Walter Ciszek - Captivity in The Soviet Union

Captivity in The Soviet Union

In 1941, Ciszek was arrested under accusations of espionage for the Vatican and sent to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, operated by the NKVD (internal security agency). There he spent a total of five years, most of which in solitary confinement. In 1942, he signed a confession under severe torture. He was convicted of espionage; he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the GULAG.

Ciszek was to remain in Lubyanka for four more years. In 1946, he was sent by train to Krasnoyarsk then 20 days by boat to Norilsk in Siberia. There, he was forced to shovel coal onto freighter vessels, and later transferred to work in coal mines. A year later, he was sent to work in construction at an ore processing plant. From 1953 to 1955, he worked in mines. His memoirs provide a vivid description of the revolts that spread through the GULAG in the aftermath of Joseph Stalin's death (see Norilsk uprising).

Throughout his lengthy imprisonment, Fr. Ciszek continued to pray, to celebrate Divine Liturgy, hear confessions, conduct retreats and perform parish ministry. Until he was allowed to write to America in 1955, he was presumed dead by both his family and the Jesuit order.

By April 22, 1955, his hard labor sentence was complete, and he was released with restrictions in the city of Norilsk. At this time, he was finally able to write to his sisters in the United States.

In 1958, he was ordered by the KGB to move to Krasnoyarsk, where he secretly established mission parishes. After the KGB learned of this, he was forcibly transferred to Abakan, 160 km (100 mi) to the south, where he worked as an automobile mechanic for four more years. In 1963, he finally received a letter from his sisters in the U.S. Several months later, the Soviet Union decided to return him (and an American student Marvin W. Makinen) to the United States in exchange for two Soviet agents. He was not informed of this until he was delivered to an official of the U.S. State Department and told he was still an American citizen.