In the Claws of the GPU (; ) is an early book-length eyewitness account of the Soviet Gulag. It was written by FranciÃ
¡ak AljachnoviÃÂ, a Belarusian playwright, nationalist, and citizen of the Second Polish Republic (in Polish documents, his name is spelled Franciszek Olechnowicz). After his release from Gulag and return to Poland in 1933, Aljachnoviàimmediately wrote the book in three language versions, namely, in Belarusian, Polish, and Russian. In 1934 the Polish version was serialized in the daily ', published in Wilno. In 1934-1935 the Russian-language version (in pre-1917 orthography) was serialized in the White émigré newspapers Vozrozhdenie in Paris, and in Nash put' in Harbin, Manchukuo.
Publication history
In Polish:
- Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1935. Siedem lat w szponach GPU [Seven Years in the Claws of the GPU]. Wilno [Vilnius]: NakÃ
Âadem autora [At Author's Expense].
- Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1937. Prawda o Sowietach (wraÃ
¼enia z 7-letniego pobytu w wiÃÂzieniach sowieckich r. 1927-1934) [The Truth about the Soviet Union: Experiences from the Seven-Year-Long Incarceration in Soviet Prisons, 1927-1934]. Warsaw: NakÃ
Âadem autora [At Author's Expense], 152pp.
- Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1938. Prawda o Sowietach (wraÃ
¼enia z 7-letniego pobytu w wiÃÂzieniach sowieckich r. 1927-1933) [The Truth about the Soviet Union: Experiences from the Seven-Year-Long Incarceration in Soviet Prisons, 1927-1933] (Ser: Biblioteka Osadnika, Vol. 4). Kurytyba [Curitiba, Brazil]: NakÃ
Âad i druk Gazety Polskiej w Brazylii [Published and printed by the Gazeta Polska w Brazylii], 155pp.
- Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1990. 7 lat w szponach GPU [7 Years in the Claws of the GPU]. Warsaw: Centrum Informacyjno-Reklamowe (CIR). 167pp. .
In Belarusian:
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 1937. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂ.ÃÂ.ã. ÃÂÃÂûÃÂýÃÂ: òÃÂôðýýõ ðÃÂÃÂðÃÂð. FranciÃ
¡ak AliachnoviÃÂ. 1937. U kapciuroch H.P.U. [In the Claws of the GPU]. Vilnia: vydannie aÃ
Âtara [Vilnius: Published by the Author], 159pp.
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 1941âÂÂ1942. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂã. In the newspaper ÃÂiýÃÂúðàÿÃÂðÃÂôð. Nos> 1941: 7âÂÂ12, 14âÂÂ17, 19; 1942: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9âÂÂ12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39, 41.
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 1991. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂã. In the periodical ÃÂþûÃÂüÃÂ, No 1, pp. 151âÂÂ214.
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 1994. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂ.ÃÂ.ã. ÃÂÿþòõÃÂÃÂÃÂ. ÃÂÃÂýÃÂú: ÃÂðÃÂÃÂðÃÂúð ûÃÂÃÂõÃÂðÃÂÃÂÃÂð. FranciÃ
¡ak AliachnoviÃÂ. 1994. U kapciuroch H.P.U. Apoviesà[In the Claws of the GPU: A Tale]. Minsk: Mastacka litieratura, 238pp. .
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 2005. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂã (pp 223âÂÂ390). In: ä. ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòiÃÂ. ÃÂÃÂñÃÂðýÃÂàÃÂòþÃÂÃÂ. ÃÂÃÂýÃÂú: ÃÂõûðÃÂÃÂÃÂúàÃÂýióð÷ñþÃÂ. .
- äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂðú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 2015. ã úðÿÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ
ÃÂ.ÃÂ.ã. ÃÂðúÃÂüõýÃÂðûÃÂýðàðÿþòõÃÂÃÂà(áõÃÂÃÂÃÂ: ÃÂðàñõûðÃÂÃÂÃÂúðàúýÃÂóð). ÃÂÃÂýÃÂú: ÃÂþÿÃÂÃÂÃÂø. FranciÃ
¡ak AliachnoviÃÂ. 2015. U kapciuroch H.P.U. Dakumientalnaja apoviesà(Sieryja: Maja bielaruskaja kniha) [In the Claws of the GPU: A Documentary Tale (Ser: My Belarusian Book)]. Minsk: Popurri, 288pp.
Translations
- Portuguese: Fr[anciszek] Olechnowicz. 1937. Sete Annos nas Garras Soviéticas (Verdade sobre os Soviets) [Seven Years in the Soviet Clutches (The Truth about the Soviets)] [translated from the Polish by Eva Wedber]. Rio de Janeiro: Amorim Cia Ltda and Livraria Moura, 190pp.
- Ukrainian: äÃÂðýÃÂÃÂÃÂõú ÃÂûÃÂÃÂ
ýþòÃÂÃÂ. 1937. 7 ûÃÂàýð áþûþòúðÃÂ
. áÿþüøýø ñÃÂûþÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂúþóþ ôÃÂÃÂÃÂð ÿÃÂþ üøÃÂÃÂøÃÂÃÂþûÃÂþóÃÂààáþòÃÂÃÂðÃÂ
. ÃÂÃÂòÃÂò: ÃÂðúûðôþü ÃÂøôðòýøÃÂþàáÿÃÂûúø "ÃÂÃÂûþ" àÃÂÃÂòþòàFrantsishek Alyakhnovich. 1937. 7 lit na Solovkakh. Spomyny bilorusùkoho diyacha pro myrtyirolùohiyu u Sovitakh [7 years in the Solovki {Gulag} Prison Camp: A Memoir of a Belarusian National Activist on the Sufferings and Martyrdom of Inmates in the Soviet Camps]. Lùviv: Nakladom Vydavnychoyi Spilky "Dilo" u Lùvovi, 168 pp.
- Italian: Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1938. La veritÃÂ sulla Russia bolscevica. Impressioni di un russo-bianco nazionalista liberato dopo sette anni dalle prigioni dell'URSS [The Truth about Bolshevik Russia: Impressions of a Belarusian Nationalist Freed After Seven Years Spent in the Prisons of the USSR] [translated from the Polish by Gian d'Arce]. Firenze [Florence]: Nerbini, 60pp (large format, 28 cm).
- Russian: äÃÂðýàÃÂûõÃÂ
ýþòøÃÂ. 2012. àúþóÃÂÃÂÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂã [In the Claws of the GPU] [ÿõÃÂ. àñõûþÃÂÃÂÃÂ. ÃÂ. ÃÂ. âðÃÂðÃÂð] (áõÃÂøÃÂ: ÃÂõø÷òõÃÂÃÂýðàøÃÂÃÂþÃÂøÃÂ). ÃÂøýÃÂú: Ã¥ðÃÂòõÃÂàFrants Olekhnovich. 2012. V kogtiakh GPU [In the Claws of the GPU] [translated from the Belarusian by Ie. A. Taras] (Seriia: Neizvestnaia istoriia [Unknown History]). Minsk: Kharvest, 320pp.
- Russian: äÃÂðýàÃÂûõÃÂ
ýþòøÃÂ. 2012. àúþóÃÂÃÂÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂã [In the Claws of the GPU] [ÿõÃÂ. àñõûþÃÂÃÂÃÂ. ÃÂ. ÃÂ. âðÃÂðÃÂð] (áõÃÂøÃÂ: ÃÂõø÷òõÃÂÃÂýðàøÃÂÃÂþÃÂøÃÂ). àøóð: ÃÂýÃÂÃÂøÃÂÃÂàñõûðÃÂÃÂÃÂúþù øÃÂÃÂþÃÂøø ø úÃÂûÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂàFrants Olekhnovich. 2012. V kogtiakh GPU [In the Claws of the GPU] [translated from the Belarusian by Ie. A. Taras] (Seriia: Neizvestnaia istoriia [Unknown History]). Riga: Institut belaruskoi istorii i kul'tury, 319pp.
See also
- Sozerko Malsagov, S. A. Malsagoff. 1926. An Island Hell: A Soviet Prison in the Far North {translated from the Russian by Francis Hamilton Lyon}. London: A. M. Philipot Ltd.
- A Travel to the Land Ze-Ka, a similar early Gulag memoir by a Polish citizen of the Jewish ethnicity, Julius Margolin, written in Russian, completed in 1947, published in 1949 in a French translation, and three years later (1952) in the Russian original in New York.
- A World Apart: The Journal of a Gulag Survivor, another Gulag memoir by a Polish citizen of Polish ethnicity, Gustaw Herling-GrudziÃ
Âski, written in Polish, completed in 1950, published in 1951 in an English translation in London, and two years later (1953), in the Polish original also in London.
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a fictionalised account of Gulag life by a Soviet citizen of Russian ethnicity, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, written in Russian, published in 1962 in Moscow, and the following year (1963) in an English translation in New York.
- '
Notes
References