人。是那些一旦在这种可恶的偏远地方安家落户以后就永不离开的人。他们一旦把命令和规则在脑子里记牢了，一辈子就不需要再读什么、再知道什么，只要听听广播，莫斯科电台的第一套节目，就行了。对于我们说来，正是这样一帮人代表着古拉格的愚蠢的、无表情的、僵硬的、接受不进任何思想的面貌。 不过在战争年代中，看守人员的成份被打乱了，变得不纯了。军事当局在忙乱中忽视了看守工作的神圣性，把一部分人拉上了前线，而派到这里来代替他们的是从医院出来的作战部队的士兵--当然也是专挑那些最愚蠢和残忍的。另外还有一些老头子也进来了：应征入伍后直接从家里分配到这里。正是在这些花白胡子的人们当中有一些心地善良的不抱成见的人。他们说话和蔼，搜查马马虎虎，什么也不没收，还说笑话。他们从来不记谁的过也不打要把什么人关禁闭的报告。但是战争结束后他们很快就复员了，再也没有这样的人了。 像下面这样的人（也是战时的看守员）对于看守人员说来也是不平常的，例如我已经写过的那个大学生谢宁，还有我们卡卢加劳改营里的犹太看守员，他是一个上了年纪的人，完全是平民的模样，十分安静，不爱挑刺，谁也没有受过他的害。他平时的作风这么随和，以至我有一次大胆地问他："请问，您的文职的专业是什么？"他并不生气，用安详的眼睛望了我一下后低声回答说："商人。"来我们劳改营前，战争时期他在波多尔斯克劳改营服役。他说那里战时每天都有十三至十四人饿死（你看，这已经有两万人死掉了！）。他看来是在内务人民委员部的"军队"里度过了战争，而现在他需要拿出点才智，以便不永远在这里陷下去。 至于这位特卡奇准尉--埃克巴斯图兹劳改营里人人害怕的管理处长助理--跟看守员的职务那么对路，好像是从这个模子里浇出来的，好像从襁褓时代起他就一直在这里服务，好像是和古拉格从一个娘肚子里生出来的。这表现在他那一张黑色额发覆盖下的凝固而凶险的面孔上。单是和他在一起或者在营内的小道上碰见他，都叫人害怕：他不会走过什么人的身边而不给他带来什么损害--命令他向后转、强迫他去干活、没收他什么东西、恐吓、处罚、逮捕。晚点名以后，各工棚都上了锁，但在夏天加了铁栅的窗口还是打开的，特卡奇不声不响地偷偷走到窗口下面。在外面偷听。然后他伸头往里面看--屋子里的人急忙跑回原铺。他在窗台外面，像黑色的夜鸟一样，通过铁栅宣布：因不按时睡觉，因说话，因使用违禁品，给予各种处分。 突然间，特卡奇永远消失了。劳改营里传出风声（我们无法核实，但这类顽固的风声一般都是真实的），说他被人揭发是一个从敌占区来的法西斯刽子手，被捕了，到了二十五年。这是一九五二年的事。 然而法西斯刽子手（他干这个决不会超过三年）怎么在战后的七年内竟成了内务部的红人？ what happened? "押解队不给警告即可开枪！"在这句咒语中包含了押解队的全部特殊规章，包括了它依照写在法律背面的规定凌驾于我们之上的权力。 说"押解队"，我们是采用群岛的日常用语；还有个习惯的说法（在劳改营里甚至是更经常的说法）--"军警队"或简称"警卫"。它的学名是"内务部军事化警卫队"。"押解"只是军警队可能执行的任务之一，与"守卫"、"营区警戒"、"环形警戒"和"队部警戒"并列。 押解勤务即使在没有战争的情况下也和火线勤务一样。押解队不怕任何调查，它也不必对任何行为做出解释。凡是开枪的人总是对的。凡是被打死的人总是错的，因为他想逃跑或跨出警戒线。 这就是奥尔套劳改点的两次枪杀（请乘以劳改点的总数）。警卫队兵士带着一队被押解的犯人走过。有一个解除看管的犯人向走在这一队中的他的女朋友靠拢过去，和她并排走。--"走开！""怎么，你舍不得？"开枪。击毙。一场审判的喜剧。宣布警卫队兵士无罪：在执行职责时受到侮辱。 一个拿着释放证（他明天被释放）的犯人走到在大门口站岗的警卫身边请求；"让我出去，我到洗衣房（在营区外）跑一趟，一眨眼工夫就回来！""不行。""我明天就要自由了，傻瓜！"当场击毙。对杀人者连审判都没有进行。 犯人在劳动紧张的时候多么容易注意不到树上砍出的这些记号啊，它们代表着一条想象的虚线，是代替铁丝网的树木警戒圈。索洛维约夫（前陆军中尉）砍倒了一棵云杉。他往后倒退着走，清掉树干上的枝杈。他只看见自己这棵砍倒的树。可是押解队员"坦沙耶沃狼"却眯缝起眼睛等着，他是不会招呼犯人"小心发！"的。他等着--现在沿着树干继续倒退着走的索洛维约夫不留神跨出了生产区。shot!开花子弹，一个肺被炸烂了。索洛维约夫被打死，而"坦沙耶沃狼"得到一百卢布的奖金。 （"坦沙耶沃狼"--这是布列波洛姆附近的坦沙耶沃区的当地居民。他们在战争时期为了贪图离家近些并且不上前线，纷纷加入军警队。这就是孩子们习惯叫嚷："妈妈，咸鲱鱼来了！"的那个坦沙耶沃区。） 押解队和犯人之间的这种绝对服从的关系，警卫人员永远享有的以子弹代替语言的权利，不可能不对警卫队军官和队员们的性格产生影响。犯人们的生命虽不是一天二十四小时都交给他们支配，但已经交得够全面彻底了。土著们在他们眼里根本不是人，而是某种能活动的懒洋洋的稻草人。命运派了他们来给这些稻草人点数，尽量迅速地驱赶他们上工和下工，再就是劳动时尽量地把他们保持在最密集的状态。 警卫队的军官们胡作非为的事例就更多了。这些年轻轻的小中尉们的脑子里形成了一种对生活的肆无忌惮的权力感。一种人只是狂吼乱叫（内罗勃拉格的乔尔内上尉）；另一种人从残忍中寻求快乐，甚至在自己的士兵身上施行起来（同一个地方的萨穆金中尉）；第三种人不承认自己的无上权威有任何限制。警卫队长涅夫斯基（乌斯特维姆，第三劳改点）发现自己的小狗（不是公家的警犬，而是他自己的心爱的小狗）不见了。他自然是到营区里面去寻找，正好碰到五名土著在那里卸开死狗。他掏出手枪，当场打死一个。（这个事件没有引起任何行政后果，除了其余四人受到蹲惩戒隔离室的处分以外。） 一九三八年在乌拉尔西区的维谢拉河上，森林火灾以暴风雨般的速度袭来，从森林延及到两座劳改点。对犯人们该怎么处理？需要在几分钟之内决定，没有时间和上面联系。警卫队没有放他们出去--结果全部烧死了。这样做麻烦较少。如果放出去的犯人逃散，警卫队会受到审判。 警卫队的职务对于它的军官们的旺盛的精力只有一个限制：它的基本单位是排，全部至高无上的权力只到排为止，而肩章上最多只能有两颗小星。在队里的提升只能使他脱离排里的实权，那是一条死胡同。 因此最贪权和最有力的警卫队员都争取调去干内务部的内部勤务，在那里取得晋升。古拉格的若干著名人物的履历正是这样的。前面已经提到过的安东诺夫，北极的"死亡之路"的主宰者，就是警卫队长出身，文化程度只有小学四年级。 内务部无疑把警卫队人员的挑选看做是十分重要的工作；各地兵役局也都接到有关的秘密指示。兵役局担当着许多秘密性质的工作，而我们对它总是抱着宽厚的态度。例如，二十年代提出的建立地区性军队的思想（伏龙艺的方案）为什么遭到坚决地拒绝？相反，为什么特别坚持把新兵调到离本地区尽可能远的地方去服役（阿塞拜疆人去爱沙尼亚，拉脱维亚人去高加索）？因为军队必须和当地居民疏远，最好连种族也各不相同（正如一九六二年在诺沃切尔卡斯克考验过的那样）。在选配押解部队人员的时候也并非无意地使鞑靼人及其他少数民族占了较大的百分比：他们的比较不开化，他们的比较闭塞，对于国家是宝贵财富，是国家的堡垒。 但是这种部队的真正科学的组织和训练是四十年代末和五十年代初才和特种营的建立同时开始的。从这时起，这支部队只吸收十九岁的男孩子，并且立即使他们受到大剂量的思想意识辐射。（关于这种押解队我们以后还要单独谈。） 在这以前，在古拉格里好像不大顾得上这些事。实际原因是，我国人民虽然已经是社会主义的，但还没有全体都发展和提高到当之无愧的劳改营警卫队员的坚强而残忍的水平！警卫队的成份有时候很杂，有时候不再能成为原来设计的那堵恐怖之墙。在苏德战争年代它特别严重地软化了：训练得最好的（"良好的凶猛状态"）年轻士兵不得不交给前线。一些有气无力的后备役人员慢慢腾腾地走进了警卫队，这些人按健康条件不适于参加作战部队，按凶猛状态则完全不符合古拉格的要求（不是在适当的年代教育出来的）。在劳改营的最无情的、饥饿的、战争的年代，是警卫队的这种松懈现象（只是就发生了这种现象的地方而言，并不是到处都有的）在一定程度上稍许减轻了犯人们的生活重担。 尼娜?萨姆舍尔回忆她的父亲。他就是一九四二年在他渐近老境的时候被征召入伍派到阿尔汉格尔斯克省的劳改营里去当警卫的。家属也搬到他那里去了。"在家里父亲很难过地谈到劳改营里的生活，也谈到那里的好人。当父亲一个人看押一个作业班从事农业劳动的时候（这还是在战时--整个作业班由一个兵看押！这难道不是放松吗？），我时常到他那里去，他准许我和犯人们谈话。犯人们对父亲很尊敬：他从来不对他们说粗暴的话。他们请求，比方说，进商店，父亲就放他们去。而他们也从来不在他手底下逃跑。他们对我说：要是所有的押解员都像你爸爸这样就好了。父亲知道许多坐牢的人都是无辜的。他很愤慨，但只是在家里说。在排里不能这么说，说这话是要被关进去的。"战争结束后他立即复员了。 但也决不能把萨姆舍尔当做战时警卫队的标本。他以后的命运就证明了这一点；到了一九四七年，他本人就依照第五十八条被捕入狱了！一九五O年在濒死的状态中获准因病释放，五个月之后死在家里。 战后这种松散的警卫还持续了一两年。不知怎么兴起来的，许多警卫队员谈到自己的服役，也都用起"刑期"这个字眼来了："等到我服满了刑期的时候。"他们懂得自己的职务的可耻，自己干的工作，在家里是说不出口的。在上面说过的那个奥尔客，一个警卫士兵故意从文教科里偷了一件东西被开除、判刑，但马上就遇赦出去了。士兵们都羡慕他：真想到办法了！Well done! H?斯托里亚罗娃回忆起一个警卫队士兵。在她一开始逃跑时，这个士兵就截住了她--并且替她隐瞒了逃跑的企图，她没有受到惩罚。还有一个是由于对被递解走的女犯的爱情而自杀的。在妇女劳改点里实行真正的严厉措施以前，女犯和押解队士兵之间时常发生友善的、良好的，有时甚至是爱情的关系。连我们这样的伟大的国家都没有办法在一切地方压碎善良与