Taganka Prison (Russian: Таганская тюрьма) was built in Moscow in 1804 by Alexander I, emperor of Russia.[1] It gained notoriety for its use as a prison for political prisoners, both by the ruling tsars and during the years of the Soviet Union, by the Communist Party.[1] During the Great Purge, the prison housed foreign enemies of the state, such as the German communist, Gustav Sobottka, Jr., as well as Russians. It played host to a mass protest in 1938 when thousands of prisoners repudiated their confessions made under torture.[2] The prison became immortalized in poems and songs dating from before the October Revolution in 1918. The prison was razed in the 1950s.[1]
Soviet 'martyr' Nikolay Bauman was beaten to death outside of Taganka Prison by a nationalist and reactionary mob upon the release of political prisoners 18 October 1905.[3]
Taganka (song)
editTaganka is also the name of one of many Russian prisoners' songs. It takes its name from the prison and was popularized by Russian singers Vladimir Vysotsky and Mikhail Shufutinsky.[1]
| Russian | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Notable prisoners
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d Katrina Marie, "Taganka: The Haunts of Intelligentsia and Blue-Collar Grit" Passport Moscow. Retrieved December 5, 2011
- ^ Kotkin, Stephen (2014). Stalin. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-14-313215-8. OCLC 893721553.
- ^ Figes, Orlando: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. The Bodley Head, London (2014). p. 195–196
- ^ Avril Pyman, Pavel Florensky: A Quiet Genius : The Tragic and Extraordinary Life of Russia's Unknown da Vinci Continuum International Publishing Group (2010), p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4411-8700-0 Retrieved December 5, 2011
- ^ "Thomas Sgovi" Gulag History / Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. Retrieved December 5, 2011
External links
edit