The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 （収容所群島 Архипелаг ГУЛАГ）

     I've just read the second book of the six-volume, Japanese translation of The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956. These books were written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about the Soviet forced labor and concentration camp system.
     When the books were published, it caused a worldwide sensation. I was a high school student and was preparing for the entrance exam for the medical school at that time. I wanted to read it, but I didn't have a sense of composure. The news of the death of the author came to me a few months ago, and made me feel like reading it.
     This six-volume Japanese translation is a massive narrative based on lots of testimonies of witnesses and primary research material, along with the author's own experiences as a prisoner in a Gulag labor camp. Though I've read only two volumes out of six, I wondered how these facts are written in history textbooks for Russian kids. Are they given the correct knowledge about their own history? I watched a TV program this year, in which a Russian high school teacher was exploring in the wilderness for a sign of the concentration camps that had illegally accommodated a lot of Japanese after the Great East Asian War. He took his students to the spot and showed items of the camps. The students looked astonished to know the reality. I imagine that Moscow keeps the real modern history low-key so as not to upset the young people.

(Vocabulary)
narrative   物語
research material  研究資料
sense of composure    気持ちの余裕

 

(KW: ソルジェニーツィン　ロシア　ソ連　ソビエト　強制収容所　シベリア抑留)

Comments

[KUMO]

Thank you for your comment.

This book is a little old, and you'd not find it on the shelves of the bookstores. You have to order it online, or have to look for it in the library.

[Nerissa]

Hello Japanese Surgeon,

Where can I buy the Japanese translation? I want my friend to read this with me but it would be easier for her if it is in Japanese. Thanks!

[Sarah]

You have intrigued me to look into that series as well. Though, I don't know how the history is manipulated in order to protect (or hide) the truth. It's a sad thing. I hope that you can get through the remaining 4 books. What an accomplishment that will be!