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Gulag movie for exhibit 1.mp4David Labkovski Project Executive Director and the artist's great-niece, Leora Raikin, describes Labkovski's experience in the Gulag and the harsh conditions he faced.
Slave Labor
Slave Labor
In 1932, Labkovski moved to Moscow and in 1936 Labkovski started training at the Art Academy in Leningrad. Later, despite being in the Red Army, Labkovski was accused of anti-Soviet behavior and taken to the Siberian Gulag, a harsh prison camp. The Gulag camp was intended to be a source of slave labor. Prisoners were forced to fell trees, dig canals, build roads, and mine.
Madison.mp4
Here the guard tower looms in the background. Labkovski is pushing a piece of equipment, possibly a wheelbarrow. The harsh labor conditions, disease, and starvation all contributed to the high death toll in the Gulag system.
ari.mp4Lack of Shelter
Lack of Shelter
Hot and humid in the summer, frigid in the winter, the barracks were not built for the extremes found in Siberia. Inmates lived in barracks without proper hygiene, in overcrowded conditions, and without comforts.
Amanda Barracks Gulag.mp4Labkovski shows himself (middle bunk) in the barracks. Notice the man above him—imagine his fortune at having the food pail, but his misfortune of exposure to the elements with his toeless shoe.
Starvation
Starvation
Labkovski survived by becoming the camp tattoo artist, receiving an extra scrap of potato in exchange for his work.
Psychological Trauma
Psychological Trauma
“The face is a picture of the mind; the eyes are its interpreter” - Cicero
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