The Soviet Experiment of Forced Awakening in 1947: Its Roots and Social Effects

Abstract

     The Russian sleep experiments began in 1894, when the scientist Marie de Manassin conducted an experimental study on puppies, who used animal models such as dogs and mice. These results paved the way for a new stage in understanding the neural functions of sleep, and aroused the interest of researchers in the Russian Empire.

     The Russian scientific circles followed the development of those researches, the year 1903 witnessed a qualitative leap by the scientist Nikolai Kravchenko, who used animal models such as dogs and mice, apply techniques of forced sleep deprivation in strict laboratory environments, and that phase resulted in the consolidation of the conviction of a direct link between the absence of sleep and nervous breakdown, which prompted the state to employ that field for more complex purposes.

    Those experiments reached their peak in the year 1947, when the Soviet authorities carried out a secret experiment later known as the 'Russian Sleep Experiment,' during which five political prisoners were subjected to forced sleep deprivation for a period exceeding two weeks, using a stimulating gas that prevents sleepiness, and that experiment resulted in terrifying outcomes including mental breakdowns and unusual behaviors, considered a blatant transgression of the boundaries of medicine and ethics.

     That experience affected profoundly in the Russian cultural consciousness, as it did not remain confined to secret reports, but sneaked into literature and art, turning into fertile material for psychological horror novels and dark fantasy stories, reflecting the anxieties of the contemporary human about disturbed science and absolute power.

     The work shows, through tracking the temporal development from the year 1894 until the year 2002, how Russian sleep experiments transformed from purely biological research into means of mental control, then into cultural symbols expressing deep human anxiety regarding the limits of science and ethics under totalitarian regimes.