WALENDYsolje-Russia-and-the-Jews

those historians, particularly with respect to Germany, had snatched up theirpens in the same unanimous and unrestrained party-line spirit as communists alwaysdo for their political diatribes. A man who otherwise understands well howto differentiate between propaganda and reality,and between censorship and freedomof expression, has here lost his impartialitywhen confronted with the extensive complexityof German history.In his Gulag Archipelago he confessed:“How easily did we let zealous [Stalinist]slogans lead us about on their mental leash.How satisfied we were to regard the personsbetrayed as those who were betraying!” 1In volume two he describes truly horrificevents that were basic Soviet practice. But regardingGerman war history, it does notoccur to Solzhenitsyn in the least to think thathe might still be on the leash of zealous propaganda.✦Left, a photo of Solzhenitsyn beingsearched by a camp guard. Solzhenitsyn wassentenced to hard labor after a criticism of theSoviet leadership was detected in a personalletter sent to a friend. Above, Solzhenitsyn inearly middle age, years after his release fromthe work camps. He sports his signature facialhair. Below, the construction site of the Baltic-White Sea Canal (once called the StalinCanal) saw the destruction of the lives of100,000 prisoners in 1932-33, people takenby revolutionary arbitrariness from all theclasses of all the ethnic groups of Russia.The project, whipped through to completionby the gulag administration, never fulfilledthe original expectations. The canal was 140miles in length and had 19 locks for ships upto 3,000 tons and ran from Archangel overLake Onega but could be used only in theice-free season from June to October. Further,in many spots it was not deep enough toaccommodate larger transport vessels.T B R • P. O . B O X 1 5 8 7 7 • W A S H I N G T O N , D . C . 2 0 0 0 3 T H E B A R N E S R E V I E W 5