Exiles, Gulags and the Bleakness of Siberia
Anne Applebaum reported that when the director of a Hollywood Movie, about an escape from a Soviet Gulag, The Way Back (based on the book, The Long Walk ) , tried to get support for his movie, many in Hollywood had not heard of Soviet concentration camps, only German ones. The majority of high school students today would share the surprise. The Russian, and later Soviet Gulag system, is fading from modern memory. The camps are remote and the few survivors are quickly passing from the scene. I have a fascination with traveling across Russia. The Gulag system would be something I'd want to see out of historical curiosity. A strangely compelling subject and I wonder about the souls that survived and those that did not. 1. Gulag: A History, Anne Applebaum (2003). Applebaum's story of the Gulag system is immediately compelling. She had unprecedented access to Soviet archives She is able to examine the lives of the prisoners, guards, the ...