1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: in History Class, a podcast for folks who can never 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: have enough history knowledge. Today's February twelve. The day was 5 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: February twelve, nineteen seventy four, Russian author Alexander Solja Neetson 6 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: was arrested, charged with treason, and stripped of his citizenship. 7 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: The year prior, Solja Neetson had published The Gulag Archipelago, 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: a book on the communist Soviet forced labor camp system. 9 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: Solja Neetson was born in nineteen eighteen in Russia, the 10 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: year after the Russian Revolution took place and the Russian 11 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: Civil War began. He was raised by his mother as 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: his father was killed in an accident. He studied at 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: the University of Rostov, majoring in zigs and mathematics. It 14 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: was in the nineteen forties when he began to get 15 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: negative attention from Soviet authorities. During World War Two, Solja 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: Neetson was drafted into the Soviet Union's Red Army. In 17 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: nineteen he was arrested for writing letters to a friend 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: that criticized Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He spent the next 19 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: eight years in prison in labor camps for political prisoners. 20 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: His sentence ended in nineteen fifty three, and his first 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: day without armed guard was March five, the same day 22 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: that Stalin died. But after he served his sentence, he 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: was sent into exile for life in Kazakhstan. There he 24 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: taught math and physics and wrote poems, plays, sketches, and 25 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: a novel. In the following years, Solja Neetson underwent treatment 26 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: for cancer and survived. He began writing down the experiences 27 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: he had as a prisoner. Nikita Khrushchev, the new Soviet premier, 28 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: denounced Dalin. Sol Jannetson was then freed from exile, and 29 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: he moved back to Russia, where he continued teaching and writing. 30 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: His novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, 31 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: about life in one of Stalin's labor camps, was published 32 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: in the Soviet literary journal no Vimir in November of 33 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two. The novel was popular with Soviet readers 34 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: for the way it depicted that everyday struggles of life 35 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: in a forced labor camp. The book inspired others to 36 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: depict their own hardships in Soviet labor camps and gained 37 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: a global audience. It was, however, controversial, as sol Jetson 38 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: was accused of being anti Soviet. The book aggravated the 39 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: rift between anti Stalinists and conformists. Khrushchev fell from power 40 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four, sol Janson was increasingly targeted by 41 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: authorities as he continued to write short stories and denounce 42 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: government policies. After nineteen sixty seven, his work wasn't wish 43 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: again in the Soviet Union until nineteen ninety. For years, 44 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: the KGB, the Soviet Union's security agency, collected information about 45 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: him and seized his writing as he was deemed an 46 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: enemy of the state. In nineteen sixty nine, Soljian Netson 47 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers. The next year, 48 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: Soljia Neatson won the Nobel Prize for Literature for quote 49 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable 50 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: traditions of Russian literature, but Soviet authorities did not let 51 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: him go to the awards ceremony. They continued to harass him, 52 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: with the KGB even attempting to assassinate him with rice 53 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: in in nineteen seventy one, but he continued to publish 54 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: his work. In nineteen seventy three, he published The Gulag 55 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: Archipelago abroad after the KGB seized a copy of the 56 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: manuscript in the Soviet Union. The word Gulag refers to 57 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: the network of labor camps in the Soviet Union. The 58 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: book provides a record of the arrest, interrogation, conviction, and 59 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: imprisonment of people in the system, along with Soljia Neatson's 60 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: personal accounts. The Soviet press denounced him as a trader, 61 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: and on February twelveth nineteen seventy four, he was arrested 62 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: and charged with treason. The next day, he was exiled 63 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: from the Soviet Union. He proceeded to travel throughout Europe, 64 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: and by nineteen seventy six he had settled in the US. 65 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: He lived in the US until nineteen ninety four, when 66 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: he returned to Russia after the Soviet Union dissolved. Back 67 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: in Russia, he praised the leadership of President Vladimir Putin. 68 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: He died in Moscow in two thousand eight, remembered for 69 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: writing works that criticized the Soviet Union and communism and 70 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: revealed the conditions people faced in the forced labor camp system. 71 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: I'm Eve chef COO and hopefully you know a little 72 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you've 73 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: seen any good history means lately, you can send them 74 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: to us on social media at T D I h 75 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: C podcast, or if you want to get a little 76 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: more fancy, you can send us an email at this 77 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: day at i heart media dot com. Thanks for tuning in, 78 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: and we'll see you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from 79 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 80 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.