PRISON. PRISONERS

PRISON

Built as a military fortification, the Peter & Paul Fortress soon lost its original strategic designation, and was converted into a political prison. It was one of the most dismal political prisons of Russia, and contemporaries often referred to it as " the Russian Bastille". Actually, one of the first prisoners of the fortress was Peter I's son Alexei who was imprisoned there for taking part in a conspiracy against Peter's reforms.

All Russian tsars since Peter I used the fortress as a political prison. In the 18-19th centuries, many outstanding people of the country who were fighting for emancipation of serfs and civil rights were incarcerated here. In 1790, Radishchev, an eminent writer, was imprisoned in one of the casemates of the fortress for his daring book " The Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", in which he exposed autocracy and called for abolishment of serfdom. He was first sentenced to death, but then the capital sentence was commuted to exile to Siberia.

Zotov Bastion became the place of imprisonment of the Decembrists. officers of high birth who participated in the first in Russia uprising against autocracy and serfdom, which took place in December 1825. The uprising was suppressed. Its leaders were incarcerated in the fortress, and later hanged in the fortress grounds.

In 1797, a special building of the prison was built within the walls of the Alexei Ravelin. It became known as the Secret House. There were 20 cells for solitary confinement. Many prisoners were driven mad by the unbearable conditions in the Secret House. Among the prisoners of the Secret House was the great Russian writer Dostoyevskv. He was a member of a secret political society whose members believed themselves to be the followers of the Decembrists. He spent 8 months in the Secret House, and then was sentenced to many years of hard labour in Siberia.

In 1872, a new prison was put up in Trubetskoi Bastion. There were 69 cells for solitary confinement and two punishment cells.

A prisoner was first taken through the guards' room, where guards were told to stand facing the wall in order not to see the prisoner's face.

Prisoners were searched and registered in the next room. They were informed of the prison rules and the punishment in case the rules were broken. The display case contains prison dress and shoes, handcuffs, fetters, and a strait jacket.

All the cells are alike. Metal furniture is fastened to the wall and floor. Constant semi-darkness, complete silence, piercing dampness, constant supervision, prohibition of any activity, undernourishment affected the prisoner both physically and morally. Only those who possessed strong will and fortitude survived the imprisonment.

In the centre of the massive door there is an opening for food, and above it, an observation slot through which guards watched the prisoner. The guards were strictly forbidden to speak to prisoners.

The prisoners tried to communicate using a special rapping code invented by two Decembrists - the Bestuzhev brothers. The Russian alphabet was written in 5 columns and 6 rows enumerated. The prisoner rapped first the number of the row and then the number of the column. For almost a century all political prisoners in Russia used that rapping code, which they learnt in advance.

The fortress prison was preliminary. Prisoners were kept there till investigation and trial were over. Then they were sent either to serve hard labour or to execution!

For a slightest infringement of prison rules prisoners were put in a punishment cell for either 3 or 10 days. They were deprived of bedding, hot food, and kept in absolute darkness. They could not hear a single sound from the outside. They were put in a cold punishment cell in their underwear and many of them caught severe cold and did not get any medical help. The prison doctor did not treat prisoners but only certified death.

PRISONERS

In the 1870s, a new movement of intellectuals was formed in Russia. They became known as " narodniks" (or " populists" ): the name was derived from the Russian word " narod" (meaning " people" ). " Narodniks" believed that Russia would arrive at socialism only through peasants' communes. Disguised as peasants, they went from village to village propagating their ideas. They called it " going to people"; hence the name of the movement.

In 1879, a group of " narodniks" was formed which called itself " People's Will". They chose individual terrorism as a method of political struggle. Andrei Zhelvabov. one of the group's leaders, planned an attempt on the life of Alexander, II (which resulted in the assassination of the tsar). He was incarcerated in the fortress prison together with his associates; later, the leaders were hanged in one of the city squares.

The prison was especially hard on female prisoners. Some of them could not bear the severity of the prison regime and committed suicide. Thus, in 1897 Maria Vetrova. a young teacher (also a member of the " narodniks" movement), poured oil from her oil lamp over herself and burnt herself down alive. In 1883-84 a remarkable women, Vera Fiqner, member of the Executive Committee of the " People's Will", was confined in the Trubetskoi Bastion. Later, she was exiled and was not allowed to come back to St Petersburg until after the February revolution of 1917. She taught in one of the city's higher schools for many years and died in 1942, when she was over 90 years old.

In 1887, another terrorist group planned an attempt on the life of Alexander III. However, someone betrayed them and they were arrested on the eve of the attempt. One of the group members was Lenin's elder brother Alexander Ulianov. a student of St. Petersburg University. As he was not of age (he was under 21), he had the right to send a petition for pardon to the tsar, but the tsar refused to pardon him, and he was finally hanged together with the other four associates.

The event that triggered the First Russian Revolution of 1905- 1907 was the so- called " Bloody Sunday", when a peaceful procession of people was shot in Palace square. A group of well-known Russian intellectuals, including the famous writer Maxim Gorkv. wrote an appeal to the citizens of Russia, in which they protested what they called " the bloody crime" and called for immediate struggle against autocracy. They were arrested two days later. As Gorky was a writer of world renown, a wave of protest both in Russia and abroad forced the government to release him. During the months of his confinement, he wrote his well-known play " Children of the Sun".

The last prisoners of the fortress were some Grand Dukes of the Romanov family, who were later executed.

The fortress was converted into a museum in 1924.

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