Alexander Dolgun's Story: An American in the Gulag

by Alexander Dolgun and Patrick Watson

Book Overview

Alexander Dolgun, from embassy employee, to prisoner, then falsely convicted of being a terrorist against Russia and sentenced to hard labor. Released after eight long years he is finally able to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394494970
• ISBN13: 9780394494975
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

"Whatever you do, write about us. Tell the world about us. People have to know."

During a walk one day in Moscow, NYC-born twenty-two-year old employee of the American Embassy in Moscow, Alexander Dolgun, was kidnapped and taken to "the Lubyanka prison, headquarters of the MGB." Initially, thinking what a great tale he'd have to tell (having seen the inside of such a famous place), knowing he hadn't committed a crime, he was unafraid, maybe even a little bit...excited. But it wasn't long before he was imprisoned, interrogated, tortured, and sentenced under (p 19) "Article 58, sections 6, 8, 10, etc. of the Soviet Criminal Code...espionage, political terrorism, anti-Soviet propaganda, etc., etc." to imprisonment in a forced labor camp. By the time of the "thaw," when many prisoners were released including Dolgun, he had spent eight year of his life in forced labor camps. Twenty-three long years passed from the day of his kidnapping until he was able to again set foot on American soil. After his release from prison, he met Solzhenitsyn, who interviewed him while writing The Gulag Archipelago. He was especially interested in Dolgun because (p 348) "he had never...met a sane survivor of Sukhanovka." Like Solzhenitsyn, Dolgun had an amazing memory and was able to recall minute details of much of his imprisonment. Forced to stay up for days at a time with little or no sleep during his interrogation sessions, he was beaten, sent to solitary confinement, and tortured for not signing a document stating that he had committed illegal acts. He proudly writes of his ability to survive without signing anything incriminating anyone else (although some of his acquaintances did succumbed to the pressure). When he finally was released, he found out that his mother, also picked up, tortured, and imprisoned, went mad due to her experience. Not long after their reunion, she was sent to a psychiatric hospital with the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. She remained there for the rest of her life. There were very few Americans in the GULAG. At times, he was able to use that fact to his advantage, although others were wary of him, believing he must have been a spy. He recounts the experience of being transported to and between prisons, interactions and friendships with other prisoners, the day to day drudgery of trying to stay alive under horrendous conditions which involved trying to meet ridiculously high work quotas for extremely strenuous jobs while in a constant state of starvation and often, sickness. Fortunately, he was able to work in the prison hospital at times as a feldsher (even performing minor surgery). He also did his share of hard labor, but was ingenious enough to get extra food by secretly doing sideline work like by making metal spoons. Dolgun's story is one of many wonderfully tragic memoirs about an often-overlooked issue: Stalin's forced labor camps. Also good: Journey into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg, Man is Wolf to Man by Janusz Bardach, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (partially based on the exper

THIS was a MAN

After I read ALEXANDER DOLGUN'S STORY for the first time in the early 1980s, I was so moved that I wrote to him to confess my admiration. I have never done that before or since for any other author. The story is amazing, inspirational and unforgettable and may be the greatest true adventure story I have ever heard. Imagine "walking to Paris" in a Soviet prison cell, sleeping upright with one's eyes open (!), learning "medicine" from a fellow prisoner and performing surgery, or teaching yourself to play the guitar in a Central Asian prison camp and performing Rachmaninov in a prison revue! The names of the prisons "Lefortovo" and "Sukhanovka" ("I shall see you in Sukhanovka!") are now forever in MY memory. When Mr. Dolgun recalled on the last page the names of some of the people whose tragedies he'd shared (fulfilling his promise to tell the world of their fates) - tears welled up in my eyes. Five stars are not nearly enough!

Amazing, even a kid loved this book!

Wow! I read the condensed version of this book when I was 12. Now I am 15 and still love it. In fact, I'm even using it for a book report in school. Buy it, read it, treasure it forever!

An amazing testimony to human courage and strength!

I was lucky enough to find copies of this out-of-print book which I plan to pass on to my children when they are older. My hope is that they will learn from Alexander's experience and that it will enrich their lives as much as it has mine.I wish I could have met this most inspirational man!