Today, both Russian and Western historians offer detailed histories of the Gulag. Camp output almost never compensated for the cost of running the Gulag system, most of the felled trees rotted and never reached lumber mills, many of the railroad lines and canals the prison laborers built were useless, most of the construction was hopelessly shoddy.
Eighteen million people were set to forced labor, for no economic gain. Skip to main navigation Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to search Skip to content. Use current location. See all locations. Admin Admin Admin, collapsed.
Main navigation Events. Open search form. Enter search query Clear Text. Saved Searches Advanced Search. Camp prisoners often drudged through brutal weather, sometimes facing sub-zero temperatures.
Food rations were tight, and workdays were long. Gulag living conditions were cold, overcrowded and unsanitary. Violence was common among the camp inmates, who were made up of both hardened criminals and political prisoners. In desperation, some stole food and other supplies from each other.
Many workers died from exhaustion, while others were physically assaulted or shot by camp guards. Historians estimate that at least 10 percent of the total Gulag prison population was killed each year. Prisoners in the Gulag were given sentences, and if they survived the term, they were permitted to leave camp. For example, family members of a suspected traitor would receive a minimum sentence of five to eight years of labor. If they worked extremely hard and surpassed their quotas, some prisoners qualified for early release.
Within days, millions of prisoners were released. Some were restructured to serve as prisons for criminals, democratic activists and anti-Soviet nationalists during the s and s.
The true horrors of the Gulag system were revealed belatedly: Before the fall of the Soviet Union in , state archives were sealed. In , The Gulag Archipelago was published in the West by Russian historian and Gulag survivor Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn though only a few underground copies were available in the Soviet Union at the time. The influential book detailed the atrocities of the Gulag system and its impact on the lives of prisoners and their families.
Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in ; he was expelled from the Soviet Union in , but returned to Russia in Experts believe that without enough food and supplies, workers were unequipped to provide productive results. The dark history of the Gulag has left generations of Russians scarred and damaged.
Stalin dies. Lavrentiy Beria briefly takes control and announces an amnesty that concerns those convicted of minor criminal activities and completely overlooks political prisoners. Under Nikita Khrushchev widespread releases take place and almost four million political crime cases are reviewed. A period referred to as the Khrushchev Thaw begins. The Gulag system is abolished on the basis of a reform. Many labour camps are shut down.
The Soviet economy is no longer based on the slave labour of prisoners. Political prisoners have not disappeared but their number falls markedly and now dissidents are only imprisoned for genuine opposition to the regime. They are most frequently sent to labour camps in Mordovia or around Perm in the Urals. They too serve their sentences in terrible conditions hunger, disease, rape but the camps do not have such high death rates.
It is a three-day course intended for use amongst U. The curriculum includes first person accounts and artwork as well as class exercises and homework. If you are interested in receiving a curriculum unit, please contact the NRC at nrc fas.
Learn more about the traveling exhibit schedule. Welcome The Soviet Gulag was a massive system of forced labor camps.
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