Gulag
The word Gulag originally referred only to the division of the Soviet secret police that was in charge of running the forced labor camps from the 1930s to the early 1950s during Joseph Stalin's rule. The abbreviation GULAG stands for Glávnoye upravléniye ispravítel'no-trudovýkh lageréy, which translates to Main Directorate of Correctional Labour Camps. This agency changed its name several times throughout its existence. In English literature and many other languages, the term became popularly used for the entire system of forced labor rather than just the administrative body. The official term correctional labour camp was suggested for use by the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the 27th of July 1929. Before this formalization, the predominant terms were simply the camps or the zone. The system grew rapidly, reaching a population of 100,000 in the 1920s. By the end of 1940, the population of the Gulag camps amounted to 1.5 million. The agency was established in 1930 and initially administered by the OGPU, later known as the NKVD, and finally the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The camps housed both ordinary criminals and political prisoners, with many convicted through simplified procedures like NKVD troikas.
In 1931 alone, 1,803,392 people were exiled during the dekulakisation process initiated by Stalin. This massive relocation transferred potential free forced labor work force to places where it was needed but failed to create a steady workforce due to starvation level rations. In just four months, 60,000 people were sent to the camps and 154,000 other people were exiled following Stalin's demand for complete elimination of the kulak class. During the Great Purge of 1937, 38, mass arrests caused another increase in inmate numbers. Hundreds of thousands were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms under Article 58 of the Criminal Codes. Under NKVD Order No. 00447, tens of thousands of Gulag inmates were executed in 1937, 38 for continuing counterrevolutionary activities. Between 1934 and 1941, the number of prisoners with higher education increased more than eight times. Among camp prisoners, the number and share of the intelligentsia grew at the quickest pace. Distrust, hostility, and even hatred for the intelligentsia became common characteristics of Soviet leaders. The OGPU quickly discovered that the dekulakisation process was failing because many healthy prisoners tried to escape.
In the winter of 1941, a quarter of the Gulag's population died of starvation due to harsh working conditions combined with famine caused by the German invasion. This period accounts for about half of all Gulag deaths according to Russian statistics. In 1942, serious food shortages began and camp populations dropped again as the Soviet Union went into total war footing in June 1941. Many laborers received early releases so they could be drafted and sent to the front. As Axis armies pushed into Soviet territory from June 1941 on, labor resources became further strained. From the beginning of the war to halfway through 1944, 40 camps were set up and 69 were disbanded. During evacuations, machinery received priority leaving prisoners to reach safety on foot. The NKVD massacred many prisoners to prevent them from falling into German hands when Operation Barbarossa's advance prevented evacuation in good time. When the tide of the war turned, fresh batches of laborers replenished the camps. After World War II, the number of inmates sharply rose again reaching approximately 2.5 million people by the early 1950s.
On the 11th of February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the Soviet Union. This resulted in forcible repatriation of all Soviets including persons who had left the Russian Empire years before. British and United States civilian authorities ordered their military forces to deport to the Soviet Union up to two million former residents. Multiple sources state that over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned by the Germans were sent to the Gulag after being treated as traitors. In 1945 about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated Ostarbeiter, POWs, and other displaced persons which processed more than 4,000,000 people. By 1946, the major part of the population of these camps were cleared by NKVD and either sent home or conscripted. The amnesty of 1953 was limited to non-political prisoners and political prisoners sentenced to not more than five years. The release of political prisoners started in 1954 and became widespread after Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism in his Secret Speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956.
Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, estimates of Gulag victims ranged from 2.3 to 17.6 million. Post-1991 research by historians accessing archival materials brought this range down considerably. A 1993 study of archival Soviet data estimates 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag from 1934 to 1953. It was common practice to release prisoners who were suffering from incurable diseases or near death. The tentative historical consensus is that between 1.6 million and 1.76 million perished as a result of their detention out of 18 million who passed through from 1930 to 1953. About half of all deaths occurred between 1941 and 1943 following the German invasion. If prisoner deaths from labor colonies and special settlements are included, the death toll rises to 2,749,163 according to J. Otto Pohl's incomplete data. Historian Orlando Figes and Russian writer Vadim Erlikman have posited similar higher estimates involving those whose life was shortened by extreme conditions.
The site on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea is one of the earliest and most noteworthy camps taking root soon after the Revolution in 1918. In 1929, Maxim Gorky visited the camp and published an apology for it stating that camps such as Solovki were absolutely necessary. Many more projects during rapid industrialisation fulfilled on backs of convicts including the White Sea, Baltic Canal and Baikal, Amur Mainline. Parts of the famous Moscow Metro and Moscow State University new campus were built by forced labor. The majority of Gulag camps were positioned in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia along Kolyma river and Norilsk near Norilsk. There were also facilities in southeastern parts of Soviet Union mainly in steppes of Kazakhstan. Throughout history there were at least 476 separate camp administrations with no less than 2,000 colonies. The infamous complexes were those at Kolyma, Norilsk, and Vorkuta all in arctic or subarctic regions. Camps generally spread throughout entire Soviet Union including European parts of Russia Belarus and Ukraine. Several camps existed outside Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland and Mongolia under direct control of Gulag.
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Common questions
What does the word Gulag stand for in Russian?
The abbreviation GULAG stands for Glávnoye upravléniye ispravítel'no-trudovýkh lageréy, which translates to Main Directorate of Correctional Labour Camps. This term originally referred only to the division of the Soviet secret police that was in charge of running the forced labor camps from the 1930s to the early 1950s during Joseph Stalin's rule.
When did the population of the Gulag camps reach its highest point after World War II?
After World War II, the number of inmates sharply rose again reaching approximately 2.5 million people by the early 1950s. The system grew rapidly before this period, reaching a population of 100,000 in the 1920s and amounting to 1.5 million by the end of 1940.
How many people died in the Gulag between 1934 and 1953 according to archival data?
A 1993 study of archival Soviet data estimates 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag from 1934 to 1953. The tentative historical consensus is that between 1.6 million and 1.76 million perished as a result of their detention out of 18 million who passed through from 1930 to 1953.
Where were the most famous Gulag complexes located geographically?
The infamous complexes were those at Kolyma, Norilsk, and Vorkuta all in arctic or subarctic regions. The majority of Gulag camps were positioned in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia along Kolyma river and Norilsk near Norilsk with other facilities existing in southeastern parts of Soviet Union mainly in steppes of Kazakhstan.
What happened to prisoners during the winter of 1941 due to German invasion?
In the winter of 1941, a quarter of the Gulag's population died of starvation due to harsh working conditions combined with famine caused by the German invasion. This period accounts for about half of all Gulag deaths according to Russian statistics and occurred when Axis armies pushed into Soviet territory from June 1941 on.