In the Claws of the GPU

In the Claws of the GPU (Polish: Siedem lat w szponach GPU) is the first-ever book-length witness account of the Soviet Gulag (including the first Gulag Solovki prison camp), written by Francišak Aljachnovič, a playwright, an ethnic Belarusian, a Belarusian national activist, and a citizen of interwar Poland (in the writer's Polish documents, his name was spelled Franciszek Olechnowicz). After his release from Gulag and return to Poland in 1933, Aljachnovič immediately wrote the book in three language versions, namely, in Belarusian, Polish and Russian.[1] In 1934 the Polish-language version was serialized in the daily Słowo, published in Wilno. In 1934-1935 the Russian-language version (in the pre-1917 spelling) was serialzied in the Russian émigré newspapers Vozrozhdenie in Paris,[2][3] and also appeared in Nash put' in Harbin, Manchukuo.[4][5]

In the Claws of the GPU
Front cover, 1937 Belarusian-language edition
AuthorFrancišak Aljachnovič
Original titleSiedem lat w szponach GPU (Polish) / У капцюрох Г.П.У. (Belarusian)
CountryPoland
GenreMemoir
Publication date
Polish (1935), Belarusian (1937)
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback)

Publication History

In Polish:

  • Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1935. Siedem lat w szponach GPU [Seven Years in the Claws of the GPU]. Wilno [Vilnius]: Nakładem autora [At Author's Expense].[6][7]
  • Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1937. Prawda o Sowietach (wrażenia z 7-letniego pobytu w więzieniach sowieckich r. 1927-1934) [The Truth about the Soviet Union: Experiences from the Seven-Year-Long Incarceration in Soviet Prisons, 1927-1934]. Warsaw: Nakładem autora [At Author's Expense], 152pp.[8]
  • Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1938. Prawda o Sowietach (wrażenia z 7-letniego pobytu w więzieniach sowieckich r. 1927-1933) [The Truth about the Soviet Union: Experiences from the Seven-Year-Long Incarceration in Soviet Prisons, 1927-1933] (Ser: Biblioteka Osadnika, Vol. 4). Kurytyba [Curitiba, Brazil]: Nakład i druk Gazety Polskiej w Brazylii [Published and printed by the Gazeta Polska w Brazylii], 155pp.[9][10]
  • Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1990. 7 lat w szponach GPU [7 Years in the Claws of the GPU]. Warsaw: Centrum Informacyjno-Reklamowe (CIR). 167pp. ISBN 8385154094.

In Belarusian:

  • Францішак Аляхновіч. 1937. У капцюрох Г.П.У. Вільня: выданне аўтара. Francišak Aliachnovič. 1937. U kapciuroch H.P.U. [In the Claws of the GPU]. Vilnia: vydannie aŭtara [Vilnius: Published by the Author], 159pp.[11]
  • Францішак Аляхновіч. 1994. У капцюрох Г.П.У. Аповесць. Мінск: Мастацка література. Francišak Aliachnovič. 1994. U kapciuroch H.P.U. Apoviesć [In the Claws of the GPU: A Tale]. Minsk: Mastacka litieratura, 238pp. ISBN 5-340-01311-1.[12][13][14]
  • Францішак Аляхновіч. 2015. У капцюрох Г.П.У. Дакументальная аповесць (Серыя: Мая беларуская кніга). Мінск: Попурри. Francišak Aliachnovič. 2015. U kapciuroch H.P.U. Dakumientalnaja apoviesć (Sieryja: Maja bielaruskaja kniha) [In the Claws of the GPU: A Documentary Tale (Ser: My Belarusian Book)]. Minsk: Popurri, 288pp. ISBN 978-985-15-2429-3[15][16]

Translations
  • Portuguese: Fr[anciszek] Olechnowicz. 1937. Sete Annos nas Garras Soviéticas (Verdade sobre os Soviets) [Seven Years in the Soviet Clutches (The Truth about the Soviets)]. Rio de Janeiro: Amorim Cia Ltda.[17][18]
  • Ukrainian: Францішек Аляхновіч. 1937. 7 літ на Соловках. Спомiни білоруського діяча про миртиірольогію у Совітах. Львів: Накладом Видавничої Спілки „Діло" у Львові Frantsishek Alyakhnovich. 1937. 7 lit na Solovkakh. Spominy bilorusʹkoho diyacha pro myrtyirolʹohiyu u Sovitakh [7 years in the Solovki {Gulag} Prison Camp: A Memoir of a Belarusian National Activist on the Sufferings and Martyrdom of Inmates in the Soviet Camps]. Lʹviv: Nakladom Vydavnychoyi Spilky „Dilo" u Lʹvovi.[19][20]
  • Italian: Franciszek Olechnowicz. 1938. La verità sulla Russia bolscevica. Impressioni di un russo-bianco nazionalista liberato dopo sette anni dalle prigioni dell'URSS [The Truth about Bolshevik Russia. Impressions of a Belarusian Nationalist Freed After Seven Years Spent in the Prisons of the USSR] [translated from the Polish by Gian d'Arce]. Firenze [Florence]: Nerbini. [21]
  • Russian: Франц Олехнович. 2012. В когтях ГПУ [In the Claws of the GPU] [пер. с белорус. Е. А. Тараса] (Серия: Неизвестная история). Минск: Харвест Frants Olekhnovich. 2012. V kogtiakh GPU [In the Claws of the GPU] [translated from the Belarusian by Ie. A. Taras] (Seriia: Neizvestnaia istoriia [Unknown History]). Minsk: Kharvest, 320pp. ISBN 9789851814707 [22][23]
  • Russian: Франц Олехнович. 2012. В когтях ГПУ [In the Claws of the GPU] [пер. с белорус. Е. А. Тараса] (Серия: Неизвестная история). Рига: Институт беларуской истории и культуры Frants Olekhnovich. 2012. V kogtiakh GPU [In the Claws of the GPU] [translated from the Belarusian by Ie. A. Taras] (Seriia: Neizvestnaia istoriia [Unknown History]). Riga: Institut belaruskoi istorii i kul'tury, 319pp.[24]

See also
  • A Travel to the Land Ze-Ka, a similar early Gulag memoir by a Polish citizen of the Jewish ethnicity, Julius Margolin, written in Russian, completed in 1947, published in 1949 in a French translation, and three years later (1952) in the Russian original in New York.
  • A World Apart: The Journal of a Gulag Survivor, another Gulag memoir by a Polish citizen of the Polish ethnicity, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, written in Polish, completed in 1950, published in 1951 in an English translation in London, and two years later (1953), in the Polish original also in London.
  • One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a famous Gulag memoir by a Soviet citizen of the Russian ethnicity, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, written in Russian, published in 1962 in Moscow, and the following year (1963) in an English translation in New York.
  • Gulag: A History

References
  1. Францішак Аляхновіч. 2015. У капцюрох Г.П.У. Дакументальная аповесць (Серыя: Мая беларуская кніга). Мінск: Попурри. Francišak Aliachnovič. 2015. U kapciuroch H.P.U. Dakumientalnaja apoviesć (Sieryja: Maja bielaruskaja kniha). Minsk: Popurri, p285.
  2. Ф. АЛЯХНОВИЧЪ. 1934. Семь лѣтъ во власти ГПУ {Seven Years in the Hands of the GPU}(p 2). Vozrozhdenie, Volume 10, Number 3463, 26 Nov.
  3. Aljachnovič's book was published in 14 parts in Vozrozhdenie (1934: Nov 23, Dec 1, 3, 8, 10, 14, 17, 25, 29; 1935: Jan 9, 14, 16, 23, Feb 6), beginning on 1 December 1934 its title was changed to 1927-1934. Семь лѣтъ во власти ГПУ.
  4. АЛЯХНОВІЧ Францішак in: Рэпрэсаваныя лiтаратары, навукоўцы, работнiкi асветы, грамадскiя i культурныя дзеячы Беларусi. 1794-1991.
  5. Zenowiusz PONARSKI. 2002/2003. JÓZEF MACKIEWICZ — FAKTY I MITY. 2002/2003. ARCHIWUM EMIGRACJI Studia – Szkice – Dokumenty Toruń, No 5/6, p 291.
  6. Franciszka <sic> Olechnowicz. Życie i praca
  7. Zenowiusz PONARSKI. 2002/2003. JÓZEF MACKIEWICZ — FAKTY I MITY. 2002/2003. ARCHIWUM EMIGRACJI Studia – Szkice – Dokumenty Toruń, No 5/6, p 287.
  8. E-access to Prawda o Sowietach in the Biblioteka Narodowa
  9. Catalog entry in the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw
  10. WŁADYSŁAW CHOJNACKI. 1974. BIBLIOGRAFIA WYDAWNICTW POLSKICH W BRAZYLII 1892 - 1974. Przegląd Zachodni. No 2, pp 366-367.
  11. Catalog record in the Национальная библиотека Беларуси
  12. Cover and text of the 1994 edition of У капцюрох Г.П.У. Аповесць
  13. Catalog record in the Национальная библиотека Беларуси
  14. E-access: Францішак Аляхновіч У капцюрох ГПУ
  15. Catalog record in the Национальная библиотека Беларуси
  16. Brief review: Свобода 1939, No.66, p 3
  17. Second hand copy offer
  18. Used copy. NB: The title is not recorded in the catalog of the National Library of Brazil.
  19. Information on the publication of the Ukrainian translation, published in the Ukrainian-language newspaper Dilo
  20. A. Soloduch. 1938. Przeglad Wilenski. 18 Feb. Bibliografija: Alachnowicz. F. U kapciuroch G.P.U. Wilnia, 1939 <sic> (p 7).
  21. Entry in the World Catalog
  22. Information on the publisher's website
  23. Catalog entry in the Russian State Library
  24. Catalog entry in the National Library of Belarus
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