Siberia: 8,000 kilomtres to coer, a 10 hour time-difference from one extremity to the other, 18 lift-offs and landings between Moscow, the coal mines of Vourkouta, the gold fields of Kolyma, and Magadan – the port where prisoners were disembarked. I undertook this trip with two men who didn’t wait to be given liberty before taking it: Vladim TOUMANOV, former prisoner, now boss of the Siberian gold-hunters, and his friend Sergueï CHACHOURIN, one of today’s most powerful businessmen. A voice was at the rendez-vous: the deep rough voice of Vladimir VISSOTSKY, a man who has sung the hopes of an entire era. The system has collapsed, the martyrs have lost their « raison d’être »; illusions have too. VISSOTSKY’s voice reverberates still: « We’re indulgent with the dead, we promise them paradise, which is more than I can say for the living ».