Doftana Red: the Disappeared Prison Newspaper

December 13, 2017 10:58 AM

A prison in Romania, Doftana, spawned an intellectual newspaper for prisoners only. And then it was gone. It had been written in code on cigarette paper or foil, and pages from library books. When the prison closed, the ephemeral paper was lost. But it nurtured political activists who took its ideas to the outer world.
posted by MovableBookLady (3 comments total)

This kind of thing is very important to prisoners, I think. You can imagine how preserving an intellectual or spiritual life could help you to endure. In the Resistance Museum in Oslo, they had, in one exhibit, toilet paper that a prisoner had diverted to keep a journal on, by punching tiny holes in it. I found that to be powerfully affecting.
posted by thelonius at 11:37 AM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Send books to prisoners - there’s not a lot to do in there beyond reading a book!
posted by oceanjesse at 3:44 PM on December 13, 2017

If this kind of thing floats your boat you might also want to check out:

This handwritten newspaper produced by Confederate POWs

or The Pow Wow - The only truthful newspaper in Germany. Another POW newspaper published by prisoners of war in Stalag Luft I during WW2.
posted by hoodrich at 7:06 PM on December 13, 2017