Concentration Camps in the USSR Information furnished by the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council in Ukraine (U.H.W.R) – Published by Prolog and Association of Friends for the Liberation Movement in Ukraine. New York – Philadelphia, 1952.
The first publication by the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council, which received the testimony of a former prisoner in the concentration camps in the Soviet Union. All members of the council who initiated this publication were American citizens of Ukrainian descent whose goal was to protect against the negative infiltration of communist, fascist, or totalitarian ideologies into the United States. The facts revealed in this booklet were received by the group’s foreign representatives and were passed on to the Western world through a complex underground network behind the Iron Curtain. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union, was engaged in a prolonged struggle for liberation and independence, led by the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council and the armed Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
The booklet provides a painful picture of the genocide being carried out in the Soviet Union at that time, as described in the introduction:
“In the Soviet Republic alone, there are 42,000,000 inhabitants, of whom about 91% are non-Russian… The rate of post-war genocide crimes committed by Red Russia shows that after the extermination of the small nations of the Soviet Union – the Crimean Tatars, the Kalmyks, the Volga Germans, and others – the Kremlin has now decided to exterminate the 42 million strong Ukrainian nation. We appeal especially to the Government of the United States and to the entire civilized world to investigate one of Moscow’s greatest crimes in Ukraine – the mass murder of 12,000 innocent Ukrainian citizens from Vinnytsia – the Ukrainian Lidice, where 66 mass graves have been opened… This is America’s challenge now.”
The committee provides detailed information on the different types of concentration camps in the Soviet Union and the harsh conditions prevailing in them – conditions of starvation and isolation, the alleged charges under which people were thrown into these camps, the regime camps in Siberia and the Urals, and in other places. “Almost no one returns alive from these camps, and no one except the Ministry of the Interior knows their fate… People are completely cut off from all communication with their families and are deprived of all freedom. They receive no printed literature, newspapers, books, etc. They have no right to correspond with the outside world, they wear concentration camp uniforms and their heads and beards are completely shaved…”. Also, detailed reports are provided on what goes on in the “special organized zones, ” where millions of people live, deprived of the most basic civil rights. Reports on camps scattered across the Soviet Union for people who violated “state regulations” where they receive harsh punishments for long periods.
The report also details the names of all the camps, the exact dates they were established, the names of the first prisoners taken to them, the different forced labor in the forests, the various types of punishments, the exact locations of the camps across the Soviet Union, the names of the commanders of each camp, detailed information on the internal structure of each camp. The report even provides details on escape routes from each camp: “To escape from the camp, whether individually or in a group, the escape plan must be very thoroughly prepared. First of all, it depends on the physical condition of the prisoner. A completely physically ill person cannot escape. Secondly, anyone unfamiliar with the surrounding area, even if they escape from the area, will get lost in the unknown forests. They may come upon another camp unit or come to a settlement where they will be caught. Thirdly, to prepare for the journey, enough food must be stored to last a few days…”. Detailed information is also provided on registration rules in the camps, the conditions for political prisoners compared to non-political prisoners, and more.
At the end of the report, there is a sketch of the Unzhlag camp and a large fold-out map with the names of all the concentration camps in Russia titled: GULAG – SLAVERY The Documented Map of Forced Labor Camps in Soviet Russia. The margins of the map feature a photograph of starving children from concentration camps in Russia.
Rare. Not listed in the WorldCat global library catalog.
23 pages + a fold-out map 44×56 cm. Tear missing at the top corner of the title page without text damage. Good condition.
