“LET ARMAGEDDON COME!”

Many brothers and sisters spent long periods of time in prison cells. Grigory Gatilov spent 15 years in prison. He recalls: “My last prison had a romantic name: It was called The White Swan. It was located in a picturesque area in the Caucasus at the top of one of five mountains with the resort town of Pyatigorsk spread out between them. In this prison, I had the opportunity to share the truth with various people for an entire year. My cell was a wonderful preaching ‘territory,’ and I didn’t even have to go anywhere. The prison wardens brought new people into the cell and after a few days took them away, but I always remained. Only seldom would they take me to another cell. I tried to give everyone a thorough witness about Jehovah’s Kingdom. Many people had questions about Armageddon. Some prisoners were surprised that someone could spend so much time in prison for his faith. ‘Why don’t you deny your faith and go home?’ asked fellow prisoners and sometimes even the wardens. I was happy whenever one of them would show a sincere interest in the truth. One time I saw that someone had scrawled on the walls of a cell, ‘Let Armageddon come!’ Although in itself, life in prison had little joy, I was happy that I could speak about the truth.”

“ARE THERE ANY JONADABS HERE?”

Many Christian sisters zealous in Jehovah’s service also spent time in the camps. (Ps. 68:11) Zinaida Kozyreva recalls how the sisters displayed love toward one another and toward imprisoned non-Witnesses: “In 1959, less than a year after my baptism, Vera Mikhailova, Lyudmila Yevstafyeva, and I were taken to a camp in Kemerovo, Siberia. The camp held 550 prisoners. Several women were standing at the entrance when we arrived.

“‘Are there any Jonadabs here?’ they asked.

“We realized that these were our dear sisters. They quickly fed us and began to ask us questions. They radiated warmth and heartfelt love, which I had never experienced in my own family. Knowing that we were new to the camp, these sisters became our support. (Matt. 28:20) Soon it was clear to us that the spiritual feeding program here was very well organized.

“We became a true family. It was especially nice during the summer when we would harvest hay. The camp administration had no fears that we would run away or break the camp rules. A single soldier would stand guard over 20 or 25 sisters, although, in fact, we guarded him! Whenever someone would approach, we would wake him up so that he wouldn’t be punished for sleeping on the job. While he slept, we discussed spiritual topics during our breaks. It was a good arrangement both for him and for us.

“Late in 1959 some of the sisters and I were sent to a high-security camp. We were put into a cold cell that had a window without any glass. We slept on boards during the night and worked during the day. The authorities assigned us the task of sorting vegetables, and they watched our behavior. Soon, upon becoming convinced that we did not steal like the other inmates, they brought us some hay to sleep on and put glass in the window. We spent a year there, after which all the sisters were sent to a minimum-security camp in Irkutsk.

“This camp contained about 120 sisters. We spent one year and three months there. The first winter was intensely cold and had much snow. We did hard physical labor at the timber plant. The foremen searched us often, looking for literature. It seemed that this was their only way of passing the time. We had already learned the art of hiding our literature, sometimes too well. Once, Vera and I hid pieces of paper with the day’s text so well that we could not find them in our own work jackets. But a foreman found them, and Vera and I were sent to a solitary-confinement cell for five days. It was colder than 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit outside, and frost covered the walls of the unheated cell.

“There were small concrete shelves in the cell that were only big enough to sit on. When we got very cold, we tucked our legs against the wall, sat with our backs together, and fell asleep that way. Waking up suddenly, we would jump up for fear of freezing to death in our sleep. We were given a glass of hot water and 10 ounces [300 g] of black bread per day. Despite this, we were happy since Jehovah gave us ‘power beyond what is normal.’ (2 Cor. 4:7) The sisters were especially kind to us when it was time to return to the barracks. They prepared hot food beforehand and heated water so that we could wash ourselves.”

“ABLE TO GET ALONG WITH OTHERS”

Zinaida continues: “It was difficult to preach in this camp because there were few prisoners and everyone knew the Witnesses. The principle behind 1 Peter 3:1 was pertinent to this situation. Preaching without words is what we called it. We kept our barracks clean and orderly and were friendly and close in our relations with one another. (John 13:34, 35) Moreover, we were on good terms with non-Witnesses. We tried to behave in the way taught by God’s Word and were attentive to the needs of others. Sometimes we would help a non-Witness in various ways. One sister, for example, willingly helped other prisoners who needed to do any mathematical calculations. Many people realized that Jehovah’s Witnesses were different from people of other faiths.

“In 1962 we were transferred out of the camp in Irkutsk and taken to one in Mordvinia. Here too we tried to present a neat appearance and practice good personal hygiene. Our beds were always clean and neatly made. About 50 prisoners lived in our barracks, mostly our sisters. Only the sisters cleaned the barracks, since the other prisoners did not like to do such work. The floors of the barracks were always washed and sanded, and the camp administration gave us the necessary supplies. The nuns who were in the barracks with us refused to clean and the intellectuals were unwilling, so our living conditions depended mostly on our own labors. Whenever one of the sisters was freed, it was noted in her character report that she was ‘adaptable and able to get along with others.’”

TALL FLOWERS PROVIDE A RELIABLE COVER

“Once,” says Zinaida, “several sisters wrote home asking for seeds for flowers with big blooms. We told the administration that we wanted to plant some pretty flowers and asked if some rich, black soil could be brought into the camp for this purpose. To our surprise, they enthusiastically agreed. We planted flower beds along the barracks and made long pathways lined with flowers. Soon the camp had thick clusters of long-stemmed roses, sweet Williams, and other beautiful and, more important, tall flowers. Gorgeous dahlias and thick clusters of tall daisies in different colors bloomed in the central flower bed. We walked there, studied the Bible behind the flowers, and hid literature in the luxuriant rosebushes.

“Meetings were held while we walked. We organized ourselves into groups of five. Each of us sisters memorized one of five paragraphs from a Bible publication in advance. Then, after an opening prayer, we would recite our paragraphs in turn and discuss them. After the concluding prayer, we continued our walk. Our Watchtower magazines were made in the form of tiny booklets [like the one shown in the photo on page 161]. Every day we studied something, especially the daily text, and recited paragraphs for our meetings, which we held three times a week. Not only that, we tried to learn whole chapters of the Bible by heart and repeated them to one another to strengthen ourselves. In that way, we were not unduly concerned if during a search the authorities happened to confiscate our literature.

“Though the camp administration tried to find out through the other prisoners how our activities were organized in the camp, many prisoners were favorable to us. Living with us in the same barracks was Olga Ivinskaya, companion of the famous poet and writer Boris Pasternak, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was a writer, and since she was favorably disposed toward us, she was delighted at how well the Witnesses were organized. Jehovah gave us wisdom, especially so that we could have spiritual food among ourselves.”​—Jas. 3:17.

“ENOUGH OF YOU ALREADY!”

“The literature came to us in various ways,” continues Zinaida. “It was often evident that Jehovah himself was overseeing the process, as he had promised us: ‘I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.’ (Heb. 13:5) Sometimes he simply blinded the eyes of the guards. One time in winter when our work brigade entered the camp through the gates, the guards searched us as usual by having us remove all our clothes. I came in last, carrying fresh literature under two pairs of trousers.

“Because it was cold, I was wearing as many layers as an onion! First, the forewoman searched my winter coat, then a sleeveless quilted jacket underneath it. I decided to drag out the process in hopes that she would get tired of it. I slowly took off one sweater and then another one. While she searched them carefully, I slowly took off several scarves, then a vest, then one shirt, and another. There remained two pairs of trousers and my felt boots. I slowly took off one boot and then the other and then just as slowly, started taking off the top pair of trousers. I then thought: ‘What should I do now? If she tells me to take off the bottom pair, I will have to dash away and throw the literature to the sisters.’ As soon as I took off the first pair of trousers, the forewoman screamed irritably: ‘Enough of you already! Get out of here!’ I quickly dressed and ran into the camp.

“Where did we get the literature? The brothers would leave it at a place agreed on beforehand, and we would take turns getting it and bringing it into the camp. Once the literature was in the camp, we hid it in a secure place, which we changed now and then. We were also constantly duplicating literature by hand and hiding the copies away. We worked under blankets by the light of a streetlight coming through the window; we let the light in through a small opening in the blankets. We always kept ourselves busy so as not to waste a single minute. Even when we went to the mess hall, each of us carried a piece of paper with a scripture on it.”

I Was the Only Witness Left in the Camp

KONSTANTIN SKRIPCHUK

BORN 1922

BAPTIZED 1956

PROFILE He learned the truth in 1953 in a labor camp and was baptized there in 1956. He spent 25 continuous years imprisoned as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He died in 2003.

I MET a brother named Vasily early in 1953 in a prison cell. He said that he had ended up there for his faith in God. I could not understand how someone could be put in prison for his beliefs. This disturbed me so much that I couldn’t sleep. The next day he explained the matter. Gradually, I became convinced that the Bible is a book from God.

In 1956, I was baptized. At the end of that year, the foremen made a search and found that we had a large amount of Bible literature. The investigations went on for almost a year, and in 1958 the court sentenced me to 23 years for religious activity. By that time, I had already spent five and a half years in the camps. The entire time, 28 years and 6 months, I served without once tasting freedom.

In April 1962 the court pronounced me “an especially dangerous offender,” and I was transferred to a maximum-security camp, where I spent 11 years. There were many things that made this kind of camp “special.” For example, the food allowance per person was 11 kopecks a day, less than the amount needed to buy a loaf of bread at that time. At a height of 6 feet 3 inches [192 cm], I weighed only 130 pounds [59 kg]. My skin shriveled up and fell off in scales.

Since I was a good construction worker, I was often sent to do repairs at the officials’ apartments. No one feared me, and the residents didn’t bother to hide their belongings in the apartments. When the wife of one official learned that I would work on their apartment, she didn’t take her six-year-old son to kindergarten. It was an interesting scene: an “especially dangerous offender” spending the entire day alone in an apartment with a six-year-old child! It was clear that no one believed that I was a criminal, let alone an “especially dangerous” one.

Gradually, all the brothers in our camp were freed. In 1974, I was the only Witness left in the camp. I stayed there for seven more years until I was freed in August 1981. Jehovah continued to support me spiritually. How? For those seven years, I received The Watchtower in letters. One brother regularly sent me these letters, containing neatly handwritten articles from a new issue. Each time, the camp censor handed me the letter already opened. We both knew the exact contents of the letter. To this day, I am not sure what motivated him to take such a risk, but I am glad that he worked there for the entire seven years. Most of all, I am grateful to Jehovah. During all those years, I learned to trust in Jehovah and received strength from him.​—1 Pet. 5:7.