Way of the Cross of Cornelius Growth
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| Russian name | Escape from the Gulag |
| original name | So weit die Füße tragen de |
| AlterNaz | As long as they carry their feet As far as my feet will carry me |
| Genre | drama |
| Director | Hardy Martins |
| Producer | Jimmy S. Gerum Hardy Martins |
| Screenwriter | Bernd Schwam Bastian Cleve Hardy Martins based on the novel by Josef Martin Bauer |
| actors | Bernhard Betterman Anatoly Kotenev Michael Mendl Irina Pantaeva |
| Operator | Pavel Lebeshev |
| Artist | Valentin Gidulyanov Igor Shchelokov |
| Composer | Eduard Artemiev |
| Company | Cascadeur Filmproduktion GmbH Blue-International |
| Budget | 15 million DEM |
| The country | Germany Russia |
| Time | 158 min. |
| Year | 2001 |
| Goskino_id | 18409 |
| imdb_id | 0277327 |
"Escape from the Gulag"(de So weit die Füße tragen) - a 2001 film by Nado=Escape from the Gulag Nado=Bauer, Josef Martin, telling about the wanderings of a German prisoner in Russia and Asia.
Plot
After the Great Patriotic War, the German officer Clemens Forel, who was captured by the Soviet Union, was sentenced to 25 years of corrective labor and served his sentence in Chukotka, on Cape Dezhnev (the very north-east of Russia).
After four years of hard work in the mines, he escaped from the camp in 1949. Hiding from the NKVD, the former military traveled through Siberia and Central Asia to the border with Iran. In his desire for freedom, he covered a huge distance (more than 14,000 km in total, and more than 12,000 km across the territory of the USSR), spending 3 years on this. In the end, he returned home to his family.
We will never know how many people fell victim to the building of communism between the October Revolution of 1917 and Stalin's death in March 195...
From the publisher
“For three years he walked through all of Siberia and Central Asia. He covered 14 thousand kilometers, and each step could be his last.
Cornellius Growth
The main character's name, Clemens Forel, is fictitious. The real prototype of the protagonist was named Cornelius Rost (de Cornelius Rost, 1922-1983). The author of the novel, Josef Martin Bauer, used a different name due to concerns about possible problems with the KGB after the book was published in 1955. Meanwhile, the story of Rost's misadventures began to be criticized over time.
The only reliable facts are that Rost was born on March 27, 1919 in Kufstein in Austria. When World War II began, Rost lived in Munich. He also returned there after the conclusion and began working in the printing house of Franz Ehrenwirt. However, during his stay in the concentration camp, he developed color blindness, due to which he ruined a lot of covers. Ehrenwirth decided to find out the reason for such an indisposition and, having heard the story of Rost, asked him to write it down, but the original text of Rost was very poorly and sparingly written, which is why Ehrenwirth, interested in this story, hired a professional writer Josef Martin Bauer to finish the text of Rost to mind. Cornellius Rost died on October 18, 1983 and was buried in the Munich Central Cemetery. His real identity was made public only 20 years after his death, when Ehrenwirth's son Martin told everything to radio journalist Arthur Dietelmann when he was preparing a material on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bauer's birth.
The same Dietelmann in 2010 on the air of the Bavarian radio for three hours cited various results of his research on the history of Growth, from which it turned out that Bauer's novel has a bunch of inconsistencies. In particular, according to the Munich registration office, the USSR officially released Rost on October 28, 1947, which does not fit with Bauer's novel, in which Clemens Forel escapes in 1949 and wanders until 1952. Clemens Forel himself in the novel bears the rank of an Officer of the Wehrmacht, while Cornellius Rost, according to his documents of 1942, was a simple private. Finally, the novel had geographical and historical errors: the text states that the prisoner-of-war camp in which Clemens Forel was kept was located on Cape Dezhnev, but in reality there were never any camps (including during the period described). And at the beginning of the text it is reported that Forel participated in the March of the Prisoners in Moscow, but Rost calls the street along which he and his comrades were led Nevsky Prospekt.
Cast
film crew
- Script writers:
- Bernd Schwam
- Bastian Cleve
- Hardy Martins
- Story by: Josef Martin Bauer (novel)
- Directed by: Hardy Martins
- Director of Photography: Pavel Lebeshev
- Sound engineer: Sergey Chuprov
- Composer: Eduard Artemiev
- Art directors:
- Valentin Gidulyanov
- Igor Shchelokov
- Costume designer: Tatyana Konotopova
- Producers:
- Jimmy S. Gerum
- Hardy Martins
Prizes and awards
- 2002 - Milan International Film Festival - Best Production Design - Valentin Gidulyanov
Other facts
- The film contains profanity
- Both grandfathers of the actor Bernhard Betterman, who played the main character, were sent to Soviet camps at the end of World War II.
- In one of the episodes, Forel's daughter looks at a map showing Europe within its current borders and the modern names of Russian cities (St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod), although the action takes place in 1949
- Kamenev, approaching Chita, looks at a map showing the city of Rudensk and the village of Druzhny (Minsk region), which were built in the 80s
- The actions of the Central Asian part of the film take place in the city of Mary
"Escape from the Gulag"
While talking, the hunters remembered the movie "Escape from the Gulag" and the main character Clemens Trout. One elderly hunter from Germany, who spoke quite decently in Russian, suddenly announced that he was the nephew of Cornellius Rost, who served as the prototype for Clemens Forel.
Growth described all the events that happened to him, and the journalist Josef Bauer, based on his manuscript, created the bestseller “While My Feet Walk” in 1955, which became a sensation in Germany. Cornellius Rost then chose to remain anonymous, and Bauer gave him a fictitious name - Clemens Trout.
The book was translated into 15 languages and several television and film films were staged on it (in the Russian box office, the film “While My Feet Walk” was called “Escape from the Gulag”). The story of the incredible misadventures of the fugitive was known to millions of people.
Road to Calvary
At all times, the fate of prisoners of war was unenviable, and in some cases deadly. Wehrmacht Lieutenant Cornellius Rost found himself in this position at the end of World War II. The prisoners are not told where and why they are being taken.
Freight wagons stuffed with prisoners of war rolled east from Moscow in October 1945 across the vast expanses of Russia. They gave little food and water, an icy Siberian wind blew, many could not stand the hardships of the journey and died.
Two months later, at the roll call in Chita, of the 3,000 prisoners who followed in the echelon, about two thousand people remained.
During the spring and summer, less than half of the surviving prisoners who left Moscow reached the mine on Cape Dezhnev on foot. This icy hell became the place of their work and life.
Golgotha for Cornellius turned out to be a mine adit in distant Chukotka, on the very edge of the earth. Almost by hand, they mined lead ore. They worked and lived underground in eight caves, in front of each of which an armed guard was on duty.
Every six weeks they were released into the light of day, on the surface of the earth, for two hours. The camp was in such a deserted and wild place that it was almost impossible to escape from it. Barbed wire and towers were not needed. The only daredevil who managed to escape and get through the Bering Strait to Alaska was given back by the Americans to the Russians.
Cornellius also tried to escape, but a week later he was caught, returned to his cave and beaten unconscious by his comrades in misfortune, who at that time had their already unenviable rations cut. There was practically no hope of returning home in the coming years.
The last chance
The chief lieutenant was revived by the camp doctor Heinz Stauffer. He himself wanted to escape and had already stocked up on everything he needed, even a pistol. But I found out that he had cancer and he was doomed. The doctor gave Rost all his equipment and took his word that if he gets to Germany, he will definitely find his wife and tell her about her husband's fate.
At the end of October 1949, Cornellius Rost escaped again. Skis and the help of reindeer herders in rare camps helped to leave the hated mine. They gave him warm clothes and allowed him to spend the night in their tents. Once Cornellius met with three fugitives, and they continued on their way together. Summer came in Siberia, and the fugitives along the way began to pan for gold in the rivers, and with the onset of winter they began to harvest furs. In exchange for gold and furs, reindeer herders supplied them with cartridges.
Somehow it turned out that one of the criminals hid from the others a gold nugget found in the summer. After a fierce fight, two fugitives were killed. The surviving criminal and the German continued their journey together.
On the way, the criminal pushed Rost, who had become an unnecessary competitor for gold, off a steep cliff and left him to die.
good fortune
Waking up, Cornellius got up and slowly trudged on, passing only a few kilometers a day. The weakened fugitive was caught up by the wolves, and with the last of his strength he climbed a young tree, whose thin branches threatened to break off. The tusks of the wolf were already clattering very close by, when shots rang out, and two reindeer herders approached the tree. They not only saved, but also cured the fugitive.
In spring and summer, Rost stubbornly moved south to the railroad, having already overcome almost 3,000 kilometers of the most difficult section of the journey. Several times he managed to secretly board a freight train and get to Ulan-Ude. And then, after long ordeals, he ended up in the south of Russia. In the Caucasus, smugglers along their secret paths transported him across the border.
Believing that everything was over, he surrendered to the authorities, but he was arrested as a "Russian spy". The story of his escape seemed quite incredible to the authorities. The last hope was for my uncle, who worked as a road engineer in Ankara. The uncle did not recognize his nephew and believed him only when Cornellius asked him for a family album and named all the relatives by name.
There was freedom ahead, and in December 1952, more than three years after his escape, he reached Munich, having covered more than 14,000 kilometers! Lady Luck did not turn away from Growth. His way of the cross ended happily. The wife of Stauffer, who helped him out of trouble, lived in the Soviet occupation zone, and Cornellius did not dare to go there, he only sent her the sad news about the fate of her husband by letter.
Great journeys are always well planned and carefully prepared. Incredible journeys are usually caused by extraordinary and unusual, most often adverse situations. But for the heroes of such misadventures, fortune is probably more favorable.
— Sveta Gogol
Anyone who did not live under a totalitarian regime, in an occupied or any other territory surrounded by barbed wire, is unlikely to be able to understand the desperation of a person for whom even a “sip” of freedom can cost their head. But, as you know, hopeless situations do not happen. And people who really love freedom will not be stopped by walls, borders, or mighty armies.
And then amazing stories are born, six of which we bring to your attention.
1. Escape from East Germany in a hot air balloon
Peter Strelzik and Günter Watzel raved about the idea of getting their families out of East Germany. Freedom was very close, but the way to it was blocked by the most guarded border on earth. After long discussions, it was decided to make an aircraft. The helicopter seemed to be the ideal solution, but it was not possible to find a sufficiently powerful engine for it. Then one of them saw a program on TV that told about balloon flights. This idea seemed to friends simply ingenious. That's what they decided on.
"Inconspicuous. Just what you need"
The lack of experience in the field of aeronautics was compensated by the relevant literature. They quickly figured out what was what, did the necessary mathematical calculations, bought equipment, went to the nearest city for a fabric that seemed suitable to them, and got down to business. The wives sat down at the sewing machine. It was a real dinosaur, with foot control and 40 years of experience. The men constructed the ignition system from a motorcycle engine, a car muffler, and an iron chimney that belched "hell flames."
The first tests, for which the two families retired further into the forest, failed. It turned out that the fabric was not dense enough to hold air. The defective ball was burned, and for a new one ("this is for our yacht club") I had to go to the other end of the country. Work began again. The old sewing machine now and then balked and threatened to exhaust the seamstresses physically. Then they attached a motor to it and things went more fun.
After all the improvements, she knew how to knit.
The Streltsik family launched their ball (the Watzelis got scared at the last moment and left the game) after 16 months of careful preparation. They took to the air, almost flew to the border and ... crashed. 200 meters to freedom.
There was nothing left but to throw the ball and go back. They were well aware that the ball, in the end, would be found, the identities of not only the Streltsiks, but also the Vatzels would be established, and the whole honest company would inevitably end up in prison. It was just a matter of time. In addition, they would have to explain the purpose of the fabric, which they purchased on an industrial scale for the first ball.
"Believe me, sir, this is not for a balloon!" "Oh, well then, I'm sorry."
Any suspicious events at that time were promptly reported "to the right place". Therefore, this time, in order not to attract too much attention, they traveled all over the country, buying up a little raincoat fabric, sheets, curtains of various colors - in general, everything more or less suitable for the cherished goal. Meanwhile, at home, the old sewing machine worked tirelessly. She had to sew a ball larger than before - one that eight people could lift.
The result was a whopper 18 meters wide, almost 23 meters high. It was the largest balloon ever flown over Europe. They again rose into the air, but at some point they knocked over the burner and the balloon caught fire. There was only one way out: run the engine at full power and try to slip through. The gas in the cylinders quickly ran out, they began to descend, but the balloon was so big that it behaved like a parachute, so the descent was not very fast.
This plan was definitely too good to fail.
This time the border guards noticed them. But while they contacted the authorities and received permission to open fire, our heroes were already gone. Finally, the balloon landed. But since the fugitives were flying in complete darkness, they had no idea which side of the border they were on. The men went to "reconnaissance". And only when they encountered the West German law enforcement officers did they realize that the escape plan was a success.
The best thing about this story is that they had a bottle of champagne on board. And this despite the fact that every extra kilogram increased the risk of a crash! So they immediately celebrated their triumph: "we read that all balloon travelers do this after landing."
This is even more impressive than the fact that sober people worked tirelessly to implement a completely crazy idea.
2. Crossing Cornelius Rost through Stalinist Russia
The Soviet lead mine at Cape Dezhnev was perhaps the worst place to spend even a small part of your life there. The prisoners who got there had only two alternatives: either a quick and sudden death during a collapse in the mine, or a slow and painful death from lead poisoning. Needless to say, all the prisoners of war who ended up there dreamed of escaping as one.
And what did they miss?
Escaping from there was absolutely disastrous. The problem was not so much that the camp was well guarded, but in geography: the nearest settlement in Russia was further from Cape Dezhnev than some cities in Alaska. With the same success, one could escape on foot from the moon. But this did not stop the German prisoner of war Cornelius Rost. The former paratrooper made some supplies, got hold of skis and a pistol somewhere. And, in the company of four other fugitives, he headed west.
They had to go 14,000 kilometers. It's like walking from New York to Los Angeles and back. Then back to Los Angeles. Then to Chicago...
And drop by White Castle for a bite to eat.
But this, as it turned out, was not so bad. One of the prisoners betrayed and shot three of his comrades, after which he pushed Rost off a cliff and left him for dead. Wounded, but alive, Rost somehow dragged himself to the forest village, found a local distribution point there and stated that he, they say, had been sent to “accompany the timber”. The local authorities provided him with new clothes, which were due to every worker, and a train ticket, which allowed him to safely travel 650 kilometers in a westerly direction. Plus food and hot showers.
So, comfortably, he reached Central Asia. Then - hitchhiking to the North Caucasus, robbing the railway station along the way. One compassionate guy helped him cross the border, whom the grateful Rost later fondly remembered as a “Jew”. Finally, yesterday's prisoner of war was free. In Iran. Where, we think, he quickly found work in a lead mine.
Every man should have a favorite thing.
3 Anti-Communist Teenagers Plow the Road to Freedom
What if there are not one but two frontiers on the path to freedom? Plus several hundred miles of enemy territory in between. With the police, secret services and two armies, finally.
You can ask the Masin brothers - they've been through it. Josef and Chtirad Masiny are from the Czech Republic. Their childhood was quite heroic - during the Second World War, when they were 13 and 15 years old respectively, they, following the example of their father, received medals for fighting the Nazis.
The regime established in the Czech Republic after the war seemed to them little better than the Nazis, and they organized a resistance group. We are not talking about the usual youthful maximalism, which, in the worst case, threatens with piercings all over the body. We are talking about a group of young people who committed brutal raids on police stations with murder and theft of weapons and ammunition.
In 1953 they decided it was time to flee the country. However, in order to leave the territory controlled by the communists, they had to first cross the Czech border, and then move through East Germany to its Western part.
Along the way, they robbed several perfume shops.
Maiming and killing everyone who got in the way, the entire company leaked through the first border. In East Germany, things did not go so smoothly - they were already looking for. When they tried to buy train tickets, the cashier became suspicious and called the police. But they managed to escape even before the arrival of law enforcement officers.
Soon, the military of East Germany despaired of coping with the presumptuous brothers on their own and turned to the help of the Soviet troops stationed in Germany. As a result, at least 5,000 people were involved in the operation.
Three police officers were killed during a fight at the station while crossing from East Germany. And this time luck was on the side of the Czech bastards.
In the end, three broke through to the West: the Masin brothers and Milan Paumer. One of them is sitting under a train car in the Berlin subway.
Where it must have been much cleaner than in the carriage itself.
How did this story end for the brothers? They ended up exactly where their talents and burning hatred for communism were appreciated. At Fort Bragg military camp (the largest military base of the US Army, located in Cumberland County in North Carolina; approx. mixednews). That's right - they entered the service in the US Special Forces.
4. Günther Pluschow's Journey from China to Germany
Flying in an airplane during World War I was as safe as diving down an elevator shaft in your bedside table.
Their wings could be replaced with outdated umbrellas, with about the same success.
Therefore, the German pilot Günther Plushow was not in the best situation from the moment he chose his profession. After the outbreak of the First World War, he ended up in China, at the base of the German army Qingdao. When the fortress was under siege, Plushov received a package full of secret documents and an order to deliver them to neutral territory. He had to fly (on an already damaged aircraft!) First through a wall of anti-aircraft fire, and then over a vast territory swarming with enemy troops. Yes, his chances were not very high.
But Plushov somehow managed to avoid death, safely overcame 250 kilometers and made an emergency landing in a rice field. He burned the plane so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy (although, if our knowledge of early military aviation is correct, this plane should have caught fire on its own, and long before landing) and continued on foot.
To your Germany. From China.
Where is Marco Polo!
Plushov reached the nearest Chinese city. Here, dodging meetings with the local authorities, who pursued him on his heels, he made his way onto a ship bound for the then Chinese capital, Nanjing. Using all his charm, he persuaded some woman to get him a Swiss passport and a ticket .. to San Francisco.
Now he, along with his secret documents, was on the other side of the planet, in the USA (and this was a time when illegal immigrants in this country were even more illegal than today). And still not close enough to Germany. By this time, he was already being hunted by a mass of people, as his movements aroused the suspicions of even his own government. He again fooled his pursuers and took a train to New York. Then he got on a ship bound for the shores of Italy, which remained neutral in this war. Plushov was sure he could feel safe.
That thought vanished as the ship docked unexpectedly at the Gibraltar dock. He was arrested by the British authorities and sent to a POW camp in the south of England.
Double guards kept their eyes on him day and night
And yet, in spite of everything, he was now closer to home than he had ever been on his odyssey. It is not hard to guess that Plyushov still escaped (the only German who managed to do this in the entire history of the First World War!); got on a ship to Holland. After that, there were mere trifles - to cross the Dutch-German border.
5. Frank Bessac and his trip to Tibet
Frank Bessac was an anthropologist who studied the life of nomadic tribes in Inner Mongolia. In the summer of 1949, as the Chinese Revolution spread to the steppes of the western part of the country, Bessac decided it was time to take off. But he wasn't just some old expatriate scientist in a panic. This was, in the past, a commando who rescued wounded American pilots during World War II and an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (US intelligence organization during the war, the predecessor of the CIA; approx. mixednews).
Probably, it was possible to find an easy way to leave the country, but our researcher with a good imagination would not be interested in it.
Bessac and several of his comrades, including a CIA agent named McKiernan, joined forces led by anti-Chinese leader Osman Bator. Then they went to Tibet, which at that time still retained independence, but foreigners were not favored there, to put it mildly. To avoid problems on the border with Tibet, McKiernan contacted the US State Department by radio and asked to warn the Tibetan side about the visit of their small detachment.
They were separated from Tibet by the desert, which the locals called only “White Death”. Finding the cards wasn't that hard. True, they did not help much, since all the lakes and mountains were encrypted, and in some places it was scrawled by hand: “careful, lions”, which completely confused the travelers.
And now to the left of the sea serpent.
Despite the rarefied air and the constant lack of water, by winter they reached the mountains that border Tibet. We set up camp and waited for spring. They were saved from boredom by books that McKiernan prudently took with him on the road. How many times have you re-read War and Peace? Bessac read it three times this winter.
In March, finally, the mountains became passable. Note that the cold was still dog-like, and they only had yak dung for fuel (By this time they had exhausted all the books on toilet paper).
In April, the first settlement of Tibetan nomads came into view. It would seem that here it is - freedom! Happy travelers raised their hands and went towards the border guards.
Those, without understanding, opened fire ... Only Bessak and another of his comrades survived, and they were seriously wounded.
At the border, they obviously did not receive a message from the US State Department. The two surviving captives were sent to the city of Lhasa (with terrible luggage - a bag with the heads of dead comrades).
Tibet is not only cute monks and "man-breakers".
Halfway to the city, they met a courier who was just carrying the ill-fated entry permit for Bessac and his friends to the border. Yes, after half a year of an exhausting journey, almost the entire group died only because the messenger was late for some five days!
Bessac was offered to take a gun and shoot the captain of the border guards, but he refused. Not only that, he intervened when, later, the entire patrol was sentenced to severe punishment by a court-martial. Thanks to the nobility of the scientist, the perpetrators got off with just a flogging.
What, (if you're lucky with the performer), is not such a terrible punishment.
At the end of his stay in Tibet, Bessac even received the blessing of the young Dalai Lama. Then - 500 kilometers through the Himalayas to India on a mule. As a result, his entire journey was almost 3,000 kilometers. And it took almost a whole year to overcome it.
6. Hugh Glass and his return from the dead.
All that an ordinary person can hope for when faced with an angry grizzly bear is a quick death. But the story that will be discussed took place in 1823, and its hero, the former pirate Hugh Glass, was not an ordinary person. And in his fight with the bear, it was the bear that was unlucky.
Judging by this portrait, very unlucky.
Glass won the fight, but he himself was pretty dented. However, he miraculously continued to live, despite a broken leg, ribs and a hole in his throat, from which blood bubbles appeared when he breathed.
The main group of settlers with whom he had previously lived left, leaving two, James Bridger and John Fitzgerald, with instructions to bury Glass when he finally died. After two days, Bridger and Fitzgerald got tired of waiting. They threw the dying man into a shallow grave and left, taking with them all the poor man's goods. The one who fought the bear and won.
The bear could not have weighed more than 300-600 kilograms.
When Glass regained consciousness, he pulled his tormented body from his own grave, cleaned the wounds as best he could, fixed his broken leg and crawled to the nearest settlement, which was called Fort Kiowa. To do this, you first had to get to the Cheyenne River (flows through the states of Wyoming and South Dakota; approx. mixednews), which was located 160 kilometers east of his grave. Driven by a passionate desire for a cruel reprisal against Bridger and Fitzgerald, Glass crawled for more than a day or two. He crawled for six weeks.
Safely avoiding the hostile Indian Arikara tribes, wolves and bears, eating berries, rotting animal carcasses and even rattlesnakes, Glass finally crawled to the river. The Sioux Indians, who were hunting in these parts, stumbled upon him, half-dead, and helped to whip up a raft, on which our hero, in the end, reached Fort Kiowa without incident. Here Glass rested and began to hunt for Bridger and Fitzgerald. And when I found it, I forgave it. But only after I got my rifle back!
The Trud newspaper decided to talk about the most daring and ingenious, in our opinion, escapes in history
blue escape
Our marathon is opened by escape genius, an American con man and impostor (and, interestingly, homosexual Stephen Jay Russell. A book was written about his brilliant escapes by journalist Stephen McVicker, I Love You Philip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Escapes; later This book was made into a film of the same name.
It is difficult to say whether Stephen Russell really performed such virtuoso tricks with escapes, forged documents and scams. But if it really was, then he can rightly be called the "King of crooks", and the entire American prison system is simply ridiculous.
There are 14 known fictitious names that Stephen used to carry out his scams. These names helped him more than once. In one of the scams, with the help of a fake resume and name, Stephen managed to get a job at an insurance company as a financial director. Thus, he was able to gain about 800 thousand dollars from this company with the help of fraud with money. But that's not all, he earned his fame with his shoots.
In 1992, Stephen Jay Russell was behind bars for his fraudulent accounts. According to the book, it was during this term that he met his beloved Philip Morris. He managed to escape 4 times, resorting to all possible tricks. He pretended to be a judge and lowered his bail from $900,000 to $45,000. He even pretended to be an FBI agent and a doctor. And once Stephen was able to go beyond the walls of the prison, pretending to be a worker. But these are all flowers. The most ingenious was his escape from the Harris County Jail, which he landed in for stealing $800,000 from a Houston company that manages doctors' finances. For this, he was sentenced to 45 years, and another 20 years for previous escapes. Escape from this institution is simply amazing. Stephen read everything about AIDS in the library and managed to imitate the symptoms. He later faked his tests and secured a transfer to a private clinic. There he called the prison on behalf of a doctor and said that Stephen Russell had died of AIDS.
Stephen Russell is currently serving his 144-year sentence in Michael Unit Prison. Where he spends 23 hours a day in a cell and spends one hour showering, exercising and communicating with his family.
Brilliant and simple
Directed by Michael Mann, Johnny D., based on Brian Barrow's novel Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-1934, is mind-blowing, especially when you realize who Johnny Dillinger really was. , which kept all of America at bay in the 30s. One of his brilliant escapes was from Crown Point Prison, which at that time was guarded not only by a large number of policemen, but even by the military from the National Guard. Interestingly, Johnny D. escaped from there with a fake pistol made of wood and painted black with shoe polish. With this gun, he forced the guards to open the door of his cell, locked them all, took two hostages and calmly drove out of the prison in the sheriff's car along with two hostages. The movie and the real story are almost the same. True, in the film, Johnny escaped with an accomplice, although this may have really been the case. After all, if you think about it, it is very doubtful that Dillinger locked up all the guards, managed to take two hostages and escape from prison. So it is worth paying tribute to Michael Mann for the realism of the picture. Be that as it may, this escape of Johnny D. cannot be repeated by anyone. And he takes an honorable place in our prison marathon.
Alcatraz
Over the 29 years of Alcatraz's existence, they tried to escape many times, but no one succeeded. Except for three prisoners: the two Anglin brothers - John and Clarence - and Frank Morris. These three showed amazing ingenuity. The FBI only after 17 years shrugged and closed the case. This escape inspired Don Siegel to make the film Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. According to the plot, the whole plan came up with the hero, who is just played by Eastwood, Frank Morris. But the real think tank was Allen West, the car thief. This confirms the conjecture that four planned to escape, but three succeeded.
The prisoners spent many months sawing the grates and chiselling a 20 cm pad of reinforced concrete in order to widen the hole, because otherwise it would be impossible to get through. They hollowed out everything that came to hand: a sharpened spoon, pieces of metal, etc. They carried out their work at certain hours - in the interval between two rounds, which were made at 17.30 and 21.30. While one worked, the other in his cell "was on the loose." By the way, the cameras in the 4-star Alcatraz Hotel were single. But punching a hole in the wall doesn't mean running away. Since Alcatraz is surrounded by water, a raft and life jackets had to be built. They were sewn from waterproof raincoats, which were obtained by fellow prisoners. But that's not all: in order to buy time, the prisoners made mannequins from toilet paper, concrete, soap and hair, which they got from the prison hairdresser. During the escape, instead of four, only three managed to get out: Allen West could not get through the hole due to the fact that the last time they almost got burned and had to patch up the hole a little. As a result, when Alain was able to squeeze through and climbed onto the roof, his accomplices were already sailing away, and he had to return to his cell. It is still unclear whether the fugitives survived, because there is a strong current in the bay and it was foggy that evening, so they could have been carried anywhere. But it is known for sure that the bodies of the prisoners were never found.
Escape from the Gulag
The fate of people who ended up in concentration camps during the Second World War is not a secret for anyone. Countless captives died under torture. There were many losses from Russia and from Germany. However, some managed to escape; one of these lucky ones was Cornelius Rost. His escape, as well as other escapes in our marathon, was filmed. It all started, of course, with the book of the journalist Josef Bauer "While My Feet Walk", written according to the manuscripts of Rost himself. Interestingly, in the book and in the film based on it - "Escape from the Gulag" - the name of the protagonist is fictitious. The name Clemens Forel was invented by Bauer, as he was afraid of possible problems with the KGB.
Cornelius was captured and sent to the mines in distant Chukotka. The prisoners worked and lived underground there. Every 6 weeks they were let out for two hours outside for a walk - and then back. There was no need for barbed wire and guard towers. The camp was so far from civilization that there was simply nowhere to run from there. On the first escape attempt, Rost was caught and beaten. But he did not miss his last chance. The hope of escape was revived by the doctor Hein Stauffer. He himself was going to run away, but because he was diagnosed with cancer, he abandoned this idea. Everything that he managed to get for the escape, and the escape plan itself, he gave to Cornelius. And in October 1941, the main character escaped again, and this time successfully. On the way, he met two criminal gold miners, with whom he soon parted. In the spring and summer, he moved south to the railroad, covering almost 3,000 kilometers. There he boarded a freight train and reached Ulan-Ude. Later he ended up in the Caucasus, where smugglers helped him to secretly cross the border. He later turned himself in to the authorities and was arrested as a "Russian spy", no one believed the story of his escape; hope was on the uncle, who was supposed to identify him. Fortunately, he did, and Cornelius began a free life. 3 years after the escape, he ended up in Munich, while overcoming 14,000 kilometers. There is nothing fictitious about the film, and it faithfully tells this incredible story. Although there are small flaws, but in general the film conveys the whole atmosphere of that time and what Cornelius experienced.
big escape
The largest escape in the history of escapes was made on March 24, 1944 from the Luft III camp. About this escape, Paul Brickhill wrote the book "The great escape" ("The Great Escape"), on which the film of the same name was made. This escape is simple in concept, but very interesting in execution. The basic plan was to dig a tunnel and get to the nearest town. But here is the most interesting: there were three tunnels, and each had its own name. And what is even more striking is that 600 people took part in the preparations for the escape, of which 76 managed to escape. Later, 73 prisoners of war were caught and 50 shot, and of the remaining 23, four tried to escape again, but were caught and chained in solitary confinement. In the end, only three managed to escape. In the film, the writers exaggerated the importance of the American prisoners of war, since in reality the escape was organized by the British. Yes, the Americans helped dig the tunnel and participated in the early development of the plan, but failed to complete the tunnel. Several fictional scenes were also filmed to add drama and action to the film, such as the motorcycle scene. In addition, 600 people took part in the escape, and not 250, as was the case in the film. And the nearest city to the camp was not the German Neustadt, but the Polish Zhagan. Also, at the request of the former prisoners of war themselves, details about the assistance that prisoners of war received from their native countries were excluded: documents, tools, maps. In order not to reveal all the cards of the most numerous escape in history.
Shawshank
Well, for dessert - the film by Frank Darabont "The Shawshank Redemption", based on the book "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King, which has seven Oscar nominations, a Grammy Award nomination and many others awards and nominations. It is only unclear whether this story is true or the product of the brilliant brain of Stephen King. In any case, this escape is the standard by which almost all prisoners are guided.
According to the film and book, the main character is the banker Andy Dufresne, who ended up in Shawshank for the murder of his wife and her lover. But in the story, it immediately becomes clear that he is innocent. In the movie, Andy helps a lot of people with their taxes and other financial problems, which gives him some perks. He also turned the financial fraud of the prison, laundered money from drugs with the help of scams. And everything went like clockwork, but one morning Andy Dufresne did not leave his cell for the morning formation. After checking, it was revealed that he simply disappeared. Later, the head of the prison in Dufresne's cell discovered behind the poster a tunnel leading to a sewer pipe. It turns out that Andy has been digging this tunnel with a small hammer on stone for 20 years in the film, but 27 years in the book. But to get out, he still had to crawl 500 yards through the sewer pipe, which is impossible, if you think about it, since there is simply nothing to breathe there. But he succeeded. The film and the book have a lot of inconsistencies with reality. This once again confirms the conjecture that this is just a brilliant fantasy of Stephen King and there was no real such escape. Despite this, most of today's prisoners still draw their escape plan from this film, which once again speaks of the genius of Stephen King and his work.
During World War II, he escaped from a Soviet camp in Siberia. His memoirs formed the basis of a book, television series and film.
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Biography
Rost was born on March 27, 1919 in Kufstein, Austria. When World War II began, Rost lived in Munich. He also returned there after his imprisonment and began working in the printing house of Franz Ehrenwirt. However, during his stay in the concentration camp, he developed color blindness, due to which he ruined a lot of covers. Ehrenwirth decided to find out the reason for such an indisposition and, having heard the story of Rost, asked him to write it down, but the original text of Rost was very poorly and sparingly written, which is why Ehrenwirth, interested in this story, hired Bauer, who was a professional writer, to finish the text Growth to the mind. Cornelius Rost died on October 18, 1983 and was buried in the Munich Central Cemetery. His real identity was made public only 20 years after his death, when Ehrenwirth's son Martin told everything to radio journalist Arthur Dietelmann when he was preparing a story on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bauer's birth.
Book
The same Dietelmann in 2010 on the air of the Bavarian radio for three hours cited various results of his research on the history of Growth, from which it turned out that Bauer's novel has a bunch of inconsistencies. In particular, according to the Munich registration office, the USSR officially released Rost on October 28, 1947, which does not fit with Bauer's novel, in which Clemens Forel escapes in 1949 and wanders until 1952. Clemens Forel himself in the novel bears the title of “Wehrmacht officer”, while Cornelius Rost, according to his documents of 1942, was a simple private. Finally, the novel had geographical and historical errors: the text states that the POW camp in which Clemens Forel was kept was located on Cape Dezhnev, where in reality there were never any camps (including during the period described). And at the beginning of the text it is reported that Forel participated in the March of the Prisoners in Moscow, but Rost calls the street along which he and his comrades were led "Nevsky Prospekt".