JOSEF'S FORGE - 9
Copyright 2006 by Carl Mason with Ed Collins
All rights reserved. Other than downloading one copy for strictly personal enjoyment, no part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for reviews, without the written permission of the authors. However based on real events and places, "Josef's Forge" is strictly fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. As in real life, however, the sexual themes unfold gradually.
If you would like to read other Mason-Collins stories, please turn to the listing at the end of this chapter. Comments on all stories are appreciated and may be addressed to the authors at carl_mason@comcast.net.
This story contains descriptions of sexual contact between males, both adults and teenagers. As such, it is homoerotic fiction designed for the personal enjoyment of legal, hopefully mature, adults. If you are not of legal age to read such material, if those in power and/or those whom you trust treat it as illegal, or if it would create unresolvable moral dilemmas in your life, please leave. Finally, remember that maturity generally demands that anything other than safe sex is sheer insanity!
CHAPTER 9
(Revisiting Chapter 8)
"He was a friend, sir, insofar as that was possible," Josef replied (responding to a question about Droog), "though I never felt that I knew him very well." With something of a sigh and a weary shake of his head, the Colonel said, "You must continue to grow in mature caution, my young German sergeant. Your 'friend' was one of Comrade Stalin's most trusted troubleshooters, one of the legion of 'inspectors' who kept his finger on the pulse of everything going on in the Soviet Union. I only know part of the story, but I do know that he will recommend that the Soviet lieutenant who accompanied you on the search for medicinal lichens be pardoned and restored to full service. He will also recommend that you and your immediate group be granted early repatriation. We shall have to see what effect his recommendations have. Russians, respected Russians, for instance, have long called for better arrangements for our native peoples, but they are still pushed out of the way... or worse...whenever they get in the way of Russian expansion. Let us wait and see."
(Continuing Our Story - Change, the Only Constant)
As Solzhenitsyn points out, the common wisdom was that the labor camps never paid for themselves, let alone operated at a profit. The prisoners (zeks) simply didn't care; you couldn't expect either self-sacrifice or diligence from them. In the presence of the zeks, the free employees didn't care either. Secondly, having become accustomed to external direction, the prisoners lacked any sense of independence. Finally, inasmuch as security needs were paramount, everything ended up being done late and costing more. The taiga camp in which Josef and his fellow prisoners found themselves, obviously broke this rule. There was a chance combination. On the one hand, there was a soldier intent on saving his soul and the souls of his Kameraden - of, if you will, their "humanity" or "self-respect." On the other, an intelligent Commandant who was willing to compromise ideology and restrain cruelty transformed the atmosphere of the camp and generated profit. True, the model does not seem to be repeated in gulag history. Stalin's personal psychological problems and the detailed control he had over Soviet Russia overwhelmed the results.
By way of a case in point, note that the major stands of timber accessed by the original three labor camps had been pretty well exhausted by 1952. Central planners - whose decisions were micromanaged by Stalin and his inspectors - quickly decided to reestablish the camps further north in the taiga. Naturally, this would involve completely rebuilding the camps and lengthening the access road from the Trans-Siberian railroad, as well as the rail spur itself. Rather than honoring the Commandant and/or giving him a more important assignment, the Colonel was simply retired. Though not admitted until recently, this was evidently done on the direct orders of Stalin.
(Regression)
Within a period of three days, a new Commandant, together with his designated staff and guards, were installed in the camp. The former staff simply disappeared with neither ceremony nor comment. Camp conditions and procedures promptly regressed to the gulag norm. For example, work, limited by only the very worst weather, resumed in areas furthest removed from the camp. The long work day almost always had to be completed under lights. The emphasis was placed on backbreaking human labor rather than any labor-saving devices. Rations were cut to a level that Josef hadn't seen for some years. Exemptions from work could be given by camp doctors only when a convict was too weak to stand or had a life-threatening illness. To excuse a prisoner from labor for any other reason put the doctor's life in jeopardy. Prisoners who rarely did more than barely meet their quotas were reassigned to other camps, perhaps the feared gold mines of the Kolyma on the Pacific Coast or, occasionally, the uranium mines from which no one returned. Strip searches for contraband became so common that it was a rare night that didn't see the lights go on and prisoners being rousted from their pallets. The new Commandant's answer to overcrowding was to cull perhaps 100 prisoners from the general population - again commonly in the middle of the night - march them into the forest, and execute them. During the day, the guards had full authority to remove a prisoner from a work party and subject him to "interrogation." No reason had to be given. No staff member asked what went on during these sessions, and prisoners became increasingly reluctant to discuss their experiences. In fact, the slightest word of protest or even comment on what was happening in the camp stamped the prisoner as a "troublemaker." Troublemakers were watched with especial care and occasionally beaten whether or not they had broken a rule.
As might be surmised, this reign of terror resulted in high levels of depression. That is, many of the prisoners withdrew within themselves to escape a situation that they found intolerable. The members of the Squad, together with some of the other men, attempted to comfort those whose level of withdrawal seemed most dangerous to life and limb, but their ability to help was limited. Objectively speaking, the situation WAS depressing. It's difficult to slow a man down when he's running full tilt towards the rear. If the man simply turns over on his pallet and shuts out the world, ignoring entreaties and punishment alike, not too much can be done. Nor would much be done for those who lost their will to live and resorted to self-mutilation in an attempt to incapacitate themselves. Prisoners would occasionally gain access to explosives and ignite them either in a hand or a boot. Inmates who attempted this often received extra terms and were sentenced to punishment cells where they would sit without rations, heat, or medical attention. No staff member offered assistance, not even the medical section. If seen to be "interfering" in the guards' duties, they were themselves subject to severe penalties. A prisoner with a self-inflicted wound was allowed to suffer. If he survived, he survived; if he didn't, he didn't. There was little that Josef and others like him could do, but they tried...daily...and with dedication.
In the late winter, materials began to be collected for the road and railroad extensions. The camp began to look like the railhead had looked before immediately prior to the German railroad project. The Commandant was about to order work to begin simultaneously on road, railroad, and new camps when "interesting" statistics could no longer be hidden from Comrade Stalin. He immediately realized that the theretofore impressive flow of lumber products to European Russia had been reduced to a trickle...and a trickle of very poor quality, at that. He sacked the Commandant and placed Droog (now an NKVD Major) in his place.
The Major was in the process of straightening out the complete mess in the three camps for which he was responsible when news reached the camp that Stalin had died on 5 March 1953. The word was that he had wanted an immediate war with the United States for which the country was massively unprepared and which few really desired. True or not, the Soviet Union was thrown into chaos for some months. Eventually, Droog received word that all new plans had been put on "permanent hold," and the camp marked time.
(The Housing Brigade)
Josef would probably have preferred to sit tight and wait for time to clarify the situation. Nevertheless, the other men of the Squad (augmented by Erich and Bernard) found the waiting and the indecision intolerable and repeatedly pressed him to see what could be done to restore them to some type of activity. Finally, he went to speak with Droog, the Commandant. He was rather surprised to learn that the Major actually understood and sympathized with what they were experiencing. (Undoubtedly, he, too, was experiencing much the same frustration.) Droog told him of the example of Vadim Tumanov who, convicted as a counterrevolutionary, had made history when he convinced the authorities to allow him to organize a brigade of prisoners who were permitted to work unguarded. Tumanov had argued that the laborers would fulfill the government work plan more efficiently and quickly if they were freed from the harassment of nearby guards. Even though he made his point, the experiment was evidently lost on the authorities, for no other brigades of this type had been permitted!
Evidently, the new Soviet Leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was under extreme pressure to provide more housing. His answer was to provide thousands of paneled or brick three to five-story residential blocks of highly simplified design inside and out. They came to be known as "khruschovka" - in part a derogatory reference to their terrible quality, in part a sly dig at Khrushchev who was not appreciated in Russia. Droog wondered if the Squad might be interested in bringing some German technical skill and concern for quality to the project - perhaps under less direct supervision. When the Squad reacted positively, the Major said he would see what could be done.
Josef was reasonably sure that Droog's prime interest lay in becoming as well known in Khruschev's Kremlin as he had been in Stalin's. One of his greatest bargaining chips was seven prisoners who had proved for eight years that they were diligent, intelligent, and imaginative workers, at the same time that they acted properly as German prisoners of war. There is an old adage in life to the effect that a fair exchange is no robbery. Hence, in two weeks time, when Droog laid a proposal before them, they accepted it enthusiastically. In brief, they would work in the Moscow area as a "Housing Brigade" under the direct supervision of their sergeant. They would be under the joint authority of the Central Planning Office for Housing and one of Droog's
NKVD buddies (Lieutenant Konstantin Sedov) to whom they would report regularly. Additionally, they would report to Droog personally at least once every three months.
Within the week, dressed as simple Russian workers and carrying documents provided by the NKVD, they were on a westbound Trans-Siberian train headed for the Soviet capital. In Moscow, they were met by two men in civilian dress and taken to an apartment block in an outlying working class district. The flat wasn't much: a small kitchen with table and chairs, one bed and an armoire in an alcove, a decrepit bathroom, and a large living room that contained a couch, two ancient overstuffed chairs, and an end table with a lamp. (Extra bedrolls had been placed on the bed.) Shortly, they were joined by Lieutenant Sedov who, over a bottle of cheap vodka, gave them some idea of what awaited them.
They had been given an apartment with its own kitchen and bath to reduce their contact with Russians who lived in the building. Lieutenant Sedov advised them to speak in Russian, at least when outside the apartment, and to remain somewhat aloof from the other residents. (Social contacts with Russians could be dangerous, both for the Russians and for them.) Providing them with a small amount of Soviet currency for food and transportation, he told them that one of his people would be by in the morning to show them the tram routes downtown. They could purchase foodstuffs in several markets in the neighborhood. (He had followed the Major's instructions and had his men stock several days of basic food and supplies to get them going.)
The "interview" the next morning with an Assistant Director of the Housing Office was perfunctory, but interesting. The Squad would function as a mobile troubleshooting team that he would send out to a project that was not meeting its quota. They did not have the authority to command the Russian workers; rather, they were expected to "offer leadership and guidance by example". They would have a truck (that had to be garaged at the main Office complex); petrol was available at the garage. Any equipment and supplies the Sergeant needed would be made available promptly on presentation of a requisition form signed by him or his assistant. They would receive a small amount of personal money once a week from the bursar's office.
The Squad lived and worked in Moscow from the autumn of 1953 through the winter of 1954-55. During those seventeen months, their work evaluations were outstanding. Reports to their NKVD supervisors were glowing, detailing how apartment project after project that had met all sorts of problems was rescued, how the Russian workers came to respect them (and enjoy the credit and rewards all of which their advisors insisted should come to them alone), and how many of their construction and business ideas had been incorporated into Housing Office procedures.
Their personal lives were not without problems, though all agreed that they were a major improvement over life in the camp. One problem was shared with most of the young Russians. That is, housing was in such short supply that there was little hope of spending an evening at home with a date or stopping by after an evening spent elsewhere. Young men and women tended to live with their parents in "communal apartments" where dozens of people would share a single kitchen, toilet, bath, and telephone. If their parents were somewhat more important, they lived with them in their flats. Others, of course, lived in barracks when on work assignments in distant cities. One will guess that the problems for homosexual young men and women were even greater. In addition to facing the same housing problems, bars, bath houses, and other public places had long been nationalized. Bar managers and workers who wanted no trouble with the police were not at all anxious to open their facilities to those who were clearly non-conformists, let alone involved in illegal activity. As Prof. Igor Kon points out (cf., the "Gay.ru" website), homophobia and discrimination against gay and lesbian people are very much the rule in Russian culture. In the first place, it has never been a culture markedly tolerant of ANY dissident thinking or uncommon behavior, however innocent. Orthodoxy is no more positive on the subject of sex than is the religious tradition in the West; the culture is vigorously patriarchal; the general level of education, surely through the Great Patriotic War, was not high. By in large, the medical, police, and legal communities reflected their community. Homosexual activity - consensual or for money - was illegal in the Soviet Union into the 1990s. Hence, sexual liaisons were pushed into public spaces, especially public toilets, the location of which were well known to the KGB and commonly resulted in entrapment. The number of convictions grew steadily.
The Squad's answer to these conditions was...creative, if not completely successful. According to a rather complicated, rotating schedule, nights in the apartment were divided between the group and individuals. If the night were yours, you could bring a young man or woman home until midnight (when most of the trams ceased running in any case). The others had to stay well away from the apartment complex, which was no fun on cold, snowy nights! On returning, one had to try to avoid drawing the attention of others in the building. It wasn't perfect, but the plan did provide a safe and at least adequate place to entertain a young man or young woman.
Needless to say, there were some comical events, as well as some embarrassing ones. Fortunately, the young men were lifelong friends by this time. For instance, there was the night when Wolf and his young lady accidentally locked themselves in the bathroom when they went to shower shortly before midnight. (Naturally, they had left their clothes outside!) There was no way that Wolf was going to permit the noise that tearing down the bathroom would have caused! There was also the evening when Bernard decided to go cruising with Thomas, Wolf, and Gerd - something that he probably did more frequently than go with Josef, Heinz, and Erich. Just after he spotted this pretty young thing, his "buddies" took the chase out of his hands. When they went to enjoy the giggling prey, however, they found that "she" had something between her legs that didn't exactly turn them on. It was a long time before Bernard was allowed to forget a choice that his buddies always claimed couldn't have been accidental!
One of the more surprising events came on a night when Josef had wanted quiet and privacy more than he wanted sex. He was sitting in one of the few comfortable chairs, sipping on a beer, when there was a scratching at the door. Going to the door, he cracked it only to find an absolutely mortified Gerd. (The young man was blushing so hard that the doorway seemed illuminated by a pulsing red glow!) Josef dragged him inside, sat him down with a beer, and began trying to get at what was going on. The truth was anything but simple. Gerd was young, he was physical, and his general orientation remained heterosexual. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Voroshilo (the former records chief killed by one of his own men), had allowed a different side of the boy's sexual passions to spring to life and burn brightly, at last for a few minutes. When the psychological and physical scars of his experience had healed, he was left with those ignited passions. He had satisfied them with straight sex and his own hand for some years, but tonight, for some reason, that was not about to satisfy. Thus, as was the case with all members of the Squad - no matter what the subject matter - he turned to his sergeant. During the next hour, Josef showed him the difference between rape and making love. Gerd always claimed that he still preferred straight sex. Nevertheless, though it was highly dangerous at times for both of them, he turned to Josef when his desire became too great. Neither ever gave the other away, and Gerd was sufficiently circumspect that this aspect of his life was concealed from his closest buddies, Thomas and Wolf. There was one exception to this pattern. On rare occasion, Gerd would experience an overwhelming urge to have something (much) larger up him than Josef could supply. At that point, initially with Josef's help, he would turn to Heinz who had fairly small hands and forearms and, thus, could fist him before fucking him. Once again demonstrating love and respect for their small band of brothers, the two young men carried Gerd's secret to their graves.
In late February of 1955, Lieutenant Sedov delivered a message to Josef. On the next night, the Squad should remain at home. Droog had said that he wanted to speak with them.
To Be Continued
DATES OF LAST POSTING IN NIFTY
Archived in Gay/Historical Unless Otherwise Noted
OUT OF THE RUBBLE (32 Chapters): 10-22-04. CASTLE MARGARETHEN (9 Cs): 12-24-04. THE PRIEST & THE PAUPER (12 Cs): 3-10-05. HIGH PLAINS DOCTOR (12 Cs): 4-25-05. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY (9 Cs): 6-13-05. HOBO TEEN (12 Cs): 8-23-06. YOUNG JEREMY TAYLOR (9 Cs): 9-25-06 (posted in Sci-Fi/Fantasy). STREETS OF NEW YORK (10 Cs): 12-06-06. JOSEF'S FORGE (10 Cs): Posting. PROFESSOR KENYON (10 Cs): In queue.