Tag #148322 - Interview #95114 (Lazar Sherishevskiy)

I took part in amateur concerts writing reprises and songs. There was a cultural education unit in the camp. A civilian was in charge of it. There was also an ensemble of prisoners from Moscow region. There were professional musicians there. They toured to camps in Moscow region giving concerts.  In early 1947 their truck was hit by a train and many prisoners died.  I was invited to  the ensemble to be in charge of the literature unit. In spring 1947 I was assigned to this ensemble. We rehearsed during the day and went on concerts in the evening. I didn’t always go to concerts.  I got to know that there was a camp near the Krymskiy Bridge in the center of Moscow. There was a number of camps in Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, present Leninsky Prospekt – it’s called Academstroy: all scientific institutes, big houses and  the University were built by prisoners. Solzhenitsyn [34] was a parquet floor worker there. By the way, in his book ‘Archipelag Gulag’ he described a concert of our ensemble in his camp. We staged play and concerts.