title: The Day Will Pass Away: The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard: 1935-1936
author: Ivan Chistyakov
description: Lacking the overt arc of a plotted narrative, this diary nonetheless conveys the increasing hopelessness of life at a forced-labor camp. Chistyakov provides a singular account from a category of gulag witnesses whose voices have rarely been heardthose who were neither the main victims nor the instigators of a brutal system but its unwilling enforcers, doomed to bit parts in both roles.<br /> - <strong><em>Minneapolis Star Tribune</em></strong><br /><br />A chilling, revealing diary of a reluctant gulag prison guard. A singular crack inside the gulag system.<br /> - <strong><em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong><br /><br />Straightforward and ever-interesting.<br /> - <strong><em>Publishers Weekly</em></strong><br /><br />Owing to its relative scarcity, a diary from a guard at a Gulag during Joseph Stalins Soviet reign will attract readers and researchers seeking primary documents from that era.<br /> - <strong><em>Library Journal</em></strong>
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  Table of Contents
  
  [Title Page](index_split_000.html#filepos300)
  
  [Dedication](index_split_002.html#filepos7464)
  
  [Acknowledgments](index_split_004.html#filepos12092)
  
  [Praise](index_split_003.html#filepos8453)
  
  [Introduction](index_split_005.html#filepos17386)
  
  [PART ONE - THE ORIGINS OF THE GULAG,
  1917—1939](index_split_006.html#filepos90932)
  
  [Chapter 1 - BOLSHEVIK BEGINNINGS](index_split_007.html#filepos91707)
  
  [Chapter 2 - “THE FIRST CAMP OF THE
  GULAG”](index_split_008.html#filepos135883)
  
  [Chapter 3 - 1929: THE GREAT TURNING
  POINT](index_split_009.html#filepos199788)
  
  [Chapter 4 - THE WHITE SEA CANAL](index_split_010.html#filepos246718)
  
  [Chapter 5 - THE CAMPS EXPAND](index_split_011.html#filepos285954)
  
  [Chapter 6 - THE GREAT TERROR AND ITS
  AFTERMATH](index_split_012.html#filepos333974)
  
  [PART TWO - LIFE AND WORK IN THE CAMPS](index_split_013.html#filepos400894)
  
  [Chapter 7 - ARREST](index_split_014.html#filepos401658)
  
  [Chapt