What is the FIRST THING that comes to mind at the mention of the word...........

1. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   What is the FIRST THING that comes to mind at the mention of the word..............SIBERIA?
   
   What is YOUR association with the word SIBERIA? 
   
   

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2. 58

   ShaheerShahidposted 9 years ago

   First thing which hits my mind about Siberia is White Tigers & Mysterious !

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, Siberia is shrouded in mystery in the Western mind.  It also has a dark reputation from the past as Russians who displeased both the Tsarist & Communist governments were sent to Siberia to be imprisoned in the Gulags.

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3. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   
   
   Siberia is a place of mystery in the Western mind.  It was seen as the Great Unknown beyond the Urals.  It a land of mystery until the 16th century when Russians began to make inroads to Siberia.  Siberia was to the Russian mind & consciousness what the West was to the American mind & consciousness.  Siberia was a very hardy hand & it was the strongest & the most hardy who survived in Siberia.
   
   Siberia also had a darker reputation.  Those Russians who fell afoul of the Tsar & later the Communists were shipped to Siberia to work in the Gulags.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn aptly described the hellish life endured by those who happened to be imprisoned in those gulags.  Siberia became associated with dread in the minds of many Russians. To them, Siberia was analogous to Hell, something to be avoided at all costs. 
   
   However, Siberia was a land of promise. There were scientific communities built in Siberia, particularly Western Siberia.  It is also a very rich land full of natural resources.   It is a land quite unfathomable, unique, &.......with much mystery ready to be unearthed.

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4. 93

   lisavollrathposted 9 years ago

   Being banished to a mind-numbingly cold place. Siberia is where people were sent as punishment during the Communist era.

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Definitely, the book THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO details the hell those in the gulags underwent.  I started the book but it is too horrendous to continue.  I have YET to finish the book.

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