4. The Dance Hall
I sat in the bedbug-infested cell for three days, and on the fourth they led us all out into the corridor. The neighboring cells also opened, and prisoners were led out of them as well. In all, about sixty people were gathered. They counted everyone and led us somewhere through underground passages. The underground passage ended in a large hall.
The hall was rectangular, large, about fifteen meters long and seven meters wide. Almost in the middle of the hall stood a low long bench, its base cast into the concrete floor. Near this bench stood two prison barbers from among the criminals. In the left corner of the hall stood three wardens with a bucket. A stick was lowered into the bucket.
When we were all standing in the hall, one of the wardens began to explain: “Now you will all get haircuts; you must have no hair. But before you are cut, you will all undergo disinfection.”
Everyone buzzed; it was clear many knew what this was. “You will be cut,” the warden continued, “only after you are smeared with this divine solution. I’d smear myself, but there won’t be enough for you,” the warden started joking. “And now everyone undress!” he yelled, “before everyone is smeared, no one will go to the shower. The faster you get smeared, the faster you get to the shower. It will depend on you how long you’ll have to dance in this hall.”
The prisoners undressed. I didn’t see how the first ones approached; I was in the middle, but when it was my turn, about ten prisoners were already screaming and writhing as they sat on the benches while being cut one by one.
It got to my turn. “On what grounds are you doing this?” I asked, “Why do you torment people?”
“By law you have no right to cut hair before the sentence is approved, and I am still under investigation,” I said. The bath chief, without looking at me, shouted:
“There’s some idiot here, give him more.” A warden ran up to me and began smearing my back and neck. Almost immediately after I was smeared, I felt cold; gradually this cold turned into unbearable burning; after two or three minutes it seemed that my body was being torn to shreds. This pain filled me entirely; it spread throughout my whole body, filling my consciousness. My consciousness worked only to free itself from this pain.
I tried to maintain my dignity, tried not to scream; my breath was caught, but involuntarily a groan escaped from my chest. During this procedure, several more wardens entered with clubs and dogs.
I, already barely thinking, was being cut, and before my eyes flashed naked people writhing, squatting, jumping, and screaming. Near me, a toothless old man fainted in a swoon; clearly a weak heart.
To the right of the wardens who were smearing the prisoners, a door opened. Some saw that showers were working there and rushed in, knocking down anyone in their way. After a dozen seconds, others were already running after them. A living jam formed near the door. The door was narrow, and there were many wishing to slip through. The strong knocked down the weak, ran over them; some crawled. It was a terrible scene.
I also ended up in the shower room. As soon as the first prisoners ran under the shower, the water was turned off, and when almost everyone had run in, only a single stream of water flowed. People again rushed under that stream, knocking down and trampling each other, and thus only hindering each other.
And at that time, in the doorway of the shower room stood the wardens, laughing. They were having great fun. And finally, the water was turned back on. People began to wash off the solution and come to their senses. The warden who had fainted, the wardens washed off themselves with a hose.
That was kaberne. For another three days after it I felt pain, not to the same degree, but the pain remained inside. After a few days my skin began to peel. After the kaberne, everyone was led back to their old cells. I again ended up in the bedbug cell, but I didn’t stay there long.
In small groups of five or six people, we were called out and led to the medical commission. They photographed us, took fingerprints, and then back to the bedbug cell. And only toward the evening of that day they began to distribute us among cells.
No similar articles