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Illustrated portrait of Ivan Kilgas

A character in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Ivan Kilgas

Kilgas is a Latvian prisoner and skilled bricklayer who works beside Shukhov.

The book

Cover of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
One Day in the Life of Ivan DenisovichAleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1962

One prisoner's ordinary day reveals the human reality inside a revolutionary state turned labor camp.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Kilgas is a Latvian prisoner and skilled bricklayer who works beside Shukhov. He is strong, capable, humorous, and comparatively well supplied because he receives parcels. His practical competence makes him one of Shukhov’s closest peers at the work site. He survives the day and returns with the squad.

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