Objects

A pass to a restricted store of the Gulag camp of the NKVD USSR, number 833. A document without a photo; with a triangular seal with a five-pointed Soviet star in the upper right corner of the first page. On the page four, visible notes in pencil (illegible or difficult to read), made with a copy pencil, with dates - these are most likely of using the pass. Why did Artur Włodawer have such a pass in the labor camp? He was assigned a high position among the prisoners working in the labor camp, in administration, as Paulina Włodawer mentions in her diary: “A group of, let's say, intellectuals with unhelpful professions (lawyers, manufacturers, etc.) were sent for several weeks of training to work in administration. In this group, Dad was one of the very few who really knew this type of work, and of course he was immediately a top student (probably hereditary fate of the Włodawers!). [...] after placing trained people in the administration, Dad was given the highest position, as he probably knew this kind of job best. He also had the highest salary, five hundred rubles at the time, ten percent of which were deducted "for the maintenance of the camp" (!). Therefore, father had a large group of subordinates, to whom he had to assign various functions '' (MPOLIN-A4.1.1, entries of 3 November and 24 November 1980).