Taganka Prison (Russian: Таганская тюрьма) was built in Moscow in 1804 by Alexander I, emperor of Russia.[1] It gained notoriety for its use as a prison for political prisoners, both by the ruling tsars and during the years of the Soviet Union, by the Communist Party.[1] During the Great Purge, the prison housed foreign enemies of the state, such as the German communist, Gustav Sobottka, Jr., as well as Russians. It played host to a mass protest in 1938 when thousands of prisoners repudiated their confessions made under torture.[2] The prison became immortalized in poems and songs dating from before the October Revolution in 1918. The prison was razed in the 1950s.[1]
Soviet 'martyr' Nikolay Bauman was beaten to death outside of Taganka Prison by a nationalist and reactionary mob upon the release of political prisoners 18 October 1905.[3]
Taganka is also the name of one of many Russian prisoners' songs. It takes its name from the prison and was popularized by Russian singers Vladimir Vysotsky and Mikhail Shufutinsky.[1]
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