Taganka Prison

Taganka Prison (Russian: Таганская тюрьма) was built in Moscow in 1804 by Alexander I, emperor of Russia.[1] It gained notoriety for its use as a prison for political prisoners, both by the ruling tsars and during the years of the Soviet Union, by the Communist Party.[1] During the Great Purge, the prison housed foreign enemies of the state, such as the German communist, Gustav Sobottka, Jr., as well as Russians. It played host to a mass protest in 1938 when thousands of prisoners repudiated their confessions made under torture.[2] The prison became immortalized in poems and songs dating from before the October Revolution in 1918. The prison was razed in the 1950s.[1]

Soviet 'martyr' Nikolay Bauman was beaten to death outside of Taganka Prison by a nationalist and reactionary mob upon the release of political prisoners 18 October 1905.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Katrina Marie, "Taganka: The Haunts of Intelligentsia and Blue-Collar Grit" Passport Moscow. Retrieved December 5, 2011
  2. ^ Kotkin, Stephen (2014). Stalin. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-14-313215-8. OCLC 893721553.
  3. ^ Figes, Orlando: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. The Bodley Head, London (2014). p. 195–196