Book (document) smuggling has been going on forever. In fact, information-smuggling is the world's second oldest profession. In the late 1980s I had a controlled asset persuade her 87 year old mother to smuggle out of Eastern Europe a carbon copy of a computer program that would give the West a minimum 30-day notice on a Soviet invasion.
A few months later I recruited an Eastern Bloc source who told us of a Russian-gauge rail line that extended two hundred kilometers further west than any previously known. Tanks aren't Oldsmobiles, for long distance they have to ride on trains, and Russia had a unique gauge not shared with any other country (for the nit-pickers, yes, I know there are exceptions). There were dozens of such efforts in the Eastern bloc in the late 1980s, because Russians never learned that winning the hearts and minds of subjugated people does not proceed well when it begins with lashing the back.
I think you must be Logan Mountstuart . (Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart by William Boyd. It is written as a lifelong series of journals that spanned the defining episodes of the 20th century, crossing several continents.)
"I recruited an Eastern Bloc source who told us of a Russian-gauge rail line that extended two hundred kilometers further west than any previously known."
The line wasn't picked by satellite?
Yeah, I wonder if any of the Baltic states have samizdat museums.
elm
hell, they used to smuggle books a little bit in the us and that'll probably start up again
Good question. The quality of satellites has changed over the years. And, they cannot look somewhere until they have a reason to look there; they are usually busy looking for ICBM launches and tracking nuclear explosions and nuclear shipments. They are not an infinite resource.
Russia uses 1520 mm distance between tracks, which provides greater stability than European standard gauge of 1435 mm not to mention higher speeds. In England, at one point, 70 different gauges were used, requiring changing trains often in obscure locations. And Spain has a wider gauge yet, creating problems for French trains. specifically TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse).
That's an inspiring story and one that we know too little about. I certainly had never heard of that ban before, but book banning has a long, dark history and one that we need to be aware of and fight against.
Perhaps people will start smuggling Ukrainian language books into occupied Mariupol and Kherson now the Russians have started burning works in that language.
Does this never ever change?? That is why I wrote this blog so we don't forget how often this has happened since writing began. And in Russian books had to submitted to a censorship authority before being published. And of course Milton.
This is so interesting! My great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Lithuania in the 1920s. I know so little about the country they came from, even though I knew my great-grandparents as a small child.
I book I included is a children's book about this story. Had it not been for the bravery of the book smugglers the language might have been lost. Did you know the University of Illinois at Chicago has an endowed chair of Lithuaniana Studies?
Book (document) smuggling has been going on forever. In fact, information-smuggling is the world's second oldest profession. In the late 1980s I had a controlled asset persuade her 87 year old mother to smuggle out of Eastern Europe a carbon copy of a computer program that would give the West a minimum 30-day notice on a Soviet invasion.
A few months later I recruited an Eastern Bloc source who told us of a Russian-gauge rail line that extended two hundred kilometers further west than any previously known. Tanks aren't Oldsmobiles, for long distance they have to ride on trains, and Russia had a unique gauge not shared with any other country (for the nit-pickers, yes, I know there are exceptions). There were dozens of such efforts in the Eastern bloc in the late 1980s, because Russians never learned that winning the hearts and minds of subjugated people does not proceed well when it begins with lashing the back.
I think you must be Logan Mountstuart . (Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart by William Boyd. It is written as a lifelong series of journals that spanned the defining episodes of the 20th century, crossing several continents.)
I've never gone by Mountsuart, but if there's money in it I can pretend.
"I recruited an Eastern Bloc source who told us of a Russian-gauge rail line that extended two hundred kilometers further west than any previously known."
The line wasn't picked by satellite?
Yeah, I wonder if any of the Baltic states have samizdat museums.
elm
hell, they used to smuggle books a little bit in the us and that'll probably start up again
Good question. The quality of satellites has changed over the years. And, they cannot look somewhere until they have a reason to look there; they are usually busy looking for ICBM launches and tracking nuclear explosions and nuclear shipments. They are not an infinite resource.
Russia uses 1520 mm distance between tracks, which provides greater stability than European standard gauge of 1435 mm not to mention higher speeds. In England, at one point, 70 different gauges were used, requiring changing trains often in obscure locations. And Spain has a wider gauge yet, creating problems for French trains. specifically TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse).
That's an inspiring story and one that we know too little about. I certainly had never heard of that ban before, but book banning has a long, dark history and one that we need to be aware of and fight against.
This is helping me with a book report in ela I am doing words on fire and have to do background reasrch before reading and this is helping alot
You made my day! Thank you.
Perhaps people will start smuggling Ukrainian language books into occupied Mariupol and Kherson now the Russians have started burning works in that language.
Does this never ever change?? That is why I wrote this blog so we don't forget how often this has happened since writing began. And in Russian books had to submitted to a censorship authority before being published. And of course Milton.
Coming to the United States soon!
elm
'banned in boston!'
This is so interesting! My great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Lithuania in the 1920s. I know so little about the country they came from, even though I knew my great-grandparents as a small child.
I book I included is a children's book about this story. Had it not been for the bravery of the book smugglers the language might have been lost. Did you know the University of Illinois at Chicago has an endowed chair of Lithuaniana Studies?
https://prls.uic.edu/events/the-30th-anniversary-of-the-endowed-chair-in-lithuanian-studies/