The New Republic ran a feature story about the lives of inmates in one of Russia’s harshest prisons, founded in the late 1930s as part of the infamous Gulag system.
In a couple of photos, Lubavitcher bochurim can be seen putting on tefilin and sharing a few words with several Jewish prisoners.
From the New Republic:
IK-28, a maximum-security Russian penal colony, is located in Yertsevo, in the northern Arkhangelsk region near the Arctic Circle. It was once part of a cluster of camps founded in the late 1930s as part of the Gulag system. Today, it houses over 1,000 prisoners, many of whom were convicted on murder or terrorism charges. “Most of them killed two or more people,” says photographer Max Avdeev, who shot the prison in February 2010.
The head of the prison.Prisoners are kept in distinct sectors to prevent them from sharing items and ideas with other groups. For example, prisoners convicted of terrorism charges (mainly from Chechnya) are kept together in one sector.A young Chabad rabbi from Moscow leads a ceremony with Jewish prisoners.A roll call is taken three times a day.Prisoners return to their sectors after dining.The prison and environs in winter. Guards are allowed to shoot an escaping prisoner after he has crossed the middle wooden fence.A prisoner working in the kitchen.A prisoner chops wood.The sign reads, “Every employee is a teacher and a controller.”Workers return to their sector at night.Young Chabad rabbis from Moscow speak with prisoners.The dining hall.
The prison barracks.A prisoner hauls timber.Guards form a perimeter, discouraging prisoners from making a run for it.
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3 Comments
the head of prison
is just out of the machanaim books!!!!
True Chayolei Tzivos Hashem
Incredible!
Mendel
Only Chabad will go to such forsaken places to find yidden! Baruch Hashem!
the head of prison
is just out of the machanaim books!!!!
True Chayolei Tzivos Hashem
Incredible!
Mendel
Only Chabad will go to such forsaken places to find yidden! Baruch Hashem!