The Washington times., 1935-11-02
FEL0NS BUILD
CAMP FOR
0GPU
BY GEORGE KITCHTN
CHAPTER XIII

A4SS
ern town, or rather village, was
run entirely by the OGPU. The
local Soviet existed here only IN
compliance with the law. Every
thing was under the rule Of the
camp commander, Comrade MoroZ
He was a portly man Of about
As, one Of the important checklists
of the south, who had been found
guilty, together with our comman-
der, Dikiy, of excessive drinking,
thieving and few other unsavory
crimes. Both Of them were sent to
the north for correction.
His energy, strong will and
powerful friends helped his rapid
advance to the position of com
mander of the UkhtinSky Geologi.
cal Expedition, which was later re-
organized into the penal camp
This camp was charged with the
exploitation Of the resources OF
the northern part Of the Komi ter.
ritory. Formerly this huge area
was almost entirely uninhabited,
but now over 10000 prisoners were
working here, in the Ukhta oil
fields and Plethora coal mines.
Ignorant Checklist
Commander Moroz was a wilful,
ignorant, 1nSolent checklist. He
firmly believed that as he was the
commander of the camp, he knew
everything better than anybody
else in it. Once, while showing us
the camp buildings, he noticed
that one Of the shops had no cleo
trio lighting. A new power station
had just been erected at Ukhta.
Moroz was very proud Of it and
boaStfully switched on the lights
in every building he showed us.
why is there no light here?"
he cried. Tell KiSh to come here
Immediately"
In a few minutes Kish came in,
all out of breath. He was an elec'
trical engineer, about 40, one OF
those Hungarian prisoners of wal
whom the Soviet government
would not allow to return to their
native land.
why no electric light here?'
yelled Moroz at him.
I'VE have no electric wire, citi
zen commander" answered Kish
humbly.
what are you telling mei
There's more than enough wire.
Sorry, citizen commander, but
there isn't any"
I'm telling you there is. Just
use your brains once in q while
you bonehead. You have two
strands Of wire everywhere. Why
such luxury? Unwind some Of il
and use single wires instead, yoU
will have plenty and to spare
Have it all done by tomorrow
understand? Ha, ha, such ignor
ance. and he calls himself an en-
gineer!"
Obey Orders
Some stood there with wide
open mouths, not believing their
ears, others turned away trying
not to laugh. Kish was bewil
dered and stunned. To unwind
the double strand Of wire? It
was too unreasonable, even for
checklist. MoroZ had cut the Cor
dian knot.
This is impracticable, citizen
commander" finally said Kish
smiling. There would be nc
light anywhere, if we did that.
Don't talk nonsense and do as
you're told. Have it done by to
morrow, understand? My, what
an engineer!" repeated Moroz.
This was too much. Somebody
burst into a snicker. Moroz
turned around and understood
from the expressions Of our faces
that something was wrong. He
blushed and blood rushed to his
eyes. He stared at Kish, who still
stood there waiting.
Get out of here and throw him
into the dungeon for 10 days, the
bonehead, the IDIOT" he suddenly
shouted.
Things were getting serious
Commander Dikiy took Moroz Is
the arm and led him away. WI
followed. The incident with the
wiring was closed. 1t reminded
me Of Zolotarev'S advice to use
broken cast-iron kettles for the
repair of boiler plate. ALI these
chekists were appaIlingly alike.
The incident Of the wiring wa!
already known in the engineers
barracks where we visiting pr1s
oners had been invited to have
tea.
"Do you think this is an ex
ceptional case?" said Engineer e
with a laugh. Far from it, VI
are quite used to it and have Z
adapt ourselves to work Will
these fellows"
While at Ukhta. I saw agar
nv old friend DR.. S. from Kot
las, with whom I had once made
the memorable triD to the PttSkS