DESPERATION AT THEIR lengthened sentences led many prisoners to make individual escape attempts from Kolyma in the spring of 1946. “Release by the green procurator” almost invariably ended in failure, since there was nowhere to run to in that vast wilderness. The nearest human settlements were hundreds of kilometers away, and the local nomadic tribesmen were promised flour and vodka for every escapee they returned. The bounty was only rarely collected. Most escape attempts were quickly ended by experienced teams of “head hunters” who tracked the runners with dogs and planes, shooting their
...more
