By:

Adam Longhofer

Political Prisoners of the Cold War

Conditions of holding facilities and the treatment of their prisoners has been an issue throughout the world for thousands of years, weather it be locations around medieval Europe or current locations in North Korea. The Soviet Union’s treatment of their political prisoners was no different.

The treatment of political prisoners of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era contributed to strained diplomatic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union resulting in reluctant, or no negotiations, diplomacy, or prisoner exchange, and helped to seclude the Soviet Union from the rest of the world.

The Soviet Union has never had a reputation of fair and humane treatment of any of its’ prisoners, their system of forced labor camps or Gulag, was known for its’ officials’ brutality, and its’ terrible living conditions. Conditions in Soviet facilities violated international standards of treatment of prisoners.

The fatality rate per year was as much as 80% of inmates brought into Gulag facilities. Extreme production requirements, brutality, hunger, and harsh elements were major causes of the gulags high fatality rate. The most common productive activities for prisoners were mining and logging.

Even their own local criminals such as thieves, murderers, or any other common criminals were sent here. The majority of these prisoners were nationalist men and women who spoke out or demonstrated against their communist government.

Ivan Kovalev, A Russian human rights activist, could not handle the physical labor amount required daily from prisoners in the Gulag. Authorities punished him even though soviet regulation did not allow punishment of prisoners who were putting their best effort fourth. After his punishment he refused to do any more work, as a punishment for this, he was confined to a secluded punishment cell with insufficient rations. He eventually won his protest and was no longer forced to work.

Approximately 1/3 of all soviet political prisoners were imprisoned it soviet psychiatric hospitals. Because of their abuse of psychiatry, they were forced to withdraw from the World Psychiatric Association in 1983. An example of them further secluding themselves from the rest of the world.

In 1960, U-2 pilot Gary Powers went on a flight in USSR airspace on a reconnaissance mission, at 70,000 feet, Soviet surface to air missiles(SAM) could not reach the aircraft. Four hours into the mission the auto-pilot in the aircraft failed, the only way to control the U-2 was to bring it down in altitude substantially, low enough for a SAM to explode close enough to blow off the tail fin of Powers aircraft. He bailed out and as soon as he reached the ground he was captured by Soviet officials.

During his captivity, Powers was subjected to brutal interrogations at the infamous Lubyanka(KGB) Prison. For a week, on May 7th, Soviet Premier Nikita, Khrushchev announce that he had a live pilot, Eisenhower had previously said that a weather research aircraft had strayed into soviet airspace and had gone missing. Being caught in a lie Eisenhower agreed in a 1960 summit meeting that there would be no future flights. Khrushchev left angrily because the US president would not apologize for this intrusion of his nation, and even told Russian courts to give no leniency to Powers. He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to ten years, though he only served eighteen months before being exchanged for Rudolf Abel on the Glienicke Bridge.

In months prior to the spy plane incident, Eisenhower and Krushchev had high regards for one another, after meeting Eisenhower, Krushchev was as he said, captivated by the presidents love for peace. Positive negotiations were expected at the Summit of Paris. After the spy plane incident, Planned talks of disarmament lasted two days before collapsing when the Krimlin stormed out after the president refused to apologize. Tensions heightened after the U2 accident, and further escalated during the Kennedy/Krushchev era. The next couple years brought the United States Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and The Cubin Missile Crisis in 1962.

the treatment of political prisoners in the Soviet union during the Cold War era did contribute to the strained diplomatic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and also resulted in reluctant, or no negotiations, helping to seclude the Soviet Union from the rest of the world, but did not have any impact on prisoner exchange.