Operotdel

[FRISON Philippe]

 I wish to thank all those who reply to my post, especially Hugh McLean and Paul Gallagher

In fact, "Operotdel" is a structure in Uzbek camps. 
I always tend to forget that in a society where ihabitants are be controlled by a political police
even prisons have to get their own surveillance unit...

Therefore, in French, an appropriate equivalent would be "Sécurité", which can imply such an 
element.

Regards

Philippe

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Hugh McLean
Sent: Friday 9 July 2010 01:22
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Operotdel

Vera V. Carpovich's book Solzhenitsyn's Peculiar Vocabulary (1976) does 
not list 'operotdel' among various other derivatives of 'oper.' which 
itself is regarded as a contraction of 'operativnyj upolnomochennyj, 
nachal'nik osvedomitelej',defined as 'local secret-police officer.' She 
gives 'operativnik' as a synonym of 'oper' and 'operchast' as 'local 
secret police office'. She does include 'operchekotdel' as a contraction 
of operativno-chekistkaja chast', with the meaning 'Operations Dept' (of 
secret police).


> The term seems to be in use within the KGB-FSB and in penitentiary contexts
>
> It seems connected to the rather vague оперативный (operativny), of which I am
> really desperate to find appropriate equivalent (the calque 'operational' does
> not fit in most contexts).
>
> Thank you in advance for any help
>
> Philippe Frison
> (Strasbourg, france)


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