Pavlo The assistant gang boss who carries out Tyurin's orders in an impartial and impersonal way.
Ivan Kilgas A Latvian bricklayer in Ivan's gang; a good worker who respects Ivan for his work ethic. He looks healthy and well-fed since he gets two packages a month from home.
Gopchik A young prisoner from the Ukraine in whom Ivan takes a fatherly interest.
The Two Estonians Two prisoners strongly bonded by their common fate as members of an annexed nation. They share everything equally and are inseparable.
Senka Klevshin A deaf member of Ivan's gang who was an inmate in the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald; he led an underground movement there and was cruelly tortured. On his return to Russia, he was sentenced to hard labor for "contacts with the enemy" — in other words: treason.
Nikolay Semyonovich Vdovushkin The young medic in the prison hospital without any background or experience in medicine. He has been chosen for this task by the prison doctor who fancies himself a patron of the arts and wants to give the young poet "a chance to write." Vdovushkin is generally self-centered and has little sympathy for his fellow prisoners.
Stepan Grigoryevich The new prison doctor who has established bureaucratic methods for determining who is sick and who is healthy. He believes in work as the best medicine for sick prisoners. Only two prisoners per day are allowed to be ill.
Der (Prisoner B-731) The sadistic foreman at the construction site. He is reputed to have once worked in a high post in Moscow and is now trying to rise to the position of an engineer in the camp. Without any knowledge of bricklaying, he criticizes Ivan's conscientious work.
Lieutenant Volkovoy The officer in charge of prison discipline. He has only recently stopped lashing prisoners with his whip. His name is derived from the Russian word for "wolf." He forces the prisoners to give up extra articles of clothing before they march to the construction site in subfreezing weather.
The Thin Tartar A cruel prison guard.
Big Ivan An easygoing, compassionate guard.
Clubfoot A mess-hall orderly; an "invalid" criminal.
Shkuropatenko Prisoner B-219; a worksite guard.
It should be mentioned that, contrary to the conventional treatment in prison fiction or concentration camp fiction, the Camp Commandant is mentioned only briefly. He never makes a personal appearance.
