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men from the NKVD" for the deportation of the Volga Germans to
Kazakhstan and Siberia.
In Communist Yugoslavia, on the island of Goli Otok, "torture was
the daily bread of the internees. Among the methods was one known
simply as 'the bucket,' which forced a prisoner's head into a receptacle
filled with excrement....The most widespread method used by reedu–
cators...was stone-breaking....To complete the humiliation, the stones
were thrown back into the sea at the end of the day."
China provided "denunciation boxes" resembling mailboxes-com–
plete with forms-on the streets of the cities. Widespread denunciation
leading to mistreatment of vast numbers of people was a major practice,
most zealously encouraged and institutionalized in the Soviet Union,
East Germany, and Cuba as well.
China excelled in the public exhibition and humiliation of "the ene–
mies," especially during the so-called Cultural Revolution. They had
"notices stuck on their backs, were dressed up in ridiculous clothes and
hats ...and forced into grotesque and painful positions. Their faces were
smeared with ink, they were forced to bark like dogs on all fours ... .In
August
I967
the Beijing press declared that anti-Maoists were 'rats that
ran through the streets' and should all be killed." Tortures included
forcing people to eat "nightsoil," "to kneel on broken glass," to be
"hanged 'like an airplane' by the arms and legs... ," and to endure elec–
tric shocks. In Tibet people were "not only shot, but were also beaten
to death, crucified, burned alive, drawn, quartered, and beheaded."
In North Korea at least forty-seven crimes are punishable by death.
Refugees
have attested to the routine execution of civilians for crimes such
as prostitution, treason, murder, rape and sedition. The crowd is
invited to participate and sentencing is accompanied by cries of
hatred, insults and stone-throwing. Sometimes the prisoner
IS
kicked and beaten to death while the crowd chants slogans.
As in Stalin's Soviet Union, "entire families have been sent to camp
because one member has received a sentence...this form of punishment
was often extended to include three generations....Sometimes the exe–
cutions were turned into a game with prisoners being shot as though
they were targets in a shooting competition.... " North Korea has also
mistreated the handicapped. Dwarves were sent to camps and prevented
from having children. Kim Jong 11 said that "the race of dwarves must
disappear. "
