“Zeks” of Perm-36

"Zeks" of Perm-36

Vasyl Stus was one of three of the most prominent dissidents of the camp. He was a Ukrainian poet, nominated by Heinrich Boll for the Nobel Prize in 1985. He died at Perm-36, a month before the prize was awarded. The exact cause of his death is still a mystery.

Another Zek, Levko Lukyanenko, was also well-known. A lawyer by profession, he created the underground organization, the Ukrainian Working Class and Peasant’s Union. His goal was to hold a referendum on Ukrainian self-determination, as defined by the constitution.

Levko was sentenced to death for his activism, but ultimately given clemency - 15 years in prison. Upon his release, he worked for the Helsinki Ukraine Group, and was sent back to the Gulag for 10 more years in the camps and 5 years of exile. In 1991, he authored the law that gave the Ukraine independence.

Lithuanian Balis Gayauskas spent over 38 years in camps and prisons. He was first arrested by the Nazis in 1943, when he was a student. Four years later, he was seized by the KGB and thrown into a Soviet concentration camp where he was held for 25 years.

After his release, he became a human rights advocate, and was sentenced to 10 years in the camps and 5 years exile. Released in 1991, he was instrumental in saving the KGB archives in Vilnes from destruction. Between 1992 and 1996, he worked to create a new state security committee in Lithuania.

Other activists such as Natan Sharansky, Sergei Kovalyov, and the writer Vladimir Bukovsky were among the over 2,000 dissidents and artists imprisoned at Perm-36 in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

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"Zeks" of Perm-36