Taganka Prison (Russian: Таганская тюрьма) was built in
Moscow in 1804 by
Alexander I, emperor of
Russia.
[Katrina Marie]
"Taganka: The Haunts of Intelligentsia and Blue-Collar Grit"
''Passport Moscow''. Retrieved December 5, 2011 It gained notoriety for its use as a prison for political prisoners, both by the ruling
tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
s and during the years of the
Soviet Union, by the
Communist Party.
During the
Great Purge, the prison housed foreign enemies of the state, such as the German communist,
Gustav Sobottka, Jr., as well as Russians. It played host to a mass protest in 1938 when thousands of prisoners repudiated their confessions made under torture.
The prison became immortalized in poems and songs dating from before the
October Revolution in 1918. The prison was razed in the 1950s.
Soviet 'martyr'
Nikolay Bauman was beaten to death outside of Taganka Prison by a nationalist and reactionary mob upon the release of political prisoners 18 October 1905.
Taganka (song)
Taganka is also the name of one of many Russian prisoners' songs. It takes its name from the prison and was popularized by Russian singers
Vladimir Vysotsky and
Mikhail Shufutinsky.
Notable prisoners
*
Marcel Pauker
*
Seraphim Chichagov
*
Pavel Florensky
*
Thomas Sgovio"Thomas Sgovi"
Gulag History / Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. Retrieved December 5, 2011
References
External links
{{coord, 55, 44, 06, N, 37, 39, 16, E, region:RU_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title
Prisons in Russia
Prisons in the Soviet Union
Russian songs
Buildings and structures demolished in the 1950s
Demolished buildings and structures in Moscow