Stalin’s Reign of Terror Essay Example

Stalin’s Reign of Terror Essay Stalin’s Reign of Terror Name: Course: Date: We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Stalin’s Reign of Terror specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Stalin’s Reign of Terror The book, Journey into the Whirlwind, by Eugenia Ginzburg is a memoir based on the 1917 Russian Revolution. The memoir descriptively illustrates a personal account of the author’s life and incarceration in the Soviet Union throughout the government of Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Throughout the novel, Ginzburg recounts numerous experiences directly related with Stalin’s reign of terror that witnessed millions of civilians suffer. The book, divided into two parts, provides the reader with an opportunity to glance and delve deeply into circumstances encompassing the author’s tribulations and concurrently, gain knowledge based on one of history’s most controversial leaders, Joseph Stalin. Part 1 The first part of the novel, Journey into the Whirlwind, provides a detailed account of Ginzburg’s arrest, court trial and the two years of solitary internment that she experienced. The first part begins on December 1, 1934 when Ginzburg receives a phone call. Through the phone call, Ginzburg is informed that the secretary to the General Committee of the Communist Party, Kirov is dead. Apparently, Kirov’s death was through a planned assassination. The murder of Kirov engenders paranoia regarding the rebellious political elements in the party, which causes the current government to tauten its grasp on society. Consequently, an innocent and unaware Ginzburg is individually tossed into the tussle when Professor Elvov, her old friend, is detained in 1935 (Ginzburg, 1995). The reason for his arrest was due to his authoring of a chapter that advocated Trotskyist connotations. Ginzburg’s association with Elvov puts her under extreme suspicion. Consequently, the officials of the party in her hometown, Kazan, quickly indict her of failing to denounce Elvov’s treachery to the party. Ginzburg repudiates the accusations, which forces her to be questioned by Comrade Beylin. Beylin and his partner Malyuta originally release Ginzburg with a minor indictment of inadequate vigilance. However, events turn around for Ginzburg when she finds herself being at the mercy of cruel interrogators. In 1936, Ginzburg, an intensely dedicated Communist, witnesses Stalin, the leader of the Communists for the first and last time. Despite Stalin sharing the same ideals as Ginzburg, Ginzburg views Stalin as ugly and a personification of evil. Later, Ginzburg travels to Moscow to appeal her case to the court located at IIyinka Street, where numerous accused persons are queuing in line (Ginzburg, 1995). A political commissar, Sidorov, listens to Ginzburg’s plight and is sympathetic towards her. However, Ginzburg is forced to avail her party card, which eventually leads to her arrest, by Captain Vevers eight days afterward. In the prison crypts at Black Lake Street, Ginzburg is imprisoned together with Lyama, an attractive young woman. The prison food proves to be foul for Ginzburg, so Lyama eats both portions. Lyama also explains to Ginzburg that it is vital to communicate with other inmates. Later, Ginzburg is called in for inquiry by interrogators. They interrogate her using sadistic methods such as starvation and sleep deprivation. However, Ginzburg refuses to confess guilt or turn in others. Consequently, Ginzburg is able to establish communication using the prison alphabet, which involved a series of tapping and translating taps (Ginzburg, 1995). Ginzburg and Lyama gain a new cellmate, Ira. In the interrogation, Ginzburg’s former partners from the periodical, Red Tartary, are summoned to contradict her. She is disappointed when she discovers that two of her counterparts, Volodya Dyakanov and Nayla Kozlova, have consented to sign the interrogators’ papers. Afterwards, Ginzburg is relocated to another prison, which is filthier but less stringent. She develops new relationships and devices a novel communication system that enables her to spread the news all over the prison through singing and opera tunes. However, Ginzburg is relocated again to Moscow. In Butkryki Prison, she hears the screams of cellmates being tortured. Eventually, Ginzburg faces the military tribunal expecting a death sentence. To her surprise, she is sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. After staying briefly at the Pugachev Tower, Ginzburg is transported to Yaroslavl by train. After the end of her two years at Yaroslavl, her sentence is revi sed, and she is reassigned to a remedial labor camp. Part 2 The second part of the novel starts with a clique of 76 female inmates boarding Car Number 7, in a compartment labeled â€Å"Special Equipment† (Ginzburg, 1995). In Car Number 7, among the female prisoners transported together with Ginzburg, another prisoner who later becomes Ginzburg’s friend is in the compartment. Tanya Stankovskaya is happy to possess a bunk in the train. Regardless of the discomfort of traveling in a cattle car, the train is filled with happy voices of female inmates according to Ginzburg because none of the prisoners had seen any other person in over two years. Later on, Ginzburg meets Zinaida Tulub in the train. Zinaida was a historical novelist from Ukraine. Ginzburg tells Zinaida about herself and her life story while discovering the unease of talking due to her long years of forced silence (Ginzburg, 1995). After an upsetting journey that lasted for a month in a cattle car, the inmates pull in at a transfer camp in close proximity to Vladivostok. At the transit camp, the female prisoners intermingle, through a fence, with male inmates, ravening themselves on romantic emotions and probing for recognizable faces. At the camp, Ginzburg stays for a month before being transported to Kolyma, Siberia through ship. Ginzburg and her fellow inmates are transferred through the ship known as SS Dzhurma. In the ship, Ginzburg is shown to be sick from a bout of fever. However, irrespective of the effect of illness on her, Ginzburg decides to conceal her ailment at all costs. She subjected herself to harsh conditions coupled by her illness in order to avoid from being separated from her fellow prisoners. The last batch of female prisoners to be brought into SS Dzhurma was comprised of criminals indicted with crimes ranging from sexual deviance to murder (Ginzburg, 1995). The journey within the ship was significantly uneventful. Life on the ship, SS Dzhurma, was considerably wretched than in Car 7 and Yaroslavl. The hatches within the ship were unfastened throughout the journey in order to allow for the entrance of air into the ship. However, this propagated even terrible conditions throughout the journey. Due to the harsh conditions, Ginzburg becomes terribly ill. At one point, Ginzburg attempts to use the bathroom on the deck only to lose consciousness and pass out for two days due to exhaustion and sickness. After her tumultuous stay at the SS Dzhurma, Ginzburg and the prisoners eventually reach Kolyma, located in the northern Siberia region. In Kolyma, the prisoners are transported to Magadan Camp. However, Ginzburg falls sick again at the camp. Eventually, she is transported to the sick ward. She is brought to the sick ward, where sick men and women are clustered together in taut quarters. The sick ward at Magadan Infirmary allows Ginzburg to bathe and receive treated. Eventually, she is treated by Dr. Klimenko who is the wife of a police investigator. Dr. Klimenko allows Ginzburg to stay in the hospital for one month in order to recover fully. Additionally, Klimenko does this because she believes that Ginzburg has experienced death much greater than the other prisoners have (Ginzburg, 1995). After a month in recovery, Ginzburg returns to Magadan Camp. At the camp, Ginzburg was assigned to Hut 8. Regardless of recovering completely, Ginzburg feels that she has betrayed her fellow inmates. Her reason for feeling this way is attributed to her fair treatment at hospital. She alleges that while she was being treated well in hospital, her friends were suffering in prison. Throughout the trip to the sick ward, her consciousness wavers but she is immediately restored when the doctor prescribes a warm pine bath for her. Her stay at the infirmary in Magadan Camp under the care of a nurse enables Ginzburg to reclaim her health. Eventually, she is put to work with other inmates after she is deemed well. Soon after, Ginzburg bribes the leader of the team, who is responsible for allocating jobs to prisoners, and ends up doing housework in a guesthouse. Later, she works in the kitchen but eventually she is deported to a camp at Elgen. At the camp, she was forced to fell trees in glacial temperatures. Moreover, the overseer, Keyzin was harsh to the prisoners and demanded a high output in the snow, which equaled their food earnings (Ginzburg, 1995). However, tree felling proved to be dangerous especially when in snow. Irrespective of this, Ginzburg and her counterparts were forced to maintain high output but it was impossible due to Ginzburg’s poor health. However, Ginzburg escapes death when a doctor from Leningrad, Vasily Petukhov, carrying out routine medical inspections on her recognizes her and claims that he is familiar with her son (Ginzburg, 1995). The doctor assists Ginzburg in evading the fatal conditions at Elgen by securing her with a medical attendant’s job at a children’s hospital. The Journey into the Whirlwind is indeed an engaging and interesting book. Irrespective of the experiences that the author goes through, Ginzburg manages to induce optimism at the end of the book. Irrespective of the few ills documented in the novel, Ginzburg does not reiterate on the Soviet tactics used against prisoners and innocent civilians but rather on the psychological abuse, that she went underwent in the interrogations and prison life. Regardless of the raw details of Ginzburg’s life under the Soviet government, the author presents an emotional depiction that leaves the reader completely engaged and engrossed. References Ginzburg, E. S. (1995). Journey into the Whirlwind. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Co.