“The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in the Soviet Gulag camps for eight years. About 10% of prisoners died each year from disease, starvation, or overwork. But Solzhenitsyn observed that some of the worst cruelty within the Gulags — the creation of hierarchies that allowed for robbing, beating, and raping — was done not so much by the guards as by the prisoners themselves, perhaps in the hope of distracting themselves from the horror of their own fate.
Why I'm Writing
Why I'm Writing
Why I'm Writing
“The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in the Soviet Gulag camps for eight years. About 10% of prisoners died each year from disease, starvation, or overwork. But Solzhenitsyn observed that some of the worst cruelty within the Gulags — the creation of hierarchies that allowed for robbing, beating, and raping — was done not so much by the guards as by the prisoners themselves, perhaps in the hope of distracting themselves from the horror of their own fate.