The memoirs "Zhemchuzhina zapoliaria" concern the Vorkuta concentration camp in the 1930s, discussing in particular prisoners whom the author met. Among the prisoners he discusses were 1,300 "Trotskii-ite" prisoners who arrived at the camp in 1936. They went on a mass hunger strike, and in 1938 were massacred by the authorities. (Page 54 of the manuscript is missing.).