Irena Kawaschová: The woman who gave birth to life in the realms of death
- Keywords: Deportations / relationships in the Gulag / children in the Gulag / Slovaks in the Gulag / hunger / death in the Gulag / frost / work in the Gulag
As the war was peaking, she set out on a risky voyage in order to stay close to her sick child and give birth to another in safety. However, she never reached her first child and lost her second as a result. Instead of being with her relatives, the innocent woman spent years of boundless suffering in Russia’s worst labour camp.
Even in the merciless environment beyond the polar circle, she managed to give birth to a new life. And even though she and her newborn son were soon separated for several years, she never gave up. When the political horrors had subsided, she managed to find him and build a new home for him and herself, in spite of the Stalinist regime having taken away her former home.
Leonid Levko Dohovič: The story of an optimist who lived by the maxim that resistance bears fruit whereas pessimism causes death
- Keywords: Carpathian Ruthenia / relationships in the Gulag / art in the Gulag / rebellion in the Gulag / escapes from the Gulag / adolescents in the Gulag / resistance
He was just 14 years old when the Soviet communists sent him to a camp for ten years. A boy from Carpathian Ruthenia paid the price for trying to oppose the Bolshevik dictatorship with friends. But he never surrendered, even in the Gulag. Aged 16, he started preparing and escape. He dug a tunnel, intending to crawl out of the camp and rejoin the resistance. His plans were disclosed, though, and he was sentenced to more years in prison. Even then, he did not despair – he used the time to foster his musical talent. When secret policemen tried to oppress him, he was not easily intimidated.