Historical Background

The film focuses on a specific period in the past – 1939-1946 – and a second period, from 1991-2006, when Garri and his film-maker son Stuart, retraced his footsteps.

Both periods saw momentous upheaval and change in the areas visited by Garri and Stuart when they travelled from their home in the UK to states of the former Soviet Union which had witnessed the ravages of Nazism and/or Communism.

1939-1945 were the years of World War Two, when Garri’s homeland (which had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1916 when he was born) changed sovereignty three times under the boots of invading armies: Eastern Galicia had been part Poland from 1918 until 1939, when the Soviets occupied Eastern Poland as the Nazis tore into Western Poland. The area was swallowed by the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, but was retaken by the Red Army towards the end of the War and is now part of modern Ukraine. The volatile ethnic and political mix of the region meant that the Nazis were able to recruit the infamous SS Galitzianer Division to fight the Soviets, and found many ready collaborators to bring about the Holocaust.

It was not only the Jews of this territory who suffered in that first period. While most of the Galician Jewish population (including Garri’s family) was liquidated in the Holocaust, vast numbers of Ukrainians were rounded up by the Soviets and deported to the Gulag. Many did not return. Among those who survived was the local man featured in the film when Garri returned to Bratkovitze, his parents’ home village, in 1992.

The Soviet terror and its system of concentration camps, known as the Gulag, consumed an unknown number of lives, certainly in the millions (the film’s historical advisor, Anne Applebaum, devotes a whole appendix to this question in her book, Gulag). While they were ostensibly labour camps rather than death camps like the Nazi's, the death rates among the 18-19 million prisoners from 1929-1953 demonstrated that many of those doing hard labour did not survive more than a few years, especially from 1941-1944.

The Gulag system, which stretched across the whole of the Soviet Union, was at its height from the late 1930s to Stalin’s death in 1953.

August, 1991, when Garri first returned to the Russia from which he had daringly escaped in 1946, was a time at which the Communists had still not given up the fight. Garri, whose life demonstrated his ability to locate himself in the midst of drama, found tanks on the streets of Moscow and gunfire at parliament as Soviet diehards attempted to force their way back into power (in an unsuccessful coup) .

This period sealed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the resulting tensions that were still present in those lands in 1992 and long beyond (for example, in Chechnya). Ukraine was gripped by nationalist fervour, Uzbekistan had segued into a hardline Soviet-style regime under Islam Karimov, and so on. As Garri and Stuart travelled across these states, they encountered strikes, blatant lawlessness and the aggressive or sly tactics of secret police mechanisms that had not been dismantled – as the film shows.

History Revisited

Hi all, this is an introduction from the latest member of the blogteam. I'm Romany and I have been awe-inspired by the story so far. Having learnt history at school in the traditional way, I can't help wondering whether I would have paid far more attention if every story was as fascinating as this one! Wasn't it Wilfred Owen, the First WW poet who stated that the poetry is in the pity? Well, Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead evokes equally strong feelings. Now that the book is available on Lulu.com, everyone can read it. I look forward to all your comments.

Obituary

Garri Urban died on October 16th 2004, before the story of his life could be seen on film. Read the full report in The Times.

He had spent many years researching his past with his son, revisited the scenes of his imprisonment and the two had uncovered secret KGB files which still had Garri listed as a dangerous spy..... yet it wasn't his battle for survival under the Soviet regime that was at the centre of obituaries published in The Times, The Guardian and the British Medical Journal, but the fact that he went on to practice medicine in a way that promoted universal care for all citizens regardless of race, religion, nationality or social status.

Click here for an excellent obituary in the Independent

The Relevance of Garri's Story in Today's World...

Garri Urban could be seen as just one of millions of people who suffered so terribly during a period of history which showed mankind's darkest nature, just another victim of the totalitarianism and extreme ideologies that swept across the world in the latter part of the 20th Century.... but it is clear from studying his life that Garri was a survivor, not a victim of the Holocaust and the Gulags.

With the troubles that are currently present in this world, and the issues that we all face in our everyday lives, there are lessons to be learnt from Garri's experience, issues that I feel it is important for us all to understand and share...

Garri's story has been told in his book, Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead and will also be available for all in the form of a documentary which was made about Garri by his son, Stuart Urban.

The documentary was created as father and son went in search of answers - to discover the truth behind imprisonment and torture.

Interviews with fellow survivors, friends, lovers and even with representatives of the secret police who imprisoned Garri and so many others were recorded over a period of 14 years and give an incredible insight into man's ability to cope with and overcome adversity.

The documentary draws on Garri's own work, home movies and years of video diaries recorded from 1992 when Garri ventured back into the former Soviet Union.

Having suffered so terribly and endured so much it would be easy to imagine that Garri, or indeed anybody else, would have simply been grateful to survive, yet throughout his life Garris struggled to maintain his core beliefs. A very detailed picture emerges of a man who feels compassion for his fellow man, whichever side of a conflict they may be on, and who will strive to make the standard of life better for all those around him in whatever way he can.

Garri Urban was an singular man - intelligent and loving with a determination to succeed and survive, but with the requisite toughness and charm to emerge unscathed from a machine which mangled so many millions. The documentary film explores the mysteries of the man, asking what it takes and what it means to be a survivor like Garri S Urban.