Published October 7, 2005
Survivor spirit Parish in Magadan, Russia, serves people who worked in slave-labor camps in the region in the mid-1900s
Editor’s Note: Father Michael Shields grew up in Southcentral Alaska and served as a priest here before discerning a call, as he says, to "go and pray in the camps." Since 1994 Father Shields has been the pastor of Nativity of Jesus Parish in Magadan, Russia. The city served in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s as a hub for Josef Stalin’s notorious prison camps in the region. This summer Father Shields literally prayed in one of those camps. Here are reflections and images from his visit to Butugychag. The commentary and some of these photos first appeared in the archdiocese’s Mission to Magadan newsletter.
To get from Magadan to Butugychag, a former slave-labor camp, there is 450-kilometer (280-mile) drive on rough and dusty roads, through rivers and up hills, then a six-hour climb to where the camp begins. I accompanied two French Catholic journalists and Father Milosh Krakovski and Deacon Vladimir Lytasov to the area July 5-8, 2005.
Butugychag opened in 1937 under the rule of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and didn’t close until 1955, after his death. Prisoners called the place "Valley of Death," and thousands remain buried there in the dark earth and barren hills.
The camp was a mine for uranium ore. Prisoners shoveled this yellow dust, packing concentrate to be secretly trucked away in the middle of the night with armed guards. Prisoners died within months of working in the mine. It was truly the valley of death, but some survived.
Today, the old political prison is evidenced by the dilapidated buildings, prison cells and punishment rooms — places of suffering. We celebrated a memorial Mass as soon as we arrived at the Butugychag cemetery, where only a few marked graves remain. There is one cross there. Camp survivors say it marks the grave of a priest.
We prayed together Psalm 23, knowing that evil can be overcome by faith. Such is the message of Christ on the cross and such is the message of these elderly men and women who suffered here and who many times prayed: "Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for you are at my side" (Ps 23: 4).
I recently met with the "repressed" survivors of Soviet gulags in Magadan, many unknown and forgotten by the authorities of the country. I also visited the remains of a former slave-labor camp, Butugychag, where prisoners mined uranium from the earth without protection.
Talking with these survivors, it is apparent that their past is still part of our present lives.
The compassion, attention and spiritual help provided by Father Shields and the church to these people, who are all elderly and suffering simply from old age, shows itself in daily meetings and moments of prayer.
The parish organizes monthly gatherings of the elderly survivors. Father Shields said that in the coming years as the repressed lose their mobility and independence, parishioners will go to their homes to care for them there.
Seeing the smiles of these survivors and their delight during the monthly gatherings or the musical concerts at the parish, I realize the incredible gift of life the parish is giving these people who have suffered so much.
It tells them they are worthy of love and attention and they are loved. For someone who was called an enemy of the country, it is a great heartfelt gift.
The stories of the repressed are real lessons of life, strength, courage and also of humanity. People whom evil tried to destroy are still standing with dignity and beauty.
Sharing these meetings and these moving moments, the tears on the elderly wrinkled faces, the laughter, was joyous and also at the same time very difficult.
It moves me still to read notes from my interviews with the repressed, to recall their voices singing in the church. Unfortunately, they are voices that are fading away as they grow older. It’s important to listen to them, so that they won’t be left behind.
I came to Magadan on assignment with the monthly Catholic magazine published by Caritas France. We came to do a photo exhibit of those who were in the gulags, and to see what the Church of the Nativity in Magadan is doing to help them overcome their sufferings.
In Magadan I met three priests deeply given to their parish: Fathers Michael Shields, David Means and Milosh Krakovski. They have managed to create a light-filled church, a real family spirit in which everyone has a place.
Thanks to their diligent work, along with Ludmilla Eritick who is recording interviews for a book of the repressed, these survivors accepted me and opened their lives to me, inviting me right into their apartments.
I came to Magadan with many impressions received from reading books on the history of the 20th century. Yet here I met living witnesses, humble and worthy of our attention and care.
I will never forget the sincere warmth of these elderly grandmothers, these "babushkas."
For me it is impossible to relate their tender faces with the wild, desolate scene we found at the prison camp Butugychag, in which several of them suffered for many years.
Yet now they are full of forgiveness for all who treated them so terribly throughout the dark years of Communist repression. And yet no one has asked them for forgiveness.
This experience has touched my heart deeply. I want to come back to Magadan to see what they suffered in the cold of the winter as well. I am so thankful for this trip and the meeting of those who suffered for their faith.