The Truth About Stalin's Prison Camps

Vera Golobeva spent more than six years in one of Stalin’s Gulag camps. Her crime? “To this day, I still don’t know,” she says. In a new documentary, Golobeva remembers the excruciating details of her imprisonment. When she was arrested, along with her father, mother, and sister, Golobeva was taken to KGB headquarters and tortured. She was eight months pregnant. “I felt as if they were burying me alive,” she says in the film. The worst was yet to come.
Between 1918 and 1987, Soviet Russia operated a vast network of hundreds of prison camps that held up to 10,000 people each. When Stalin launched his infamous purges in 1936, millions of so-called political prisoners were arrested and transported to the Gulag without trial. The first wave of prisoners were military or government officials; later, ordinary citizens-especially intellectuals, doctors, writers, artists, and scientists-were arrested ex nihilo. At the camps, many prisoners were executed or died from overwork and malnutrition. The death rate often hovered around 5 percent, although in years of widespread famine, mortality could be as high as 25 percent. Historians estimate that as part of the Gulag, Soviet authorities imprisoned or executed around 25 million people. Read more: www.theatlantic.com/video/ind...
"Pregnant in the Gulag" was produced by Coda Story. Watch more videos from the series "Generation Gulag": codastory.com/series/generati...
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[@Thaddeus_Howe]

Her voice is so powerful. I am amazed at how strong she is and how willing she is to tell us about unimaginable tragedy.

[@omairsh8]

Agreed, and I see the same thing with Holocaust survivors. All of these concentration camp survivors are the real warriors, but have so much humanity in them despite being in the worst conditions. The devils that put them there are absolute cowards and traitors to their countries, like Vera said

[@ZeeHilal]

I dont trust this obvious lie

[@get-memed]

@@ZeeHilal you cant say that man, its history and you cant change what already happend.

[@Elly3981]

Agreed. We have plenty of stories from Holocaust survivors but not nearly enough from Soviet gulag survivors and I'm sure there are lots as well.

[@DrCruel]

If she was not a very strong person, she would not have survived.

[@Two-Stack]

Imagine torturing and killing your own countrymen and believing you’re doing your country a service. Unbelievable.

[@vrolleri]

@Jonathan Menzing Uh, no. The kulaks were imprisoned by Stalin you moron. it's tough to farm when you're being tortured to death. Let me guess: you love Bernie?

[@Sam808Sch]

The Kulaks were successful farmers, the Soviets persecuted and dispossessed them, shipped them off to Siberia. Several famines resulted, with millions of deaths.

[@BigVK19]

Jonathan Menzing was Stalin insane? If so, how did he manage to raise the Soviet Union to the super power status considering the Russian Civil War of 1918-1921 and ww2 that brought so much destruction in the Eastern Soviet Union? How can an insane man build the country up?

[@BigVK19]

Sam808Sch in an ideal world, Stalin is evil. However, he didn’t live in an ideal world and he foresaw the conflict with the West. How do you get your country men to agree with you? Pleading only gets you so far. Brute force has a more convincing power. Majority of Soviets were uneducated and drunks early 20th century. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Soviet_Union In other words, just to provide a similar point, IF the Native Americans had their own Stalin, they would have survived to this day. Without Stalin, Soviet Union would be defeated by the NAZIs and Eurasia would be a large German colony.

[@BigVK19]

Jonathan Menzing if you don’t mind my asking, what’s your background on this? I was born in USSR, now Ukraine. I’m an American now (naturalized). I was born in the Christian home, with family persecuted for their belief but nobody in Gulag as far as I know. I’m now an Atheist and taking a fresh look at history.

[@rubrod80]

My heart broke when she wanted to cry I wanted just to hug her

[@endorphinrider1633]

Living under Stalin was a bad time and place to have been alive, especially if you had also lived through WW1, the Russian Revolution, Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-19, and WW2. Sometimes I think I've had it too good.

[@danielblue4460]

Sometimes I'm thinking that war documentaries with survivors narrating them should be FORCED to be seen by teens of today. They should be thankful and rather accumulate skills than mulling sexual tryst with their favorite individual. Anyway, the rupture is near. Peace.

[@theshellest]

I'll take "things you'll never hear young people on the left promoting socialism say" for 1000. I agree with you 100%. I love to watch these horrible things to remember where we came from. I always hear about Hilter, but I didn't know alot about Stalin. Though I'll never forget walking through the Holocaust museum in New York. Haunting.

[@PippaPipster]

Fast forward. Read these comments now as cities burn with anarchy. Lootings, killings. Antifa, Black Lives Matter, CHAZ. The same crying college kids who demanded safe spaces from conservative opinions are now the predators & violent perpetrators declaring themselves the moral arbiters. Tormenting the innocent. Forcing ppl onto their knees to beg for forgiveness.... *_for being White._*

[@andrewroberts7428]

@@PippaPipster oh grow up and stop with the opportunistic, melodramatic comparisons

[@thenewjord50]

@@PippaPipster it's not about being white is about ending racism you act like whites (the non racist ones) dont check one of their own I bet you silent on that

[@proudlakerfan]

Pretty soon we'll lose people like Vera Golubeva who were victims of and eyewitnesses to the evil things men did to their fellow men. It's imperative that the Gulag prisoners and Holocaust survivors stories be told for generations to come.

[@Erminestreet]

Absolutely!

[@naturecollision]

ibur you can‘t compare gulags to nazi concentration camps, one is hell the other is Disneyland. don‘t buy into vilification of germans.

[@arvalb0]

24063457467984263567 ? Which one is Disneyland??

[@Celtic-Films]

It's imperative that Holodomor survivors stories be told.

[@mikeakersa8566]

@@naturecollision fun fact, both were wrong.

[@aurevoiralex]

My heart just broke into a thousand pieces... that poor woman. I wish I could hold her and take some of her pain.

[@ryanmozert]

@Begin Transformation ok. how bout i put the spoiled youth in the gulags, instead of the older ones

[@user-mc3if9xs7w]

@Begin Transformation what?

[@Dynasty19]

She’s naturally tough she doesn’t need your sympathy her soul is radiating with power and you can hear strength beyond description in her voice true legend

[@Hello-ww7xr]

wait i dont understand the matches thing

[@sonilite]

It’s the most disgusting side of humanity I loathe this happened and feel so much for her

[@spideywhiplash]

It is like she is also giving a voice to the prisoner's that perished in the gulags during Stalin's reign.

[@18Bees]

Spidey Whiplash amen. People find it difficult to believe just how many perished in the gulags. 😢

[@mmmk1616]

And long after Stalin's reign, the description says they were open between 1918 and 1987. Hard to imagine...

[@davidhollenshead4892]

​@@mmmk1616 Keep in mind that Stalin's Great Purge (1936-38) and his killing stopped with his death in 1953. However, after his death most dissidents who were "counter-revolutionary" were sent into internal exile, often in the communities created by the Gulags...

[@nicolopiva2811]

"Stalin's reign." Well no.

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

@@davidhollenshead4892 You are such an uneducated moron - Great Purge was authored by Yezhov, NOT Stalin. Those who orchestrated it, were found guilty and prosecuted in 1939, which is the year it ended! Stalin is great leader, he managed to remove far-left extremists in 1920, he managed to stop civil war, he managed to start industrialization of ussr in just 10 years while being SANCTIONED, he managed to create an army which won Finnish war to move border away from Europe, then win war against 80% of combined far-right Europe, then he was against sanctioned by West who broke all his agreements, he then gave ussr nuclear shield and worlds first space industry! The "killing" in 1920-1939 was stopped exactly by Stalin and not from Stalin!

[@calzos]

The pain in her eyes is heartbreaking. Years of misery and unfathomable horrors instilled in her voice is too much. No human being should ever have to experience such a life, it kills me that even in modern day there are still camps like this in the world. I hope she and others like her find peace somehow someway, although the mind has been plagued with such atrocities I hope that even the slightest peacefulness fulfils her but I can't even begin to imagine how traumatizing this was.

[@Elly3981]

The last Soviet gulag closed in the 1960s but unfortunately, this kind of shit still goes on in countries like North Korea and possibly China and the middle east.

[@MrMirville]

@@Elly3981 No, there still are that do more or less the same thing, and not only for punishment but also for combat training.

[@christopher9727]

..Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@user-sf4fy8bq1h]

The ability to record these experiences is humankind's greatest asset. Our lifespans are far too short to learn from our mistakes on our own, but perhaps the immortalisation of experiences just like Vera's will help us to finally end the cycle.

[@fullthrottlealways]

Well put. 🙏🏻

[@omairsh8]

Sadly the humans in power are too evil and genocides are still happening today. I don't know if the tyranny of humans will ever come to an end sadly

[@st.michaelthearchangel7774]

@@omairsh8 Fallen human nature for you. :(

[@anastasia10017]

I had a polish friend who was taken to a labor gulag with his wife. He had a PhD in Chemistry and his wife was a lawyer. They were stuck in the gulag doing tree logging. very dangerous work. he told me the russians would always tell them they would never get out fo there and that they would die there. When WW2 ended, the russians refused to release them. He got sent to Uzbekistan and he managed to escape to France, then the USA. .

[@3.6bviews19]

Legend

[@yiannisyannakis7698]

The so called amurika is just another prison itself. My ex gf was American, and lived there for many years. I decided to leave. Here in greece even tho we have several problems I feel happier bc I have friends and family members that never let me feel alone. I do work hard to take care of myself but I feel safer from when I was in the past. I have my time off and my coffee with my morning ouzo

[@murphman7448]

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago should be required reading in all High Schools

[@Andy-km1xp]

@Lord Of Vengeance what??

[@olgamihajlova3577]

Oh my god... Solzhenitsin was a liar and a traitor. His books are crap.

[@RodGibsonMusic]

Damn right. My teenagers have read it and are spreading the word among their peers.

[@warrioroflight6872]

@@angkarbasil You probably would have supported the Nazis too if you had lived under Stalin. There were a lot of people in that time who supported Hitler for no other reason than that they wanted someone to stand up to Stalin. It's the reason Finland joined Hitler's side during the war with the Soviets during WWII. Just because the Nazis were evil doesn't prove that the Soviets weren't. Evil has fought evil all throughout history and this conflict was no exception.

[@warrioroflight6872]

@@olgamihajlova3577 Somehow I doubt that a three-volume series of 700-page books with eloquent language and lots of descriptions into life in the Gulags was all faked. If I were a liar trying to discredit my country, I probably wouldn't have been able to come up with enough content to fill that many pages. It is true that a lot of his guesses were incorrect, after all, he was just a prisoner in the system. It's not like he had access to the government's records. But people still see his work as a personal memoir if not a historically accurate representation of the USSR. The Gulag Archipelago is a valuable look into the nightmares of Stalin's reign, just as the personal accounts of Hitler's concentration camps were. Solzhenitsyn was a great hero and it's well-documented online from many different sources. The idea that he was a liar and a cheat is little more than a conspiracy theory. Seriously, read up on him and read his books for yourself before you judge. You'll find it to be an incredibly enlightening experience.

[@Bdear1]

I don't know how she survived such horrible systematic abuse & torture. Her body must have gone on autopilot, so she could some how keep moving. It's so brave to tell her story, & now it exists for generations to see. Thanks to her finding her voice, the horrors of the people out in Gulags can't ever be erased or forgotten. It's on the internet forever. Her story is so vital, powerful, & important I'm so grateful she shared, I knew very little, but am going to look into it much more, & make sure others know, all thanks to her. What they did, their crimes against humanity, against her, & her family for yrs, exists for people to see, & learn what we must never allow or become.

[@user-unknownorknown]

US students should watch this story...

[@wuffiousmaximus4808]

Daily reminder that people defend this man

[@hellonhead5905]

Commies really think he is some hero or some shit..

[@lexle6203]

@The Quiver For example a guy called Infrared on KZbin defends Stalin and Mao and pretty much all the communist regimes of old. These people are usually called tankies in leftist KZbin circles.

[@myriaddsystems]

What dignified and gracious human being she is.....

[@weirdshibainu]

Next time you hear someone say that America is a fascist state, keep her story in mind. We're not without flaws, but look at her story- no due process, no right to counsel, just a Soviet state that trampled the rights of individuals - murdering millions through torture, rape, starvation, work camps and for many meeting their end at the sound of a gun. An entire generation subsumed into madness by the actions of one man and his inner circle. Read the constitution and cherish the wisdom of the men that wrote that document.

[@yourlocalmailman8456]

@weirdshibainu Thank you, I can't stand watching people praise the Soviet Union and acting as if Stalins atrocities were completely justified. People fail to see that Stalins state was another form of fascism in all but name.

[@michelmakeer7624]

How many have died in such fashion, we'll never know their stories. Incredible evil by so many, how?

[@kobusg7460]

Bolshevik communists. They still manipulate the world today.

[@mysteriousmuffin6017]

About 100,000 or so died

[@figamaster]

@@mysteriousmuffin6017 Not even close. The Russians admit to about 2 million which indicates there are several million more.

[@mysteriousmuffin6017]

Max K Well the Soviet archives indicate that the death toll was in the thousands.

[@michelmakeer7624]

@@mysteriousmuffin6017 I'd appreciate sources on this. Estimates from others have been quite a bit higher than 100,000.

[@georgewashington5163]

Gives a whole new meaning to *"You go to Gulag."*

[@joshuajones5239]

says the first American president

[@Hardcoredawg420]

My teammate got sent to the gulag. He will have to fight for his chance of redeployment

[@christiannachel2710]

It's like hearing my own grandma talking about the German soldiers and their allies back in Greece,1940😰😨She was a little girl at the time of the invasion.Now she's 83 and she remembers everything from that era.I love her so much🤍

[@TheLoscla05]

Its ironic, these men that killed millions of people are all portrayed in a childs comic book as a character named Thanos and yet, these children know nothing of the real life counter parts to this character and many sadly never will. Truth always hides in plain view.

[@timmychode7444]

Laughable, thanos’s theory of overpopulation is based on a theory by Thomas Malthus who believed we should give no help to the poor so they die off and the population decreases, that is everything that communism isnt. In fact, letting your people starve sounds a lot like America….

[@TheLoscla05]

@@timmychode7444 sounds like America? You mean the wealthiest country to ever have existed in the modern world that has lifted more people out of poverty than any other country in history? A country where even many from other countries laugh because our homeless are fat? You mean that America? 😂😂😂 Yes communism is the answer, let a Stalin rule over you and find out how wrong you are. Ignorance is bliss for the simple minded....dont be simple minded.

[@plutoloco2378]

If you’re learning to speak Russian and are still a beginner, the way she speaks is really easy to understand given how clearly and deliberately she pronounces her words. Very helpful.

[@zziggy808]

Thank you for your story Vera! Sorry you and your family went through this. Hope more people learn about this so humanity tried to prevent it from happening again.

[@Lionfish5656]

Definitely. She is doing it in a situation where it is not popular for her to speak up like that. In Russia, Stalin has been rehabilitated in the wake of Putin's rise to power & his nationalistic propaganda.

[@RazorSkinned86]

Yeah. I'm glad the Atlantic is letting people know about the evils of democratic socialism. Never again!

[@madrigale6396]

@@RazorSkinned86 huh yeah no.... bolsheviks were against democratic socialism... hence all the democratic socialists they outlawed, repressed and murdered. I think you do yourself and history a bit of injustice by bringing your politics to the past without knowing what you're talking about.

[@Erminestreet]

ArhGee it wasn’t democratic socialism, it was totalitarian communism and frankly US and other democratic capitalist countries committed crimes comparable to Stalins during those times.

[@Erminestreet]

Madrigal E exactly, a mere suspicion that someone was a democratic socialist was enough to end up in gulag

[@khalidalali186]

This is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever laid my gaze upon. Reality is truly not only stranger than fiction. But rather, more horrifying.

[@malcolmnicoll1165]

“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[@redbanner17]

Nice quote from a nazi collaborator and a Pinochet supporter.

[@timmychode7444]

Is that not america being described???

[@cmdreftilon9786]

@@timmychode7444 But the US is a Democratic country with checks and balances that work, even if it has some other weak points. But nobody in the US will send you to prison just because he decided that you should spent the rest of your life in prison. Imagine this: When Russian POWs liberated by the allies or the Red army, they have sent directly into the Gulags just because they have being captured by the enemy. The Gulag system was also an economic factor, the Gulags raised their demands and the KGB delivered. Many times just random people from the streets, in order to fulfil the quotes.

[@Danie678]

​@@cmdreftilon9786how do you know they have check and balance when you always have the elite who lobby in the congress. Democracy is just an illusion.

[@diane9247]

Westerners don't know as much about the Gulag system as they should. Stalin was every bit as sadistic as Hitler - maybe more so. I hope Vera has a little peace in her life. 💓

[@MrKaido93]

Stalin, was more methodical, systematic, and cunning than,Hitler. According to the former Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, Rev Gabriel Amworth, Stalin was said to be more under, Satan's influence/ control than Hitler was.

[@Danie678]

Stalin and Mao made hitler look like boy scout.

[@chrisbrown8640]

Does anyone know what happened to the Gulag prisoners when some of the camps were overrun by the German Forces ? Seems likely the Nazis would have either exterminated them used them as slave labor or maybe even as mercinaries against the Soviets ?

[@sagapoetic8990]

This is absolutely heartbreaking what this lady experienced, and amazing how cruel people can be to each other. That her child died, probably owing to incompetence on the part of the people on duty. I worked in the Peace Corps in a post Soviet Central Asian country. Some of my colleagues talked of the deportations, no one ever talked about gulags though Central Asia had many gulags. Many of my colleagues spoke of themselves or family members being deported from somewhere else to there and indigenous people spoke of family members deported to another region and loss of contact. The reasons I heard people gave for deportation and disappearance cases included complaints by jealous co-workers and neighbors, alleged insults against the state, and men desiring other people's wives would then cause the disappearance of their husbands. From other sources, though, I've heard that companies wanted cheap or free labour, and the government used any pretext to grab people and send them to work in camps.

[@ilas8675]

There is a special place in the deepest,most horrible,burning,place in hell for these inhuman animals!! These people who torture,maim,killed these poor people,,,if they're dead,,,good riddance! And if they died already,,,they most certainly are roasting in hell,and being tortured by demons now!! One does reap what we one does!! These people who committ these atrocities have gone demon possessed!! God haters!!

[@xtina1235]

@@ilas8675 animals are not this cruel, there aren’t even equivalent to how disgusting a human beings truly are.

[@halcyonrain1117]

Thank you to everyone involved, but especially the speaker, that cannot have been easy and I appreciate you helping me understand.

[@st.michaelthearchangel7774]

Great video! Was really well-edited. That intro was amazing - very powerful.

[@mmmk1616]

It always shocks me, the ability of a person to inflict this kind of treatment onto another. But it happens every day. I try to read uplifting articles and stories to help balance out the negative that is constantly being sent into our view. They exist, you just have to look.

[@Ridabu]

Why is the Holocaust so important 80 years later, but this event and many like it are not so important?

[@emmagoldman7729]

politics

[@emmagoldman7729]

just google King Leopold Congo

[@tonycammie1269]

Because it wasn't real communism.

[@alpiekaar]

we are taught to hate russia......so no one cares or is even interested

[@aliciachristopher6506]

I don't know. Maybe because the USSR was our ally during WW2. Can't talk bad about your ally.

[@julieabehling]

This should be required viewing for all Americans from high school and up!

[@jeffreysharp8526]

Thank you for this video. Fifty years ago, I lived very close to the Iron Curtain in (West) Germany and saw what the Soviets did to their own people. Only a precious few Americans can begin to understand that. Still, it's extremely important to document it so as to prevent it recurrence. Unfortunately, the Russian military is now doing the same thing to the Ukrainian people.

[@sallywhite7678]

Poor Vera😢😢😢😢😢😢!I would like to give you the biggest hug ever and adopt you❤️! You are a woman of matchless courage. God Bless You!

[@carlguenzel1447]

I don't what to say. I only want to cry.

[@VerenaZyla]

Such a strong voice after such tragedy! I can only imagine what a brave woman Vera is. May she find some peace in this life, and thank you for sharing your story with the world!

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

Yes, she organized terrorist cell during war, such a brave woman.

[@deborahtowns8983]

Thank you for sharing your pain...

[@krollpeter]

Thank you, Madam Golobeva! The world has to know about these crimes.

[@quakeknight9680]

The biggest irony is that there are some russians from gulags who even love Stalin.

[@farimb2380]

Just read some comments, there's still maniacs out there

[@montag4516]

The Stockholm Syndrome to an extreme.

[@MrMirville]

It is a religion like any other. An Evangelist take-over in the US with Bnai Brith supervision wouldn't be better.

[@ivanbarbosa81]

Thank you for this

[@myriaddsystems]

The Nazis got the idea for mobile extermination vans from Stalin's mob

[@bondrewdthelordofdawn3744]

Nazi did ? I thought it's inspired china van

[@almasmaksut552]

Thanks.

[@johnteslov5870]

This is so sad :(

[@tomstickney5500]

bless your hart and thank you for sharing

[@JK-br1mu]

Comrade, my neighbor has been indulging in counter-revolutionary thought. I personally witnessed him admiring an advertisement from America that featured Ford motor vehicles. And he smiled while looking at it

[@importantname]

This is what a human is willing to do to stay in Power.

[@davidhollenshead4892]

Power & Control are dangerous & addictive drugs...

[@Charles-hy6gp]

@@davidhollenshead4892 That how the world works, Stalin was pure evil in an ideal world, however he didn´t live in a ideal world and forshaw the conflict with the west How you gonna convince people to vote you? pleading won't get you anywhere, brute force works Stalin turned USSR into a superpower, without him USSR would get defeated in WW2. There are great leaders that works like Stalin

[@paschalisantoniou974]

The gulag archipelago. Author Alexandre Solzhenitsyn. Lest we forget.

[@redbanner17]

Lest we forget that he was a literal Nazi collaborator and a Pinochet supporter. Go back to class.

[@parziiich]

My grandpa was in gulag. Managed to come back but he was absolutely mental. He scared of Russians so much. Didnt want to talk about his past, he told a little bit when he was dying. He was released quite soon as if compared to other prisoners so I think he had to do something nasty..

[@jamesetter8208]

I am so sorry,humans can be so cruel.

[@derryjones1029]

There is a special place in hell for the people who ran these place's

[@golden.lights.twinkle2329]

They were all executed so they wouldn't tell anyone what happened. And the people that executed them were executed.

[@jakdkr]

As a Russian, I can respect this, she speak of her tragedy I respect it

[@robertfrancis2039]

WHO RAN THE GULAG? THEY WEREN'T RUSSIAN. THEY HATED RUSSIANS.

[@conbandit42]

If I could hold her in my arms, and tell her how much her tears mean to me, and tell her how much her story means to the world, then I would hope she would think that suffering wasn't for nothing. I hope she is living a blessed life.

[@janeself9827]

What a sad world....excellent short film.

[@Aivottaja]

But-but this wasn't Real Communism!

[@0predelenie]

Yes, in real communism, everyone should be dead :)

[@bigdeal7043]

This is what happens when you don’t fight for your freedom!

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

Freedom from what? From education, from jobs, from healthcare, from industry? To have free air in your pocket and live on the street? Stalin started to manage agrar-level country during civil war and when he ended - he had a pipe for personal belongings and country was leading anti-empire with no racist laws, had space tech, nuclear capability and it won against direct aggression from collective Nazi Europe.

[@memewalemama2036]

@@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH why innocent people were send to gulags

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

@@memewalemama2036 which innocent people? how did you prove they were innocent? to which "gulags" - gulag literally means detention HEADQUARTERS. I know that some were falsely accused for messing with soviet regime by careerist, one prominent example Nikita Khrustchev, who jailed own folk in order to move the ladder, but careerists are human psychology phenomena. Eitherway, moderate communists were far more humane that capitalists/tsarists (in reality, not in fairy tales), but conditions for communist elite were far less rewarding, which is what caused ussr to collapse.

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

@D B british tsar funded lenin. Tsar is enemy of tsar.

[@HECKAKYH-ADEKBATEH]

@D B imho they already controlled the british govt back then, so its same.

[@Nadia..J]

And so many people today say they have ptsd. Shame on them.. shame!

[@proud2bpagan]

a good friend of mine from Saudi Arabia tells a similar story about the Crown Prince's regime there. Sons ripped from mother's arms in the middle of the night, never to be seen or heard from again, all for either expressing dissent or being accused of it.

[@golden.lights.twinkle2329]

Happened in Argentina and Chile too.

[@Padre4321]

Read The Whisperers by Orlando Figes. Amazing book with all first hand accounts.

[@rightlyso8507]

Yes! The book is just as excellent as Solzhenitsyn's masterpiece.

[@Jackzay90]

I had no idea USSR had their own Guantanamo Bay

[@battleaxe7926]

Dear God touch this precious women. Give her healing and peace.

[@spongebobisracistq]

Just here for the intro love the song

[@Enes-wj5xq]

Looks like to what the Americans did to the iraqi citizens at the Abu Ghareeb prison. But the media hush-hushed it and the people are ok with it.

[@jabom99]

What an idiotic thing to say. It wasn't hushed up. You know about it. duh. To compare that to the gulags is an insult to victims of those camps. Millions were sent there and 1.7 million died there.

[@redbanner17]

@@jabom99 citation needed kid. Also gimme your thoughts on the soviet union abolishing penal labor in 1955 and the u.s. still having penal labor (i.e. what you would call literal gulags) in 2021. I need your big brain thoughts on that.

[@averageboi5195]

2 things can be bad at once

[@catsupchutney]

I can't watch anymore. It's too sad.

[@user-vr7uw6wo1u]

У меня умерло несколько родственников в Сандармохе, Карелии. Какие же страшные времена

[@poutinedream5066]

I can't believe she is brave enough to still say what she believes. I could never. God bless her.

[@maltesers1980]

This hit me right in the feels. 😩

[@BobQuigley]

this can happen anywhere and anytime

[@billbrown1335]

Poor girl. damn. Brutal.

[@oldtimers6460]

Actually it was Lenin who established the first gulag for political prisoners ,Stalin just made more of them .

[@timmychode7444]

And Stalin very much worsened the conditions. Gulags were essentially to be a prison like most any other, but due to the german invasion, disease (most deaths from the gulags are attributed to a typhus outbreak) and Stalin’s poor leadership, conditions were worsened

[@cjcorallo5775]

do you think this would've happened if they had the right to bear arms?

[@timmychode7444]

Yes, it happens in America too. Our prison system isn’t really much better. I support gun ownership more than most anyone on my side of politics but I still believe it’s true that nothing except a unity of the working class can prevent tyranny and imperialism.

[@cjcorallo5775]

@@timmychode7444 imprisonment on a gulag scale has never happened when a government fears it's people. It only happens when the people fear the government. History is not friendly to large numbers of gullible people who ignorantly trust large government. There is a very very very very important reason that the second amendment exists. Not only to protect the first amendment but to protect life and liberty itself. A people not willing to fight for it's ability to protect themselves deserve any and all repercussions from a heavy handed dictator.

[@TheDannyorrell]

Good on you for sharing the truth that Stalin was a true monster who committed so many war crimes. Stalin being aligned with the allies at wars end, Churchill & Roosevelt could not be seen in the same bed as a monster so Hitler became the Yom Kippur. The scapegoat to cleanse the sins

[@julielabelle2783]

A true Martyr, All my respect and thank you for sharing your experience. God bless her 🕊️

[@brendatrimble9528]

Prayers for this woman and her family. This is so hard to watch.

[@davidmedeiros2856]

Strong and brave woman.

[@djmadwax]

We’re at the 1917 part of this story in 2021

[@montag4516]

There is a Russian/Georgian film called Repentance (1984). Made during the glasnost period and tells the tale of a woman/family that went through this and it gives a glimpse of how such a controlling system managed to take hold. Another related, recommended film is Canary Season. Made in Bulgaria around the same time. It's another film of a woman telling her story (to her son) of the horrors she experienced by a brutal, collective state. Both of these films are deeply layered and difficult, but strongly advised viewing.

[@jacquelinekalich7463]

Brave lady. Thank you for your story.

[@osamabindiesel3389]

Damn, Atlanta really throwing out some fire videos recently.

[@davidhollenshead4892]

"fire" or "fine" ???

[@WhiteStone21475]

God bless and comfort them all.

[@rockbarcellos]

The fact that they didn't even bother to give you a reason for doing this(not that there could be any, of course) made me particularly pissed, because that's how little those monsters valued other people's life.

[@emmagoldman7729]

1000 years later where was this coverage when it was happening?

[@gabrielalbuquerque5382]

Just an explication of the start of the camps. According to Solzhenitsyn's Gulag archipelago, the camps were idealized from Lenin(1917) and Stalin worsened it, principally in 1929, when the kulaks were killed.

[@lorenzovonmatterhorn7402]

Actually camps were before Lenin's time .. my grand grand father was in one in 1890s... 15 years. They were ran by Je*ish people... But you won't hear that anywhere. Also Lenin and Stalin were that sooo...

[@chrisbrown8640]

Does anyone know what happened to the Gulag prisoners when some of the camps were overrun by the German Forces ? Seems likely the Nazis would have either exterminated them used them as slave labor or maybe even as mercinaries against the Soviets ?

[@zhinous683]

its just a big shame for humans that some have done brutuallity to others.

[@acgillespie]

You ain't seen anything yet.. your all is yet to come

[@RazorSkinned86]

What else do you expect to come from democratic socialism. thank you the Atlantic for making sure people know about this.

[@madrigale6396]

@@RazorSkinned86 huh yeah no.... bolsheviks were against democratic socialism... hence all the democratic socialists they outlawed, repressed and murdered. I think you do yourself and history a bit of injustice by bringing your politics to the past without knowing what you're talking about.

[@lynnefranks6674]

@@acgillespie meaning?

[@acgillespie]

@@lynnefranks6674 .It means we are all being groomed for a whole lot of evil that is coming.. Most Human's will not survive.. They'll keep populations as they wish by making breeding for some Impossible.. many many will take there own lives from the horror about to be unleashed

[@Mara36832]

It's a pity that there are almost no films on this terrible, beastly, unspeakable period of Soviet Union history. Wasn't America a declared enemy of communism? So, why didn't Hollywood produce movies on this topic? So contradictory...

[@SincereSentinel]

Anyone complaining about first world problems needs to watch this every time they think their having a rough go at things. Puts things in perspective.

[@justinakers3196]

This is happening today in China.

[@historyjunky1299]

And North Korea.

[@rohanghosh1499]

No it is happening in Muslims Nations

[@joshuaneoangelobersales1807]

@@Huang_Yisen no... it happens in china, north korea and muslim dominated countries.

[@user-lv8qy3vo1o]

Rohan Ghosh Lier if you’re teeth were broken you will say Muslims are the reason freak on the other hand it happens by evidence in China and other countries to Muslims the victims and we don’t have such cases in our countries

[@mrcool2107]

It happens syria . Does it even exist? I think American should nuke syria just like japan

[@lizbrown8294]

This will be us soon

[@sansar44]

What a strong lady. I would like to give her a hug.

[@Icommittedarson]

I cannot imagine the pain of this woman.

[@Erminestreet]

Such a strong woman, I can’t begin to imagine the horrors and hardship she must have endured. Крепкого Вам здоровья, Вера Сергеевна! Хороших людей все равно больше.

[@christineloz1686]

From the Bolshevicks to Stalin 60 to 100 million were tortured, raped starved to death.. My polish friend told me the Germans in Russia treatedbher grandparents respectfully

[@brennanw.6845]

What the Bolsheviks did was worse than anything the Nazi’s did. The Russian revolution back in the 1910’s was a devastating blow for the next 60+ years

[@tylerbozinovski4624]

@@brennanw.6845 74 years to be exact.

[@olgamihajlova3577]

@@brennanw.6845, you are out of your mind and brainwashed by the anti-Russian propaganda. All these stories about the gulag are not true. This gulag was a normal prison, where the accused also worked and got their salary. The people who were sent there were not innocent.

[@olgamihajlova3577]

Oh yeah? The Germans killed 27 million people in the Soviet Union. From those 27 million only 9 million were military men, the rest were civilians, who were tortured, burnt alive and killed by the Germans. Thanks to Stalin the nazis were defeated.

[@timmychode7444]

@@brennanw.6845 you are blind to history. I am not one to doubt the downfalls of the ussr, but I don’t understand how you fail to recognize the greatness of it. Before the revolution Russia was a backwards nation, nearly feudalist. 40 years after the revolution they sent a man to space.

[@otheraccount3424]

About 7% of the soviet population was in a gulag/prison under Stalins time. To give you an idea of how much that is about 6% of the American population is in prison.

[@KazakhBoy]

These are two different things. AYO!!!!

[@Josh071]

There is no justice. Not in this world!

[@e.n.214]

А теперь нам пытаются доказать что Сталин был чуть ли не ангел.

[@rightlyso8507]

Imagine that!

[@azia5051]

It so sad to see her like that May she be batter and be save from god.

[@curtisjackson8960]

God bless you Vera, hopefully your next life is rich with love laughter and life. You deserve it

[@rosespearls8605]

💔😭heartbreaking

[@saharaalfie697]

***..Thank you so much Vera for sharing with us your horrible experience under communist / psychopath Stalin's regime [ I 'm sorry to hear you had to go threw this ] Bless your soul Vera and a lot of love 😘💕 .. from Québec ***

[@misiekvuychik3768]

Genocide

[@redbanner17]

Lol get back in class kid

[@mrbigolnuts3041]

It's all been forgotten... But now coming back

[@dansysoman3391]

We need the sober reminder that all men are capable of committing the most terrible evils imaginable. All men no matter how high, no matter how strong and pious can be brought low and damned by his own quiet unawakened darkness. We should never destroy history good or bad. Never think that erasing the past purges its evil from our future. The evils of the past should be canvased and framed on walls; solidified in statues as ghosts to haunt us. To condemn us. To be signs of places we should never go. As mirrors that show us who we really are. Unblinded! But to be at the same time a hope for good and a hope for salvation.