Podcasts about soviet gulag

Hey before I begin the podcast, I just want to thank all of you who joined the patreon, you guys are simply awesome. Please take the time to vote and comment on the patreon polls so I can best tackle the specific subjects you want to hear more about and hell it does not have to be about the Pacific War, I like ancient Rome, WW1, WW2, just toss some ideas and I will try to make it happen.   This Podcast is going to be a very remarkable story about a Korean man who fought for the IJA, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during the second world war.  He is also a man whom most than likely never existed.   Did that catch you off guard haha?   If you have a chance you can pull up wikipedia and search Yang Kyoungjong. The first thing you will notice is a disclaimer that states numerous historians who claim Yang Kyoungjong does not exist. Yet this man exists in some history books, there is a iconic photo of him, there is a documentary looking into him, countless Korean stories are writing loosely about him, there is a pretty decent war film and multiple youtubers have covered his so-called story. So how does this guy not exist if his story is so popular?   His story is claimed to be real by military historian Stephen Ambrose who wrote about him in his book in 1994 titled “D-day, june 6th, 1944: the Climactic battle of World War II. There is also references to him in Antony Beevor's book “the second world war” and that of defense consultant and author Steven Zaloga's book“the devil's garden: Rommel's desperate Defense of Omaha Beach on D-Day”. In 2005 a Korean SBS documentary investigated his existence and concluded there was no convincing evidence of his existence. For those of you who have ever heard of this man, I guarantee it's because of the 2011 south korean film “My Way”. That's where I found out about it by the way. Many of you probably saw the iconic photo of him, again if you pull up the wikipedia page on Yang Kyoungjong its front and center. The photo shows a asiatic man wearing a wehrmacht uniform and he has just been captured by american forces on the d-day landings.   Now I don't want to jump into the is he real or not busy just yet. So this is how the podcast will go down, very reminiscent of “Our fake History's Podcast” might I add, I am a huge fan of that guys work. I am going to tell you the story of Yang Kyoungjong, then afterwords disclose my little investigation into whether he is real or not.   So without further adieu this is the story of a man who fought for three nations during WW2.   The Story   It was June 1944, the allies had just unleashed Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings at Normandy. Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division was overlooking the capture of Axis forces and reported to his regiment finding four Asians in Wehrmacht uniform around the Utah beach landings. Brewer nor any of his colleagues spoke the language the Asian men spoke, they assumed them to be Japanese.  The four asians were processed as POW's, listed as young Japanese and sent to a British POW camp, before he would be sent to another POW camp in the US. At some point between his capture and the POW camps, he gave his name as Yang Kyoungjong, stated he was Korean and gave an extremely incredible story. To who did he say these things, no one knows.   Yang Kyoungjong was born in 1920, in Shin Eu Joo, part of modern day North Korea. At the age of 18, Yang was forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Japanese army. Korea was one of the bread baskets of Asia and the Empire of Japan had annexed her in 1910. Japan held sovereignty over Korea, making Koreans subjects.    In 1939 the Empire of Japan faced major labor shortages and as a result began conscription of Japanese men for the military, while importing vast amounts of Korean laborers to work in mainland Japan. For the Imperial Japanese Army, Koreans were not drafted until 1944 when things were dire for Japan. Until 1944, the IJA allowed Koreans to volunteer in the army. In 1938 there was a 14% acceptance rate, by 1943 this dropped dramatically to 2%, but the number of applicants increased exponentially from 3000 per annum in 1939 to 300,000 by the end of the war. On paper it looked like Koreans were registering en masse on their on violation, but this is quite the contrary, the Japanese policy was to use force. Japanese officials began press gang efforts against Korean peasants, forcing them to sign applications, it is believed over half of the applications were done in such a manner. Other applicants registered for a variety of reasons, typically because of economic turmoil. Korea would produce 7 generals and many field grade officers. One of the most well known was Lt General Crown Prince Yi Un who would command Japanese forces in the China War.   Thus Yang Kyoungjong was forced into the IJA and would find himself stationed with the Kwantung Army. Quite unfortunately for him, he was enlisted into their service at a time where two major border skirmishes occurred with the Soviet Union. The USSR was seen as Japan's number one rival going all the way back to the Triple Intervention of 1895 when the Russians thwarted Japan's seizure of the Liaodong peninsula after they had won the first sino japanese war. This led to the Russo-Japanese war, where Japan shocked the world being victorious over the Russian Empire. When the Russian Empire fell and the Russian civil war kicked off, Japan sent the lionshare of men to fight the Red Army during the Siberian Intervention of 1918-1922.    Communism was seen as the greatest if not one of the greatest threats to the Kokutai and thus Japan as a whole. As such Japan placed the Kwantung Army along the Manchurian borderlands to thwart any possible soviet invasion. There had numerous border skirmishes, but in 1938 and 1939 two large battles occurred. In 1938 the Kwantung army intercepted a Soviet message indicating the Far East forces would be securing some unoccupied heights west of Lake Khasan that overlooked the Korean port city of Rajin. Soviet border troops did indeed move into the area and began fortifying it. The Kwantung army sent forces to dislodge them and this soon led to a full on battle. The battle was quite shocking for both sides, the Soviets lost nearly 800 men dead with 3279 wounded, the Japanese claimed they had 526 dead with 913 wounded. The Soviet lost significant armor and despite both sides agreeing to a ceasefire, the Kwantung army considered it a significant victory and proof the Soviets were not capable of thwarting them.   In theory Yang Kyoungjong would be in training and would eventually reach the Manchuria borders by 1939. Another man sent over would be Georgy Zhukov who was given the task of taking command of the 57th special corps and to eliminate Japanese provocations. What was expected of Zhukov was if the Japanese pressed again for battle, to deliver them a crushing and decisive blow. On May 11th, 1939 some Mongolian cavalry units were grazing their horses in a disputed area. On that very same day, Manchu cavalry attacked the Mongols to drive them past the river of Khalkhin Gol. Two days later the Mongols returned in greater numbers and this time the Manchu were unable to dislodge them.    What was rather funny to say, a conflict of some horses grazing on disputed land, led to a fully mechanized battle. On May 14th, Lt Colonel Yaozo Azuma led some regiments to dislodge the Mongols, but they were being supported by the Red Army. Azuma force suffered 63% casualties, devastating. June saw the battle expand enormously, Japan was tossing 30,000 men in the region, the Soviets tossed Zhukov at them alongside motorized and armored forces. The IJA lacking good armored units, tossed air forces to smash the nearby Soviet airbase at Tamsakbulak. In July the IJA engaged the Red Army with nearly 100 tanks and tankettes, too which Zhukov unleashed 450 tanks and armored cars. The Japanese had more infantry support, but the Soviet armor encircled and crushed them. The two armies spared with another for weeks, the Japanese assumed the Soviets would suffer logistical problems but Zhukoev assembled a fleet of 2600 trucks to supply his forces, simply incredible. Both sides were suffering tremendous casualties, then in August global politics shifted. It was apparent a war in Europe was going to break out, Zhukov was ordered to be decisive, the Soviets could not deal with a two front war. So Zhukov now using a fleet of 4000 trucks began transported supplies from Chita to the front next to a armada of tanks and mechanized brigades. The Soviets tossed 3 rifle divisions, two tank divisions and 2 tank brigades, nearly 500 tanks in all, with two motorized infantry divisions and 550 fighters and bombers.    The stalemate was shattered when Zhukov unleashed is armada, some 50,000 Soviets and Mongols hit the east bank of Khalkhin Gol. The Japanese were immediately pinned down, while the Soviets were employing a double envelopment. The Japanese tried to counter attack and it failed horribly. The Japanese then scrambled to break out of the encirclement and failed. The surrounded Japanese forces refused to surrender as the Soviets smashed them with artillery and aerial bombardment. By the end of August the Japanese forces on the Mongolian side of the border were annihilated. On September 15th the USSR and Japan signed a ceasefire.    The battle of Khalkhin Gol was devastating for both sides. The Japanese claim they had 8440 deaths, 8766 wounded, lost 162 aircraft and 42 tanks. Its estimated 500-600 Japanese forces were taken prisoner. Because of IJA doctrine these men were considered killed in action. Some sources will claim the real numbers for Japanese casualties could have been as high as 30,000. The Soviets claim 9703 deaths, 15,251 wounded, the destruction of 253 tanks, 250 aircraft, 96 artillery pieces and 133 armored cars. Of those tank losses, its estimated 75-80% were destroyed by anti-tank guns, 15-20% field artillery, 5-10% infantry thrown incendiary bombs, 3% mines and another 3% for aircraft bombing.   Back to Yang Kyoungjong, he alongside the other Japanese, Manchu and Korean POW's were sent to Gulags in Siberia. As the war on the Eastern Front kicked off between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, facing annihilation the Soviets did anything possible to survive. One of these actions was to create the Shtrafbats, “Penal battalions”. Stalins order No 227 created the first penal battalions, who were supposed to be around 800 men strong. The first Shtrafbat battalion was deployed to the Stalingrad Front on August 22nd of 1942.   On order was issued on November 26, 1942 “status of Penal units of the army”, it was issued by Georgy Zhukov, now deputy commander in chief who was the man who formally standardized soviet penal units. The Shtrafbats were around 360 men per battalion commanded by mid range Red Army officers and politruks. The men forced into these were permanents or temporaries. Permanents were officers, commanders, the higher ranks guys. Temporary known as shtrafniki “punishees” were the grunts, typically prisoners and those convicted of crimes. From september 1942 to May of 1945 422,700 men would be forced into penal battalions.    Typically those forced into penal military units were one of two things: 1) those convicted of dissertation or cowardice, 2) Soviet Gulag labor camp inmates. It seems Yang Kyoungjong found himself in a very awkward situation as he would be forced into one of these penal battalions and sent to fight on the eastern front. As pertaining to Order No. 227, each Army was to have 3–5 barrier squads of up to 200 persons each, these units would be made up of penal units.    So back toYang Kyoungjong, he would find himself deployed at the third battle of Kharkov. This battle was part of a series of battles fought on the eastern front. As the German 6th army was encircling Stalingrad, the Soviets launched a series of wide counter attacks, as pertaining to “operation star”. Operation star saw massive offensives against Kharkov, Belgorod, Kursk, Voroshilovgrad and Izium. The Soviets earned great victories, but they also overextended themselves. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein seeing the opening, performed a counter-strike against Kharkov on February 19th of 1943, using fresh troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps alongside two other panzer armies. Manstein also had massive air support from field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofens Luftflotte 4, 1214 aircraft tossed 1000 sorties per day from February 20th to march 15th. The Red army had approximately 210,000 troops who fought in the Voronezh-Kharkov offensive, the Germans would have roughly 160,000 men, but their tanks outnumbered the Soviets 7-1, they had roughly 350 of them.   The Germans quickly outflanked the Soviets, managing to encircle and annihilate many units. Whenever soviets units made attempts to escape encirclements, the German air forces placed pressure upon them. The German air forces had the dual job of airlifting supplies to the front lines giving the Soviets no breathing space. Gradually the fight focused around the city of Kharkov seeing the Soviets dislodged. The Germans caused severe casualties, perhaps 45,000 dead or missing with another 41,000 wounded. The Germans suffered 4500 deaths, 7000 wounded. The Germans took a large number of prisoners, and Yang Kyoungjong was one of them.   Yet again a prisoner Yang Kyoungjong was coerced into serving another nation, this time for Die Ost-Bataillone. The Eastern Front had absolutely crippled Germany and as a result Germany began to enlist units from just about any nation possible and this included former Soviet citizens. There were countless different units, like the Russian liberation Army, die Hilfswillige, Ukrainian collaborationists, and there were also non-Russians from the USSR who formed the Ost-Bataillone. These eastern battalions would comprise a rough total of 175,000 men. Many of the Ost-Bataillone were conscripted or coerced into serving, though plenty also volunteered. Countless were recruited from POW camps, choosing to serve instead of labor in camps. The Osttruppen were to typically deployed for coastal defense, rear area activities, security stuff, all the less important roles to free up the German units to perform front line service.   There were two different groups, the Ost-Legionen “eastern legions” and Ost-Bataillone “eastern battalions”. The Ostlegionen were large foreign legion type units raised amongst members of specific ethnic or racial groups. The Ost-Bataillone were composed of numerous nationalities, usually plucked from POW camps in eastern europe. They were tossed together into battalion sized units and integrated individually into German combat formations. Obviously the Germans did not get their hands on large numbers of Koreans, so Yang Kyoungjong found himself in a Ost-Bataillone.    In 1944, due to massive losses in the Eastern Front, and in preparation for the allies about to open a second front, the Germans began deploying a lot of Ost-Bataillone along the coastal defense line at Cherbourg. Yang Kyoungjong was enlisted in the 709th static infantry division, a coastal defense unit assigned to defend the eastern and northern coasts of the Cotentin Peninsula. This would include the Utah beach landing site and numerous US airborne landing zones. The sector was roughly 250 km running northeast of Carentan, via Barfleur-Cherbourg-Cap de la Hague to the western point of Barneville. This also included the 65 km of land just in font of Cherbourg harbor. A significant portion of the 709th were Ost-bataillon, countless were from eastern europe, many were former Soviet POW'S. There were also two battalions of the 739th Grenadier regiment whom were Georgian battalions. A significant amount of the 709th had no combat experience, but had trained extensively in the area.   The 709th would be heavily engaged on D-day meeting US airborne units and the 4th infantry division who landed at Utah beach. In the early hours of June 6th, the US 82nd and 101st airborne divisions landed at the base of the Cotentin peninsula and managed to secure a general area for the US 4th infantry division to land at Utah beach, with very few casualties compared to other beach landings. After the landings the forces tried to link up with other forces further east. By June 9th they had crossed the Douve river valley and captured Carentan. House to house fighting was seen in the battle for Carentan, the Germans tossed a few counterattacks, but the Americans held on with the help of armor units of the 13th.    The Americans then advanced to cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, now supported by 3 other infantry divisions. The Germans had few armored or mobilized infantry in the area. By June 16th the German command was tossed into chaos as Erwin Rommel wanted them to pull out and man the Atlantic Wall at Cherbourg, but Hitler demanded they hold their present lines of defense. By the 17th Hitler agreed to the withdrawal, under some provisions the men still took up limited defenses spanning the entire peninsula. On the 18th the US 9th infantry division reached the west coast of the peninsula thus isolating the Cherbourg garrison. A battle was unleashed for 24 hours with the 4th, 9th and 79th US infantry divisions driving north on a broad front. They faced little opposition on the western side and the eastern, the center held much stronger resistance. The Americans would find several caches of V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rocket installations at Brix. After two days the Americans were in striking distance of Cherbourg. The garrison commander Lt General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben had 21,000 men, but many were naval personnel and labor units. Schliebens 709th had performed a fighting withdrawal to Cherbourg and were completely exhausted. The trapped forces were low in provisions, fuel and ammunition. The luftwaffe tried dropping supplies on their positions but it was inadequate.    A general assault began on the 22nd and the German forces put up stiff resistance within their concrete pillboxes. Allied warships bombarded the city on the 25th of june and on the 26th a British elite force, No. 30 Commando launched an assault against Octeville, a suburb of southwestern Cherbourg. The commandos quickly captured 20 officers and 500 men of the Kriegmarine naval intelligence HQ at Villa Meurice. As the Germans were ground down, Schlieben was captured and with that a surrender was made on the 29th.   The Americans suffered nearly 3000 deaths with 13,500 wounded during the operation. The Germans suffered 8000 deaths with 30,000 captured. For the 709th who took a lionshare of the fighting they reported sustaining 4000 casualties.    Amongst the captured was Yang Kyoungjong. As I said in the beginning Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division was overlooking the capture of Axis forces and reported to his regiment finding four Asians in Wehrmacht uniform around the Utah beach landings. Brewer nor any of his colleagues spoke the language the Asian men spoke, they assumed them to be Japanese.  The four asians were processed as POW's, listed as young Japanese and sent to a British POW camp, before he would be sent to another POW camp in the US. At some point between his capture and the POW camps, he gave his name as Yang Kyoungjong, stated he was Korean and gave the story. Apparently Yang Kyoungjob was granted US citizenship and would spend the rest of his life in Illinois until his death in 1992.   So that is the story of Yang Kyoungjong.    The truth Did Yang Kyoungjong exist? Where does his story originate? For those of you who have not guessed it yet, the story I told you was full of details, I simply added based on historical events, with zero evidence at all any man named Yang Kyoungjong was involved in them. I did this specifically to highlight, thats exactly what others have done over the course of many years, creating a sort of mythos. If you know the game broken telephone, thats what I would theorize makes up most of this mans story. But lets go through some actual evidence why don't we?   From the digging I have done, the story seemed to originate with historian Stephen Ambrose book in 1994 titled “D-day, june 6th, 1944: the Climactic battle of World War II”. While writing this book, Ambrose interviewed Robert Burnham Brewer, who served E Company, 2nd battalion, 506th parachute infantry regiment of the 101st airborne division. This same man was portrayed in Band of Brothers by the way. Brewer gave one rather ambiguous account where he spoke about capturing 4 asian men in Wehrmacht uniforms.    Here is patient zero as told to us by Ambrose's book (Page 34, no footnote on the page)   The so-called Ost battalions became increasingly unreliable after the German defeat at Kursk; they were, therefore, sent to france in exchange for German troops. At the beach called Utah on the day on the invasion, Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th Parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division, US Army, captured four asians in Wehrmacht uniforms. No one could speak their language; eventually it was learned that they were Koreans. How on earth did Koreans end up fighting for Hitler to defend france against Americans? It seems they had been conscripted into the Japanese army in 1938-Korea was then a Japanese colony-captured by the Red Army in the border battles with Japan in 1939, forced into the Red Army, captured by the Wehrmacht in December 1941 outside Moscow, forced into the German army, and sent to France”. What happened to them, Lt Brewer never found out, but presumably they were sent back to Korea. If so, they would almost certainly have been conscripted again, either into the south or north korean army. It is possible than in 1950 they ended up fighting once again, either against the US army or with it, depending on what part of Korea they came from. Such are the vagaries of politics in the 20th century. By June 1944, one in six German rifleman in France was from an Ost battalion.   Now digging further since there are no footnotes, it seems Ambrose took an oral account from Lt Brewer, but did not directly quote him and instead abstractly expanded upon his story. Ambrose was guilty of doing this often. As multiple historians have pointed out, Brewer was living in the 1940s and was by no means an ethnographer, he was not a person who could have accurately known the nationality of the four asian men he captured. It is plausible he or other US units around him, just came up with Korean for the four asians who could have been from nearly anywhere in central to east asia. For all we know the men found could have been from Turkestan. What was “asian” to westerners of the 1940's is extremely broad.    If you look up the Ost-Bataillone or Ostlegionen you will see they consisted of captured former soviet soldiers. During the d-day landings, 1/6th of the German forces defending the atlantic coast were made up of the Ost-battailones. They came from numerous places, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkestan, Mongolia and numerous parts of the USSR. Needless to say, there were a ton of people whom would be considered asian and could be mistaken to be from Korea, Japan, Burma, etc.    It seems Brewer's vague account was transformed by Amrose, but this only covers one part of all of this, the story, what about the photo?    The iconic photograph is another matter entirely. The photograph has nothing to do with Brewer's account, it is simply a random photograph taken at Utah beach of a captured asian soldier wearing a Wehrmacht uniform. The official description of the photo states “Capture Jap in Nazi uniform. France, fearful of his future, this young Jap wearing a nazi uniform, is checked off in a roundup of German prisoners on the beaches of france. An american army captain takes the Jap's name and serial number” Author Martin Morgan believes the man in the photograph is not Yang Kyoungjong, but instead an ethnic Georgian from the 795th Georgian Battalion, which was composed of Georgian Osttruppen troops or someone who was Turkistani. In 2002 word of the story became more popularized online and in 2004 the iconic photo also began to circulate heavily on the internet. The Korean media became aware of the story in 2002 and when they saw the picture the Korean news site DKBNews investigated the matter. Apparently a reader of the DKBNews submitted biographical details about the soldier in the photo, including his name, date of birth, the general story we now know, his release, life in Illinois and death. The DKBNews journalist requested sources and none were provided, typical.   So some random unknown reader of the DKBNews gave a name, place and time of birth and even where he ended up and died.  In 2005 the Seoul broadcasting system aired a documentary specifically investigating the existence of the asian soldiers who fought for Germany on d-day.   In the SBS special “The Korean in Normandy,” produced and broadcast in 2005 based on rumors of Yang kyoungjog,  they searched for records of Korean prisoners of war during the Battle of khalkhin gol and records of Korean people who participated in the German-Japanese War, and records related to the German Army's eastern unit, but could not find traces of such a person. In addition, the soldiers who served in the Soviet army, who were captured, and then transferred to the German army's eastern units were considered by the Soviet Union to be serious traitors. Accordingly, under a secret agreement between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, they were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union after the war and held in Gulags.. The SBS production team stated that the rumors that a 'Korean from Normandy' had gone to the United States and that he died in seclusion near Northwestern University under the name of 'Yang Kyoungjong', which they were unaware of, were false. The investigative team looked for any traces of a Yang Kyoungjong and found none, so they concluded although there were accounts of asian soldiers in the German army during WW2, there was zero evidence of the existence of Yang Kyoungjong or any Koreans fighting on D-day for that matter.    The 2005 SBS Special documentary sprang forth a bunch of stories by Korean authors, expanding the mythos of Yang Kyoungjong.   In 2007 author Jo Jeong-rae published a novel titled “human mask” which told the story of SHin Gilman, The story ends with Shin Gil-man, who was conscripted into the Japanese army at the age of 20, as a prisoner of war in Normandy, then transported back to the Soviet Union and eventually executed by firing squad. Another novel called “D-day” by author Kim Byeong-in was release in 2011, just prior to the film My War, the plot is extremely similar to the movie. The main characters are Han Dae-sik and Yoichi, who met as children as the sons of a Japanese landowner and the house's housekeeper, harboring animosity toward each other, and grew up to become marathon runners representing Joseon and Japan. As they experience the war together, they feel a strange sense of kinship and develop reconciliation and friendship.   And of course the most famous story would find its way to the big screen. In 2011 the film My Way came out, back then the most expensive south korean film ever made at around 23$ million.   Then in 2012 a unknown person created a wikipedia page piecing together the Ambrose story, the photo and the unknown DBK readers information. With all of this information becoming more viral suddenly in 2013, two history books hit the scene and would you know it, both have “Yang Kyoungjong” in them.    These are Antony Beevor's book “the second world war” and that of defense consultant and author Steven Zaloga in his book “the devil's garden: Rommel's desperate Defense of Omaha Beach on D-Day”. Both authors took the story, name and iconic photo and expanded on the mythos by adding further details as to how the Korean man would have gone from Korea to Cherbourg france.   So Ambrose's story spreads across the internet alongside this photo. Both spark interest in Korea and an investigation receives some random guys testimony, which quite honestly was groundless. Despite the korean documentary stating there was no evidence of a Yang Kyoungjong, it sparks further interest, more stories and a famous film in 2011. 2012 sees a wikipage, it becomes more viral and now seeps into other historians work.   And I would be remiss not to mention the bizarre controversy that broke out in my nation of Canada. A nation so full of controversies today, dear god. Debbie Hanlon a city councilor in St John Newfoundland was absolutely wrecked online in 2018 for an advertisement promoting her real estate business stating “Korean Yang kyoungjong fought with Japan against the USSR. He then fought with the USSR against Germany. Then with Germany against the US! Want an agent who fights for you, call me!” Really weird ad by the way. So it seems her ad was to point out how far she was willing to go for her real estate clients. It was considered extremely offensive, and not the first time she pulled this off, her husband Oral Mews had recently come under fire for another ad he made using a photo of the Puerto Rican cab driver Victor Perez Cardona, where the vehicle turned into a casket. That ad said “He can't give you a lift because he's dead. He's propped up in his cab at his wake! Need a lift to great service, call me!” Hanlon was surprised at the amount of backlash she received since the ads had been running for over 4 years online. She claimed to be the victim of cyberbullying and trolls. So yeah, that happened.    Did Yang Kyoungjong exist, more than likely not, was it possible some Koreans found themselves in a position his story pertains to, you know what it's quite possible. During War a lot of weird things happen. I hope you liked this episode, please let me know in the comments on the Patreon what you think, how I can improve things and of course what you want to hear about next!

In this powerful episode of The Wilds Cast, we sit down with Natan Sharansky, a Soviet dissident, human rights activist, and former Israeli politician. Sharansky shares his harrowing experiences as a political prisoner in the Soviet Gulag, where he endured nine years of imprisonment, and his fight for Jewish freedom during the Cold War. We dive into: ✅ His extraordinary journey from Soviet oppression to Israeli leadership ✅ The refusenik movement and the struggle of Jews in the USSR ✅ How he survived years of solitary confinement with resilience and faith ✅ His political career in Israel, standing against disengagement from Gaza ✅ Modern antisemitism, the challenges faced by Jewish students, and his message to young Jews today ✅ His thoughts on Trump's peace plan, Israel's future, and the fight against Hamas Sharansky's story of courage, conviction, and unwavering identity is a must-listen for anyone passionate about freedom, Jewish history, and human rights.

Giles Udy is Britain's leading historian of the Soviet Gulag system. He is author of the phenomenal ‘Labour and the Gulag: Russia and the Seduction of the British Left' and is a regular contributor to The Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the i, UnHerd and the magazine Standpoint.We sat down to discuss his new book ‘At Dawn They Came: Soviet Terror and Repression 1917 - 1953', and his time exploring what remains of the Gulag prison system in Russia. He revealed to me the untold horror of the Gulag.We also discuss the truth about socialism, its popularity in the West and its dangers. All this and much more…-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To see more exclusive content and interviews consider subscribing to my substack here: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:Substack: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/X: https://twitter.com/mrwinmarshallInsta: https://www.instagram.com/winstonmarshallLinktree: https://linktr.ee/winstonmarshall----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 2:55 - Understanding Socialism and Communism 5:26 - Marxist Socialism and Its Implications 6:41 - Socialism vs. Capitalism and State Control 11:07 - The Evolution of Socialism and Its Influence24:26 - The Appeal of Marxism and Its Counterfeit Religion31:34 - The Role of Education and Cultural Marxism 40:55 - The Gulag and the Human Cost of Socialism 56:33 - The Historical Context of Soviet Repression 1:16:19 - The Role of Violence in Marxist Revolution 1:17:01 - The Legacy of Lenin and Stalin 1:26:12 - The Personal Stories Of Gulag Victims 1:31:49 - Impact of Political Arrests on Families 1:33:31 - The Finnish Family's Tragic Story 1:36:23 - British Workers and the Revolution 1:38:01 - The Cost of Utopia and The Lessons of History 1:40:19 - The Role of Media and Dissident Journalists 1:42:39 - The Future of Socialism and Communism 1:46:34 - Final Thoughts and Recommendations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it wasn't the Germans who first uprooted Stanislaw Kulik and his family—it was the Russians. Deported to a Siberian Gulag, Stanislaw's fate took a dramatic turn in 1941 when the Germans launched their invasion of the Soviet Union. Suddenly, the Russians released their Polish captives, and Stanislaw embarked on an arduous journey across thousands of miles. He eventually joined the Polish army in Uzbekistan, a path that would lead him to Britain and ultimately to the frontlines in Holland, where he fought with the Polish Parachute Brigade at Arnhem. Joining me is Nicholas Kinloch, the grandson of Stanislaw Kulik. Nicholas has chronicled his grandfather's extraordinary wartime experience in his book, From the Soviet Gulag to Arnhem: A Polish Paratrooper's Epic Wartime Journey.   patreon.com/ww2podcast  

On June 8, 1978, Harvard University invited the Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn to deliver a major commencement address. Solzhenitsyn was, by this time, a world famous figure who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. Some two and a half decades earlier, while serving in the Soviet army during World War II, he was arrested and sent to the Gulag for criticizing the Soviet premier Joseph Stalin in a private letter. He was imprisoned there for nearly a decade, during which he underwent a profound spiritual, religious, philosophical reorientation and awakening, eventually reflecting on his experiences in a major study of Soviet Gulag system, The Gulag Archipelago. In time, he was freed from the camp but exiled from the Soviet Union. He settled in America, and there, was thought perhaps to be a valuable critic of the Soviet system. But the fact that he was a critic of Soviet repression and the soul-deforming debasement that Russians were forced to endure did not necessarily mean that he would endorse the American system in which he had found his freedom. When Harvard invited Solzhenitsyn to address their graduating classes that year, probably weren't expecting so thoroughgoing a critique civic, philosophical, and moral as the one he delivered, warning Americans about deep-seated tendencies of mind that could lead their nation into the very sort of societal sickness from which he had just escaped. This week, as students return to campus, Solzhenitsyn's analysis of America's vulnerabilities may still be relevant. To think about that, host Jonathan Silver here speaks with the literature scholar Gary Saul Morson, author of a recent essay called “Solzhenitsyn Warned Us".

With Wall Street Journal reported Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years on what I consider wholly spurious espionage charges (and I explain why I think this), it's a suitable moment first to consider the likely reasons but also what kind of experience faces him in the Russian prison camp system.That leads me on to discuss three recent books of relevance:Vladimir Pereverzin's The Prisoner. Behind Bars in Putin's Russia (Gemini, 2024)Jeffrey Hardy's The Soviet Gulag. History and Memory (Bloomsbury, 2023)Barry Lewis's Gulag. A photographic journey into the darkness of Stalin's prison camps (Fistful of Books, 2024)The Eurasian Knot podcast I mentioned with Anna Arutunyan and me talking about our book Downfall is here.The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybrid warfare, counter-terrorism, civil affairs and similar situations.You can also follow my blog, In Moscow's Shadows, and become one of the podcast's supporting Patrons and gain question-asking rights and access to exclusive extra materials right here. Support the Show.

What does this 2024 film, portraying the family life of Auschwitz Commandant Rudolph Hoss, teach us about that family's ability to compartmentalize the horrors from which they directly benefit, and what lessons does this hold for us? How does the film make use of the aural atmosphere laying over the mundane activities of the family to implicate their guilt? How does the film portray the bravery and heroism of the young girl who, at great risk to herself, plants apples around the work areas for the prisoners that are slave laborers? Does the concluding set of scenes, showing Hoss retching as he descends a darkened flight of stairs alone, and then taking us forward in time to the present-day Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum, portray Hoss's recognition, at some level, of the enormity of his crimes, illustrating something reflected upon by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as he wrote about his own experiences in the Soviet Gulag system? “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”

As Summer of Rage 2.0 is rolled out to further destabilize our society, there's an important truth we must not forget. Barry Brownstein shares Viktor Frankl's thoughts on why there is no collective guilt. The thought of another world war is daunting to anyone with a conscience. Rebekah Bills has a thoughtful take on how she's preparing her children for WW III. Most of the people sentenced to the Soviet Gulag were sent there to "fix their thinking" rather than for actual crimes. J.B. Shurk says our own Marxist health officials want us committed for similar reasons. The single biggest voting bloc that is supporting the hard left agenda in America today is single women. Andrea Widburg says, it's time to repeal the 19th Amendment. Article of the Day: Every election cycle, politics takes on a kind of religious fervor that brings out the worst in the true believers. Lawrence W. Reed explains how C.S. Lewis saw government as a poor substitute for God. Sponsors: Life Saving Food  Fifty Two Seven Alliance Iron Sight Brewing Co. Quilt & Sew

December 12th 2023 A raw episode exposing the horrors of war in Ukraine. Yuriy shares heart-rending stories from the mass graves, revealing the brutal reality faced by Ukrainians throughout history. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Podbean app users can enjoy closed captions) It's December 12th.  The last century has been very difficult and bloody for Ukraine. It was on the territory of Ukraine that the most fierce battles of both World Wars took place. People died here for years due to Stalin's repressions, nazi occupation, and the artificial famine organized by the Soviet authorities. All over the country, there are mass graves of people who died during the difficult trials that have befallen the Ukrainian people over the past hundred years. In Ukraine these burials have a name that literally translate as "a grave of brothers" because most of those buried in them are just brothers in arms who were either killed in wars or died in German captivity or in the Soviet Gulag. But now this name is losing its meaning. Most of wars who lie in the new mass graves are not brothers in arms. They are civilians who had nothing to do with the army or the partisan resistance to a Russian occupation. Moreover, very often there are much more women and children in these graves than men, the Russian army is fighting against unarmed women. The Russian army is torturing and killing children. At the beginning of the war, I told in one of the episodes about a torture room that the Russians set up in the basement of the school and where they tortured an old disabled man to death just because we found a photo of his son in Ukrainian uniform in his house. So, this was not a terrible accident, not an isolated excess, this is the norm for the Russian Army. Russians receive awards for the murder of elderly and children. They are given cash prizes for the rape and looting of Ukrainians. They are proud of it. You know, making a deal with Putin now, freezing the war on the front line that exists now means only one thing: to allow the Russians to kill rob and torture people in the occupied territories. Because that's what they came for. It was for the sake of killing us with impunity that they started this war. If you have not seen a long and not very deep pit in which 30 that people are lying at once with wear hands tied behind wear backs... People whose only crime is that they are Ukrainians, people simply beaten to death with at least half of dead being women... If you have not seen this with your own eyes, consider yourself a happy person.  The romanticization of war in books and movies is complete bullshit. People don't die like in movies -quickly and beautifully while saying some smart things. People die slowly and very painfully. They bleed, they cry, they beg for help, call their mother and children. Their blood mixes with a daughter round, it gets stuck with fired cartridges and boots or war who are nearby. People die for hours sometimes, days, experiencing incredible pain at the same time. There is nothing romantic, nothing beautiful or noble about it. It just horror, pure horror, but it's twice as horrible when civilians die in the war when invading army. Kills people near their homes. It seems to me that if all these politicians who say something about futility of helping Ukraine saw these graves- graves, that in the last century were called graves of brothers, and now we can be called graves of sisters- if they saw them, they would shut up forever and never again would we stick their bad, stupid thoughts anywhere. But they did not see it, and they never will. And that's why we will lie and as long as we will lie, people, innocent people will die every day and every hour 

Canada is a Marxist and communist hell hole where nobody can make any money and everybody who has a dissenting opinion about the liberal party and the government itself goes to prison just like in the Soviet Gulag days. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever for decent people born in this country to stick around and try to exist and or coexist with all of the criminals and filthy trash being brought into this country from around the world. Let's also not forget that every politician in this country are themselves filthy trash which is why all of you are broke through no fault of your own. Tonight I have special guest Mark Savoy with me talking about how to get your money out of Canada and where to start a brand new life away from all this communist nonsense designed to keep you depressed and keep you broke.

Historian Catherine Merridale witnessed the birth of Memorial in 1989 as the Soviet Union died. An organisation devoted to recovering the past of the Soviet Gulag and soon documenting the new transgressions of the Russian state and its imperial wars. Even as Russia wnet to war against Ukraine it sought to close Memorial down, silence its voice and reshape history. But months after the invasion Memorial shared in the Nobel Peace Prize, only adding to the Russian government's ire. It has closed its archives and offices and pursued leading figures in Russian Memorial through the courts, declaring them responsible for 'rehabilitating Nazism'. Merridale tells a personal story of the opening of history that Memorial was essential to and the tragedy of its closing and the closing of the past. The Kremlin's current occupants are no more willing to consider the victims of state repression - largely Stalin's repression - than their Soviet predecessors were. The story of Memorial, the association, established in 1989, that set out to find, investigate and discuss the Soviet Union's record of political violence against its own citizens, is one of real heroism. From its initial aim of creating a physical memorial to Stalin's victims it became a focus for research and advocacy, a living witness to the intellectual freedom that comes after the past is faced. The state argues that what it does - harping on about Stalin's crimes - dilutes great Russian patriotism. Some of its critics have gone as far as to say that Memorial's work helps to justify Nazism. But branches of Memorial in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe do what they can to keep memory alive. Producer: Mark Burman

Today, we finish up our five-part series on the Soviet Gulag system. The punishments and rewards as well as the dismantling of the camps are discussed.Support the show

Today, we discuss the work done in the Gulags. Brutal and sometimes absurd, work was the reason for the people to populate the prisoner camps. Festive Foreign Film FansTwo regular American guys explore other people and cultures through the common...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Today, we continue our series about the Soviet Gulag with first-hand accounts of life within the camps. If you'd like to support the podcast with a small monthly donation, click this link - https://www.buzzsprout.com/385372/supportSupport the show

Today, we talk about some of the experiences of women related to the gulag experience. If you'd like to support the podcast with a small monthly donation, click this link - https://www.buzzsprout.com/385372/supportSupport the show

Rob and Terry discuss books about Manson and the Soviet Gulag, house boat rescues, running in stilettos, and do a Retro Review of the 1983 Gene Hackman movie: Uncommon Valor.  Don't miss their Mount Rushmore of "Let's Get the Team Together" movies. (2:09:35)

Today, we begin a five-part series on one of the most tragic institutions in Soviet history, the Gulag. If you'd like to support the podcast with a small monthly donation, click this link - https://www.buzzsprout.com/385372/supportFrom Secretary to CEOWelcome to "From Secretary to CEO", the podcast that takes you on a journey of personal...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Rob shares his insights and discoveries for this week in the hope that you will share, absorb, learn, understand or be inspired by at least one of the lessons in your leadership position. After listening to an interview with Gary Neville, former Manchester United Player of 600 games, England International player and now a respected TV football presenter, Rob has picked out some points that he has taken from this unusually outspoken discussion. KEY TAKEAWAYS Neville's work ethic was very evident. Phrases such as ‘leave nothing on the pitch' and ‘the only thing in life we have to offer is hard work' were scattered throughout the interview.  We need to have a place of safety in order to grow successfully and regroup. Neville had this as part of his team. His support structure was rigid, family-based and unquestionable.  Rob is reading The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation,  a three-volume non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which covers the writers' and others' experiences in the Soviet Gulag system.  The sort of courage epitomised by characters such as Muhammad Ali proves that people can shake up the world. And you can shake up your world too.  BEST MOMENTS ‘He just got up day after day after day and did it again and again and again. He talked about ‘finding a way to win' and I don't mind saying that it pricks my conscience a little bit because when I look back it made me look at the times and think ‘could I have done more?'' ‘He talked about his dad primarily. How he used to call his dad on the phone three or four times a day.' ‘And, ladies and gentlemen listening to this podcast, you have no idea what's inside people unless you find out. You have no idea, more to the point, what's inside you.'  ‘Not only did Muhammad Ali achieve great things in the ring he stood up for what he believed in.' VALUABLE RESOURCES Leader Manager Coach Podcast    ABOUT THE HOST Rob Ryles is a UEFA A licensed coach with a League Managers Association qualification and a science and medicine background. He has worked in the football industry in Europe, USA and Africa; at International, Premiership, League, Non-League and grassroots levels with both World Cup and European Championship experience Rob Ryles prides himself on having a forward thinking and progressive approach to the game built through his own experience as well as lessons learned from a number of highly successful managers and coaches. The Leader Manager Coach Podcast is where we take a deep dive examining knowledge, philosophies, wisdom and insight to help you lead, manage and coach in football, sport and life. CONTACT METHOD https://www.robryles.co.uk/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMPYDVzZVnA https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertryles/?originalSubdomain=ukSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/robrylesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Knyzhka Corner Book Review: Survival as Victory – Ukrainian Women in the Gulag, published by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, examines the stories of Ukrainian women who were sentenced to the Soviet Gulag in the 1940's and 1950's • Ukrainian Jewish Heritage: an interview with Canadian author Regina Gershman about her recently released book Rebecca's Journey: Memoir of a Young Girl Fleeing Antisemitism in Russia, her childhood recollections of discrimination in the USSR and emigration to Canada, and her work helping today's refugees from oppression and war in Ukraine (Part 1 of 2) • Ukrainian Proverb of the Week • Other Items of Interest • Great Ukrainian Music!Ukrainian Proverb of the Week:Для правди справедливости колись таки мусять дорогу відчинити.Sooner or later a path must be made for truth and justice. Join Pawlina for the Vancouver edition of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio—every Saturday at 6pm PST on AM1320 CHMB and streaming at www.am1320.com.Vancouver area listeners can hear the Nanaimo edition of Nash Holos every Wednesday with host Oksana Poberezhnyk from 11am-1pm PST on CHLY 101.7fm and streaming at chly.caIn between broadcasts, please check out our website for audio archives, transcripts, and more. Check out the links there to support the show and several charities providing aid to Ukrainian civilians and defenders being brutalized by Russian military attacks. Support the show on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Two stories this week, the first a chassid of the Baal Shem Tov is given guidance as to how to meet Eliyahu HaNavi at the Seder and the second story about Reb Mendel Futerfas having a yechidus (private meeting) with the Lubavitcher Rebbe while in the Soviet Gulag. Also available at https://soundcloud.com/barak-hullman/mama-what-will-we-eat-for-the-seder. To become a part of this project please go to https://www.patreon.com/barakhullman. Hear all of the stories at https://hasidicstory.com. Go here to hear my other podcast https://jewishpeopleideas.com or https://soundcloud.com/jewishpeopleideas. Find my books, Figure It Out When You Get There: A Memoir of Stories About Living Life First and Watching How Everything Falls Into Place and A Shtikel Sholom: A Student, His Mentor and Their Unconventional Conversations on Amazon by going to https://bit.ly/barakhullman.

Photo: One photo from a montage of scenes from the life of the Soviet GULAG prison camps system, circa 1920s–1950s. The "[l]iterary historian George Watson cited an 1849 article written by Friedrich Engels called 'The Hungarian Struggle' and published in Marx's journal Neue Rheinische Zeitung, stating that the writings of Engels and others show that 'the Marxist theory of history required and demanded genocide for reasons implicit in its claim that feudalism, which in advanced nations was already giving place to capitalism, must in its turn be superseded by socialism. Entire nations would be left behind after a workers' revolution, feudal remnants in a socialist age, and since they could not advance two steps at a time, they would have to be killed. They were racial trash, as Engels called them, and fit only for the dung-heap of history.' " @Batchelorshow The Eurasian Empires of China and Russia and the "blood-soaked" modernization drives of the 20th Century. H. J. Mackinder, International Relations. #FriendsofHistoryDebatingSociety ..  ..  ..  Permissions: Montage of scenes from the life of the Soviet GULAG prison camps system, circa 1920s-1950s. Source | Own work Date | 2020-05-05 Author | CapLiber I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

How do we hold totalitarians responsible? How do we guard against the return of some of the worst evils of mankind? Myroslav Marynovych was imprisoned in a Soviet Gulag for seven years. He was a prisoner of conscience, locked away for pushing for human rights. His new memoir was published by the University of Rochester Press, and he's visiting the university to discuss his vision for human rights. But first, we talk with him on Connections. Our guests: Myroslav Marynovych, author of "The Universe Behind Barbed Wire" Randy Stone , chair of the Department of Political Science, and director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester​​

Amelia Pang, Author of Made in China: A Prisoner, An SOS Letter and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods shares her research into forced labour camps -many of which were modelled after the Soviet Gulag - and tackles the layered question of what corporations can do in the fight against forced labour in this conversation with Michelle Martin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how the witness became a protagonist of twentieth-century moral culture by tracing the emergence of this figure in courtroom battles from the 1920s to the 1960s―covering the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian pogroms, the Soviet Gulag, and the trial of Adolf Eichmann. In these trials, witness testimonies differentiated the crime of genocide from war crimes and began to form our understanding of modern political and cultural murder. By the turn of the twentieth century, the "witness to genocide" became a pervasive icon of suffering humanity and a symbol of western moral conscience. Dean sheds new light on the recent global focus on survivors' trauma. Only by placing the moral witness in a longer historical trajectory, she demonstrates, can we understand how the stories we tell about survivor testimony have shaped both our past and contemporary moral culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Famed international conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn discusses his father Aleksandr’s experiences and remarkable transformation in the Soviet Gulag. (Encore Presentation)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we discuss the infamous Soviet Gulag system--and the man who exposed it to the West. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent years in the Soviet Gulag, and he was an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and communism.

This episode investigates the power behind the Soviet Union Gulag camps. Listeners will be provided with a richer understanding of how the Gulag camps contributed to Stalin's political regime during the mid-20th century. Tune in to learn about a system based on fear and secrecy, rather than on trust and support.

Famed international conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn discusses his father Aleksandr’s experiences and remarkable transformation in the Soviet Gulag. (Encore Presentation)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I review the book "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. The book follows the protagonist Ivan Denosovich Shukov through a typical day in the Soviet Gulag camp. Survival is what drives the prisoners as they work in -35 degree temperatures. I highly recommend this book.

Sometimes we forget that the field of war and society encompasses so much more than Canada. Many of the guests we've had on our show study the history of war and society in Canada, but in this episode, Wilson Bell speaks about the Soviet Gulag system during the Second World War and his new book, Stalin's Gulag at War. Wilson Bell is an associate professor of history at Thompson Rivers University. He is the author of numerous articles on the Gulag, and his first book, Stalin’s Gulag at War, was published in 2018 with the University of Toronto Press. References Wilson T. Bell, Stalin's Gulag at War: Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory during the Second World War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018).

Famed international conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn discusses his father Aleksandr’s experiences and remarkable transformation in the Soviet Gulag.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we cover one of the architects of the infamous Soviet GULAG system, who started his career as an inmate of the very system he would reshape forever!

Mark Galeotti takes us into the Soviet Gulag to tell us the brutal history of the Bitch War, ToE's Andrew Callaway checks in on the war on smoking and P.W. Singer explains how #likewar works. Plus Sleeper Net?

Jaroslaw Martyniuk gave a lecture on his book "Monte Rosa: Memoir of an Accidental Spy" on July 11, 2018, at The Institute of World Politics. This event was sponsored by the Center for Intermarium Studies and the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. About the Book: A sweeping panorama of the author's life from the outbreak of WWII to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The narrative begins in Ukraine and ends in Paris where he coordinated the work of fifty undercover interviewers engaged in unorthodox research with Soviet visitors in Western Europe, a chapter of Cold War history never revealed in such remarkable detail. The story includes the author's narrow escape from Communism, an account of his extended family's ordeal in the Soviet Gulag, life in post-war Bavaria, thirty years in Chicago and culminates with twelve years in France where he worked for the International Energy Agency and Radio Liberty. About the Author: Jaroslaw Martyniuk is a former energy economist with the IEA/OECD and a retired sociologist living in Washington, D.C. As a research analyst for Radio Liberty's Soviet Area Audience and Opinion Research office in Paris during the eighties, he was responsible for coordinating work of fifty Russian-speaking interviewers conducting “unorthodox” public opinion polling with visitors from the Soviet Union, intelligence work carried out on behalf international broadcasters and other interested parties. A Ukrainian-born American, his life story encompasses a narrow escape from Communism at the end of World War II, life in postwar Germany, emigration to the United States and a career with Amoco Oil in Chicago. In 1979, he returned to Europe where he lived for fifteen years until his work took him to Washington D.C.. Martyniuk speaks five languages and during his multiple careers travelled to every country in continental Europe and visited all of the republics of the former Soviet Union save one.

Summary: This is part 2 of the talk given by Krysia Griffith-Jones about her life story during the WWII. Talks given by a Polish Second World War survivor about being a refugee in 1939, arrest and imprisonment by the Soviets. Her trek to join the Anders Army and other wartime experiences. Why have this talk … Continue reading Krysia Griffith-Jones – Part 2 – Release from Soviet Gulag and Service in the Anders Army (s4ep11) → The post Krysia Griffith-Jones – Part 2 – Release from Soviet Gulag and Service in the Anders Army (s4ep11) appeared first on Project Kazimierz.

In this episode we discuss the infamous Soviet Gulag system. Did they serve a useful purpose? How harsh were the conditions? Why did they form in the first place? How do the Gulags compare to modern prison systems? We will answer these questions and more.

Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU's Chief for Health and Food Safety, a heart surgeon and historian who started his life in a Soviet Gulag, addresses issues such as food shortages and safety in a personal and unique manner.  Perhaps a humanist above all else, hear him explain why the way forward is “...a global approach; we need global solutions to stop health threats.”  

Not perhaps since Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the Soviet Gulag has there been a dissenting artist who got to be as famous as the government that hounds him. But Ai Weiwei’s situation is one-of-a-kind.He’s a scathing ... The post Ai Weiwei, China’s Artist/Enemy #1 appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

The Soviet Gulag system is said to live on in Kazakhstan's jails, the prison population are thought be facing' daily torture and humiliation. Rayhan Demeytrie investigates.

Thomas Jefferson valued higher education; perhaps more than any other Founding Father. He envisioned a University system where students and faculty would explore ideas in a bastion of free expression. That did not turn out to be the case. Our colleges censor speech and have become citadels of political correctness. Saying something which offends another student or speaking an unpopular thought will get you thrown out. Disagreeing with your professor is likely to earn you an ?F.? Think I?ve overstated the case? Harvey Silverglate, Co-founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education joins Bob to talk about the the ugly truth of ?higher? education. The good news is that at the end of our show you?ll feel justified to stop payment on your alumni contributions. Let?s reclaim our colleges and remove the shackles on free speech which they impose.

Thomas Jefferson valued higher education; perhaps more than any other Founding Father. He envisioned a University system where students and faculty would explore ideas in a bastion of free expression. That did not turn out to be the case. Our colleges censor speech and have become citadels of political correctness. Saying something which offends another student or speaking an unpopular thought will get you thrown out. Disagreeing with your professor is likely to earn you an “F.” Think I've overstated the case? Harvey Silverglate, Co-founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education joins Bob to talk about the the ugly truth of “higher” education. The good news is that at the end of our show you'll feel justified to stop payment on your alumni contributions. Let's reclaim our colleges and remove the shackles on free speech which they impose.