Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 07:14:39 -0500
From: carl_mason@comcast.net
Subject: JOSEF'S FORGE - 9

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.