Life in Siberian exile

Daniel Beer’s book The House of the Dead talks about the use of Siberia as a prison or place of exile during the time of the tsars. It seems like this might be a dry subject but I found this book absolutely fascinating and easy to read.

Because of the climate and geography of Russia Siberia is isolated and difficult to reach. Successive leaders of the country chose to send criminals and political adversaries there to remove them from society and, hopefully, to enable them to reform by hard work and isolation. The prisoners acted as colonisers in the sparsely occupied region. Some of the prisoners were incarcerated when they reached their destination, some were forced to work in the mines and some were given freedom to farm. Many of their close families, including children, travelled with them.

This book follows the prisoners from their trials and across vast distances on foot to reach their destination – it could take years to get there. It talks about the conditions in which the prisoners were kept, their treatment and how many of those who dealt with them benefitted financially. Their conditions and treatment were often brutal and punishments could last for years. The book shows how Siberia became a place where revolution was fermented and also how Stalin used the systems of the tsars to oppress further generations of people.

The book uses lots of individual stories in its narrative and the writings of the prisoners to illustrate the points it makes. The author compares and contrasts Siberia with other areas of historical exile and then he compares what happened under the tsars with the fate of those exiled by Stalin. A fascinating study which is obviously scholarly but which is still very accessible for the general reader with an interest in history.