Grigory Ivanovich Grigoryev

 Grigory Ivanovich Grigoryev

“Grigory Ivanovich, who was no longer young, grew stronger in camp; his earlier rheumatism of the joints disappeared completely, and he became particularly healthy after the typhus from which he recovered: in winter he went out in cotton sacks, making holes in them for his head and his hands- and he did not catch a cold! So wouldn't it be more correct to say that no camp can corrupt those who have a stable nucleus.”- (page 318–319)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has interesting stories about righteous Christian individuals who decided to persevere in Soviet Russia without being corrupted. We learn that Grigory was an older individual who had decided to remain loyal to his conscience being able to work hard rather than take the easy way out. We learn that Grigory would decide to work hard jobs in gulag rather than the easy jobs in exchange for becoming corrupt. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, having been a Lenin socialist in the past, initially could not understand how righteous individuals could actually thrive and prosper despite the adversity. Righteous individuals decided to be righteous rather than corrupt and improved despite opposition from the socialists. Such is the story of Grigory.

Grigory was a soil scientist who volunteered for the People's Volunteer Corps. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and spent time in a German camp. He was allowed to return to Russia and was sent to gulag by the Soviet Bolsheviks for having been captured by the Germans. We learn that the Soviet Bolsheviks instead of helping their returning brethren from the POW camps, they decided to send them to gulag. In gulag, he was approached by Soviet Bolsheviks to recruit him to be an informant. Grigory denied the idea of becoming an informant and was sent to a penalty camp. Grigory decided to persevere with hard work in gulag rather than get a soft job being an informant falsely accussing fellow Russians.

He was later offered the opportunity to be a brigadier, an individual that was in charge of leading the gulag workers yet also required berating and being hostile to others. Grigory decided against such position and decided to till the land and scythe with enthusiasm. He worked hard and kept persevering. He was then moved to be the work checker of a quarry and refused to be given that position because he would have to fabricate information. It was common that the work reports of gulag were heavily falsified and fabricated. There were instances when a large number of people died from freezing cold weather in different camps, and the work reporters who reported the work of gulag would write that no one died. The amount of work taking place in gulag also was falsified. Grigory did not want to speak lies and instead negated that work assignment. Grigory decided to break rocks along with other gulag individuals rather than speak lies.

He was allowed to process the potatoes and vegetables with the vegetable storeroom brigade, and never stole. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described that it was very common that individuals would steal from the storeroom because the food given in gulag was minimal, not nutritious, and also did not contain the calories required to sustain individuals in the sub-arctic weather. Grigory did not steal anything despite there being the opportunity to. Despite the adversity, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described that Grigory actually improved and became better with time. He became stronger, grew healthier, and even could work in freezing weather without developing a cold. Initially, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn could not believe how individuals could persevere with such zealous integrity, yet became aware that the worship of GOD Almighty is how individuals can persevere despite everything.