2-548-140 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

The chaining of Son'ka the Golden Hand, Sakhalin, Russia, 1890. A large island off the Pacific coast of Siberia, Sakhalin became the site of prison labour camps known as katorga from 1857. In 1890 Russian author Anton Chekhov visited Sakhalin and wrote about the conditions in the camps in his book Sakhalin Island. During his trip he met Sofia Blyuvshtein, better known as Son'ka the Golden Hand, a famous Russian Jewish thief, who was imprisoned on Sakhalin, describing his meeting with her in the book. Found in the collection of The Russian State Library, Moscow.