Butyrka prison
Encyclopedia
Butyrka prison was the central transit prison
in pre-Revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow.
The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The present prison building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built by the architect Matvei Kazakov during the reign of Catherine the Great. The towers of the old fortress once housed the rebellious Streltsy
during the reign of Peter I
and later on hundreds of participants of the 1863 January Uprising
in Poland
. Members of Narodnaya Volya were also prisoners of the Butyrka in 1883, as were the participants in the Morozov Strike of 1885. The Butyrka prison was known for its brutal regime. The prison administration resorted to violence every time the inmates tried to protest against anything.
Among its famous inmates were the influential revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky
, a Russian revolutionary
Nikolai Bauman, the founder of the KGB
Felix Dzerzhinsky (who was one of the few individuals to stage a successful escape from the prison), and the writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
and Yevgenia Ginzburg
.
During the February Revolution
, the workers of Moscow freed all the political prisoner
s from the Butyrka.
After the October Revolution
Butyrka remained a place of internment for political prisoners and a transfer camp for people sentenced to be sent to the Gulag
.
During the Great Purge
about 20 thousand inmates at a time were imprisoned in Butyrka. Thousands of political prisoners were shot after investigations.
Currently Butyrka remains the largest of Moscow remand prisons. Overcrowding continues to be a problem.
, in his drama
Death in the police van
, emphatically agrees. He says that, with the collapse of the soviet regime, overcrowding has become a real issue: there are more than 100 inmates in cells meant to contain 10 people. Most of these people are politically unreliable subjects from the Caucasus
. Since epidemics are a problem, the wardens try to make cells entirely of people with AIDS
, or with tubercolosis; however, this avails little, since almost every inmate is a user
, and there is at most one needle per cell. Moreover, inmates are brought to the tribunal in overcrowded police vans, so that a healthy inmate may breath the same air of one with tubercolosis. The gasoline
spared in this way, is sold on the black market. The butyrka has a peculiar slang: the wardens are called "manti", the inmates "patzani", to make drugs is "smazatsia", i. e., to oil oneself. The word khuy is used profusely. As a lighter note, television
has been allowed since 1995.
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in pre-Revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow.
The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The present prison building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built by the architect Matvei Kazakov during the reign of Catherine the Great. The towers of the old fortress once housed the rebellious Streltsy
Streltsy
Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen in the 16th - early 18th centuries, armed with firearms. They are also collectively known as Marksman Troops .- Origins and organization :...
during the reign of Peter I
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
and later on hundreds of participants of the 1863 January Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Members of Narodnaya Volya were also prisoners of the Butyrka in 1883, as were the participants in the Morozov Strike of 1885. The Butyrka prison was known for its brutal regime. The prison administration resorted to violence every time the inmates tried to protest against anything.
Among its famous inmates were the influential revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
, a Russian revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
Nikolai Bauman, the founder of the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
Felix Dzerzhinsky (who was one of the few individuals to stage a successful escape from the prison), and the writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
and Yevgenia Ginzburg
Yevgenia Ginzburg
Yevgenia Ginzburg was a Russian author who served an 18-year sentence in the Gulag. Her given name is often Latinized to Eugenia.-Family and early career:...
.
During the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, the workers of Moscow freed all the political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s from the Butyrka.
After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
Butyrka remained a place of internment for political prisoners and a transfer camp for people sentenced to be sent to the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
.
During the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
about 20 thousand inmates at a time were imprisoned in Butyrka. Thousands of political prisoners were shot after investigations.
Currently Butyrka remains the largest of Moscow remand prisons. Overcrowding continues to be a problem.
Living conditions
Shalamov notes, in one of his tales, that the Butyrka is incredibly hot in summer; Eduard LimonovEduard Limonov
Eduard Limonov is Russian writer and political dissident, and is the founder and leader of radical National Bolshevik Party. An opponent of Vladimir Putin, Limonov is one of leaders of Other Russia political bloc.-Early life:...
, in his drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Death in the police van
Police van
A police van is a type of vehicle operated by police forces. Police vans are usually employed for the transportation of prisoners inside a specially adapted cell in the vehicle, or for the rapid transportation of a number of officers to an incident.- History :Early police vans were in the form of...
, emphatically agrees. He says that, with the collapse of the soviet regime, overcrowding has become a real issue: there are more than 100 inmates in cells meant to contain 10 people. Most of these people are politically unreliable subjects from the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. Since epidemics are a problem, the wardens try to make cells entirely of people with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, or with tubercolosis; however, this avails little, since almost every inmate is a user
User (drug)
User refers to a person who uses drugs either legally or illegally. The term user is typically used more to refer to illegal drug use by a person who is often part of a subculture of recreational drug use. Drug users are often referred to as "heads", depending on the drug used, i.e., pothead,...
, and there is at most one needle per cell. Moreover, inmates are brought to the tribunal in overcrowded police vans, so that a healthy inmate may breath the same air of one with tubercolosis. The gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
spared in this way, is sold on the black market. The butyrka has a peculiar slang: the wardens are called "manti", the inmates "patzani", to make drugs is "smazatsia", i. e., to oil oneself. The word khuy is used profusely. As a lighter note, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
has been allowed since 1995.
Famous inmates
- Andrei AmalrikAndrei AmalrikAndrei Alekseevich Amalrik , alternatively spelled Andrei or Andrey, was a Russian writer and dissident....
, Russian historian and famed dissident during the 1960s. Author of "Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984". - Fabijan AbrantovichFabijan AbrantovichFabijan Abrantovich was a prominent religious and civic leader from Belarus...
, a well-known Catholic priest and a pro-independence activist from BelarusBelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
; - Anna AbrikosovaAnna AbrikosovaAnna Ivanovna Abrikosova — was a prominent figure in the Russian Catholic Church, and a Religious Sister of the Third Order of St. Dominic. Since 2002, her life has been under scrutiny for possible beatification by the Holy See...
, a nunNunA nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
of the Dominican OrderDominican OrderThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
and prominent figure in the Russian Catholic ChurchRussian Catholic ChurchThe Russian Catholic Church is a Byzantine Rite church sui juris in full union with the Catholic Church. Historically it represents a schism from the Russian Orthodox Church. It is now in full communion with and subject to the authority of the Pope as defined by Eastern canon law...
. - Władysław Anders, Polish general and prime minister
- Isaak Babel, writer, killed in 1940
- Nikolai Bauman, Russian revolutionary
- Walerian CzumaWalerian CzumaWalerian Czuma was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege of that city in 1939.-Biography:...
, Polish general - Felix Dzerzhinsky, ChekaChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
founder - Vladimir DzhunkovskyVladimir DzhunkovskyVladimir Fyodorovich Dzhunkovskiy was a Russian statesman. He held the posts of the Governor of Moscow Guberniya and the Governor-General of Moscow .-Biography:...
, Russian statesman - BlessedBeatificationBeatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
Leonid FeodorovLeonid FeodorovBlessed Leonid Ivanovich Feodorov was Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church, in addition to being a survivor of the GULAG. After painstaking investigation, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.-Early life:...
, ExarchExarchIn the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....
and reputed bishopBishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of the Russian Catholic ChurchRussian Catholic ChurchThe Russian Catholic Church is a Byzantine Rite church sui juris in full union with the Catholic Church. Historically it represents a schism from the Russian Orthodox Church. It is now in full communion with and subject to the authority of the Pope as defined by Eastern canon law...
. - Heinz HitlerHeinz HitlerHeinrich Hitler was the son of Alois Hitler, Jr. and his second wife Hedwig Heidemann and the nephew of German dictator Adolf Hitler...
, German dictator Adolf Hitler's favorite nephew died after several days of torture in 1942 - Werner HaaseWerner HaaseWerner Haase was an SS Obersturmbannführer , professor of medicine and one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians.-Biography:...
, one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians, died in captivity in 1950 - Bruno JasieńskiBruno JasienskiBruno Jasieński was a Polish poet and the leader of the Polish futurist movement.Bruno Jasieński was born Wiktor Zysman on 17 July 1901 in Klimontów in southern Congress Poland, Russian Empire to a Polish family of Jewish and German roots, but from his mother's side he was a descendant of the...
, Polish poet and futuristFuturism (art)Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
, killed in 1938 - Stanisław Jasiukowicz, Polish minister, tortured to death in Butyrki in 1946
- Yevgenia GinzburgYevgenia GinzburgYevgenia Ginzburg was a Russian author who served an 18-year sentence in the Gulag. Her given name is often Latinized to Eugenia.-Family and early career:...
, Russian writer and historian - Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket and spacecraft designer
- Friedrich Lengnik, Russian revolutionary
- BlessedBeatificationBeatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
Zygmunt Łoziński, Catholic bishop of MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened... - Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky, Soviet ambassador to London, 1932–43
- Nestor MakhnoNestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
, Ukrainian anarchistAnarchismAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations... - Vladimir MayakovskyVladimir MayakovskyVladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
, poet - Leopold OkulickiLeopold OkulickiGeneral Leopold Okulicki was a General of the Polish Army and the last commander of the anti-German underground Home Army during World War II. He was murdered after the war by the Soviet NKVD....
, Polish general, last commander of the Armia KrajowaArmia KrajowaThe Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
, killed in Butyrki in 1946 - Yemelyan PugachevYemelyan PugachevYemelyan Ivanovich Pugachov , was a pretender to the Russian throne who led a great Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II...
, pretender to the Russian throne and leader of a CossackCossackCossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
insurrection in 1773-1774 - Varlam ShalamovVarlam ShalamovVarlam Tikhonovich Shalamov , baptized as Varlaam, was a Russian writer, journalist, poet and Gulag survivor.-Early life:Varlam Shalamov was born in Vologda, Vologda Governorate, a Russian city with a rich culture famous for its wooden architecture, to a family of a hereditary Russian Orthodox...
, writer. - Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
, writer - Yevgenia GinzburgYevgenia GinzburgYevgenia Ginzburg was a Russian author who served an 18-year sentence in the Gulag. Her given name is often Latinized to Eugenia.-Family and early career:...
, author of Journey into the WhirlwindJourney into the WhirlwindJourney into the Whirlwind is the English title of the critically acclaimed memoir by Eugenia Ginzburg. It was published in English in 1967, some thirty years after the story begins....
and Within the Whirlwind and mother of the writer Vasili Aksyonov. In her books, she tells the incredible story of her arrest during the 1937 purges in the city of KazanKazanKazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, where she worked as a leading member of the local Communist Party structures of Tartary. - Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz, Polish general and one of the leaders of anti-communist opposition in the 1970s
- Elena StasovaElena StasovaElena Dmitrievna "Lyolia" Stasova was a Russian communist revolutionary who became a political functionary working for the Communist International . She was a Comintern representative to Germany in 1921. From 1927 to 1938 she was the president of International Red Aid...
, Russian revolutionary - Léon ThereminLéon ThereminLéon Theremin was a Russian and Soviet inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. He is also the inventor of interlace, a technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal, widely used in video and television technology...
, a pioneer of electronic music, the inventor of the thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
and an electronic eavesdropping bugCovert listening deviceA covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and in police investigations.A bug does not have to be a device...
. - Sergei TretyakovSergei TretyakovSergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov was a Russian constructivist writer, playwright and special correspondent for Pravda. He graduated 1916 from the department of law at Moscow University...
, Avant-GardeAvant-gardeAvant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
playwright during the 1920s. He apparently threw himself down a prison stairwell to avoid execution. - Augustinas VoldemarasAugustinas VoldemarasAugustinas Voldemaras was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He served as the country's first Prime Minister in 1918, and again from 1926 to 1929.- Biography :...
, once the prime minister of LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, died in this prison after Lithuania was occupiedOccupation of Baltic RepublicsThe occupation of the Baltic states refers to the military occupation of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940 followed by their incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics, unrecognised...
by the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1940 - Avhustyn VoloshynAvhustyn VoloshynAvgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn was a Ukrainian politician, teacher, and essayist. He was president of the independent Carpatho-Ukraine, which existed for one day on March 15, 1939....
, former president of Carpatho-UkraineCarpatho-UkraineCarpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary in...
, died in Butyrka in 1945. - Yemelyan YaroslavskyYemelyan YaroslavskyYemelyan Mikhailovich Yaroslavsky was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, communist party organizer and activist, journalist, and historian...
, future leader of the Society of the Godless - Jonas ŽemaitisJonas ŽemaitisJonas Žemaitis was one of the leaders of armed resistance against the Soviet occupation in Lithuania and acknowledged as the Head of State of contemporary occupied Lithuania.Žemaitis was born in Jonas Žemaitis and Petronėlė Daukšaitė's family...
, Lithuanian general, head of the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan forcesForest BrothersThe Forest Brothers were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged a guerrilla war against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II...
after WWII, shot to death in 1953 http://www.genocid.lt/Leidyba/4/nijole3.htm - Garig Basmadjian, (still speculated) famous art major. Still to be found. Last seen 1991 by Alexander Budilov
- Sergei MagnitskySergei MagnitskySergei Leonidovich Magnitsky was a Russian attorney whose death in police custody generated international media attention and launched an investigation into allegations of abuse. Magnitsky, who had alleged wide-scale tax fraud sanctioned by officials before being himself arrested, died days...
, famous lawyer - Rashid Khan GaplanovRashid Khan GaplanovRashid Khan Gaplanov Zavid oglu , also known as Rashid Khan Kaplanov, was an Azerbaijani statesman of Kumyk ethnicity who served as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in the fifth and fourth cabinets of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.-Early years:Gaplanov was...
, EducationMinistry of Education (Azerbaijan)The Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic is a governmental agency within the Cabinet of Azerbaijan in charge of regulating the education system in Azerbaijan. The ministry is headed by Misir Mardanov.-History:...
and FinanceMinistry of Finance (Azerbaijan)The Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan Republic is a governmental agency within the Cabinet of Azerbaijan in charge of regulating the financial sector in Azerbaijan Republic. The ministry is headed by Samir Sharifov.-History:...
Minister of Azerbaijan Democratic RepublicAzerbaijan Democratic RepublicThe Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...