An Island in the Gulag

A first glance, the pastoral scene pictured below recalls a nostalgic postcard view of old Russia. Perched on the banks of a winding river are a sleepy village, a monastery, an Eastern Orthodox church and a bell tower. Closer inspection, however, discloses some grim hallmarks of the new Russia: armed sentries in a guard tower and a group of prisoners marching off to work. Two unique photos, secretly taken this year and obtained by TIME from a Russian human rights activist, offer a rare glimpse of the thousands of "islands" in the U.S.S.R.'s gulag archipelago.

The pictures show a concentration camp on the Tvertsa River (a tributary of the Volga) near Torzhok, 130 miles northwest of Moscow. The 18th century Borisoglebsky Monastery, with its church and tower--once a tourist attraction--has been converted into a prison for convicts who are marched into town to do heavy construction work.

Similar camps are scattered throughout the U.S.S.R. Although the number of prisoners in the gulag has been radically reduced since Stalin's death, Russia's leading dissident, Physicist Andrei Sakharov, estimates that there are still 1.7 million. At least 10,000 have been imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs.

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