Part I, Chapter 25, Introduction to Butyrki Summary and Analysis

In Part I, Chapter 25, when Ginzburg and the others arrive in Moscow, they see how massive the purges are. Everyone from the police to the courts are running operations twenty-four hours a day. Ginzburg, Rimma, Ira, and Julia discover they are the only women among those being taken to Moscow from their prison. Many of the passengers pass out from the stifling July heat, including Ginzburg.

They are taken to Butyrki prison, where they are strip-searched upon arrival. Among the prisoners is German native Carola Heintschke, a film actress. Carol has hidden two earrings in her hair, and an eighteen year-old girl named Katya asks Ginzburg whether Carol should be given up. Ginzburg tells Katya to listen to her conscience, and not turn in Carola.

After being searched, the women are...