Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-08
RY HINTS II WOOD.
By Radio TO The Star and Chicago Daily
News. Copyright. 1927.

/
| News. Copyright 1927.
| BERLIN, January S.--Life at Solo
vetzky, Soviet Russia's most terrible
/ prison, in the White Sea, just outside
| the Arctic Circle, presents an abnor-
| NAL contrast of drab, dismal monOt-
! ony and dramatic gambling with life
| for what would be trivial stakes in the
! normal world according to julius G.
| Chevalier, the only native-bo Aneri-
| can ever confined on that dread is
| land
| Death always stalks that bleak polar
| stretch. Sometimes the slow process
| Of ruthless nature and implacable
prison discipline bring mercful end
! to suffering. Again, flashing suddenly,
stern punishment Is melted out by I'M
| feeling guards, who are prisoners
| themselves. Amid such an atmosphere
| life flows on--inconceivable from the
| outside world.
about IS per cent of the prisoners
| last year were women, and probably
| the percentage will remain about the
same when the number of inmates
has been increased to 10 ,000." says
| Cheva1ier "NOne of these is classified
as a political prisoner. The latter are
removed from Solovetsky, and sent to
various places in Siberia. Political
prisoners were never severely treated
| because they stood as a unit on every
issue. They were not forced to work
or stand roll call twice a day like the
| other prisoners. Finally, all the polit-
icals, including the women, were re-
| moved.
Jailed Without Trial.
"Manv counter-revolutionar how
| ever, remain, the distinction being
| ,~nlitino1 f1ViS0nprG retained
| membership inside Soviet Russia in
! some other than the Communist
| party, while the counter-revolution-
! aries are charged with violation of
! some law against the Soviet state.
| Incidentally, there is not a prisoner
| at Solovetzky who admits he ever re-
ceived a. court trial. All We're i'm
| prisoned by order of the Gaypayoo,
which acted as prosecutor, judge and
| jury.
1.-THE term counter-revolutionary
covers anything from discussion or
| economic conditions in the country to
actual revolt during time of stress.
A mountaineer family might give a
| stranger~a cup of tea and a nights
| shelter and later discover that the
visitor was a revolutionary fugitive.
| For this offense the husband might
| be shot and the wife sent to Solo
/ vetZky.
However, the counter-revolution-
aries form small percentage of the
residents of the island and are the
best treated among the prisoners.
Women Stern Criminals.
Actual criminals, or at least those
| charged with criminal offenses. are in
| the majority among the women as
well as the men. They range from
/ depraved street walkers to hardened
| thieves and heartless murderers.
Most of the women work on dairy
| farms or in the peat boys. The male
| prisoners do the stripping of the peat
| boys and the women cut and pile the
peat in bricks and dry the fuel. Those
! needed for labor details are assigned
| daily to scrubbing floors, working in
! the laundry and doing lighter work
| in the various shops.
| Though segregated as much as pos
sible, all the prisoners are permitted
| to talk and smoke when working to-
| gether. as we'll as when attending the
| theater and other entertainments
| Women caught violating discipline or
| having babies are sent to the Rabbit
Island disciplinary barracks.
60 Monks Remain.
"All prisoners outside the Kremlin
walls are able to wander pretty freely,
| at least until midnight. Once, when
! one of my men was working at night
! repairing lights in the house of one of
| the cd monks, of whom about so re-
main from the former residents of the
| monastery, he found the latter enter
| tanning a half dozen woman prisoners
| The man asked the monk why he did
not offer him a drink of the vodka,
| which the others seemed to be taking
| freely. The host retorted wrathfully,
| You come here and instead of work
| ing try to steal my girls. I won't give
| you anything to drink
Religious prisoners, including lay
men and Zionists, as well as synod dig
nitaries, numbered considerably less
| than 10 per cent of the prisoners at
| SolovetZky. Possibly close to one-third
of the prisoners were members of the
Communist party, who had been given
especially severe punishment in that
soul-racking Arctic region for lapses
| from the party code, while non-party
men received light sentences for the
same offenses. Obviously these prison.
ers are the worst element of the party.
Nearly all attempt to become guards,
where they domineer over the other
prisoners to curry favor.
Sometimes death is administered
quickly, which is more merciful than
the formal route. The latter mans
| name will be posted on the bulletin
board and read at morning roll call
He knows then that some sentence
has gone to Moscow from the prison.
collegium, prefaced, We beg that you
approve, and that Moscow, in order
to maintain discipline, almost invari-
ably approves, though the decision
will not come until weeks later. Mean
time, he continues working, knowing