INDEX

absenteeism, 125, 254

accounted working days, 73–76, 101, 235

Adenauer, Konrad, 245

Adler, Nanci, 234, 247, 249

administrative documents, 3–4

Afghans, 151

agent-informant networks, 138, 150, 182. See also informants

agriculture, 31–33, 35, 62; collectivization of, 96, 264n23

Akmolinsk, 25, 308n201

Aktiubinlag, 123

alcohol, 46, 232–233

Aldazhumanov, Kaidar S., 148

Alkhoev, Magomet, 239

Alzhir, 103–105

amnesties, 75; political prisoners excluded from, 257; post-Kengir extension of, 234; post-Stalin amnesty of 1953, 202, 205–208, 210–211, 237, 258; postwar, 157–159, 160. See also mass amnesties; release

annexed territories, 110–111, 155, 212, 256–257; arrests in, 297n203; deportations from, 144–145, 190; Sovietization of, 154, 189. See Baltic countries; Poland; Ukraine; Westerners

anti-Semitism, 196–197

Applebaum, Anne, 7–8, 263n11

Arendt, Hannah, 10, 38

Armenians, 245

arrests, 7, 159, 255; economic motives for, 35–36, 38, 40, 270n28; mass, 7, 35, 111, 154, 267n50; of political prisoners, 84, 249, 295n162; of Westerners, 89, 108, 111, 154, 297n203

Article 58 prisoners, 84–85, 91, 294n153; excluded from postwar amnesty, 158, 205, 312n19. See also counterrevolutionary prisoners; political prisoners

Article 70 prisoners, 249

Abdulaev, Iusip Abdulaevich, 242

Balkar people, 244, 245

Balkhash, 182

Baltic countries, 108–110, 189–190; annexation of, 257; Sovietization of, 154

Baltic nationalists, 184, 189; in Kengir, 214; role in Kengir uprising, 211, 224–225, 229, 231–232

Baltic peoples, 189, 253, 327n268; exempted from release, 238; as permanent exiles, 193–194; release from exile of, 245. See also Estonians; Latvians; Lithuanians; Westerners

Banderites, 162, 274n84

Bardach, Janusz, 41, 43, 79, 90–91, 105, 114, 144, 272n54; attempted escape by, 54–55; medical experience of, 121

Basmachi, 190

Belomor, 15, 72, 85, 94

Belomor, 11–12, 63, 77, 91

Belomor Canal, 60

Belorussia, 109–110, 114, 245; annexation of, 257; deportations from, 190; Sovietization of, 154

Belorussians, 189, 238, 245, 327n268

Beria, Lavrenty, 114, 135, 208–209, 214, 315n63; on amnesty, 205; arrest of, 223–224; deportations ordered by, 147, 152; execution of, 202, 213; on filtration camps, 157

Berman, Matvei, 60

Bessarabia, 109–110

Bessarabians, 189

bitches (suki), 174–179, 306n126

bitches’ war, 173–182, 306n126

Bochkov, Viktor Mikhailovich, 217

Bogdanov, Nikolai K., 152

Bolshevik ideology, 10–11, 14–16, 87; labor and, 36, 38, 59, 125. See also propaganda

Bolshevik revolution, 13–14

Bondareva-Dmitrieva, Nina Borisovna, 137

Breusov, Vladimir Efimovich, 134

Brezhnev, Leonid, 258

Brown, Kate, 98

Buber-Neumann, Margarete, 53

Buca, Edward, 77, 176, 186–189, 199

Bugai, Nikolai, 96

Bulgarians, 151, 245

Busarev Nikolai M., 192

bytoviki, 92

camp administrators, 47

camp closures, 237

camp employees, 47–49; educational activities among, 49–50; former inmates as, 51–53, 208, 246–249; political education of, 129, 136; post-Stalin treatment of prisoners, 209–210; prisoner-on-prisoner violence and, 177–179; propaganda aimed at, 12, 50; relationship with prisoners, 51–52; relationship with veterans, 199; sexual relations with prisoners, 100; in special camps, 168. See also guards

camp entertainment, 64

camp newspapers, 11–12, 59, 62–63

categorization of prisoners, 42, 68, 79–83, 124, 235, 255, 256; POWs and, 293n126

Catholics, 99

cause of death, 248–249

censorship, 13, 137; attempts to circumvent, 46, 227, 273n67; in special camps, 168, 171

Chechen-Ingush national homeland, 240–241, 244

Chechens, 95, 152–153, 187–188, 298n212; autonomous region for, 244; exile of, 195–196, 237, 256; isolation of, 252; in Karlag, 324n205; in post-Soviet era, 241; release from exile, 239–241, 245; wartime deportations of, 145

Chekists, 39, 48–49, 62

Chernyshov, Vasilii, 114, 116, 139

ChSIR (Chlen Semei Izmennikov Rodiny), 103

class, 144–145; contrasted with nationality, 94, 96; criminality and, 14; as primary category of identity, 83

class war, 14, 35, 39, 86

coal mining, 31–32, 100–101, 127, 149, 167, 209

cohabitation, 100–101, 121

cold war, 162, 194

collaborators, 156

collective guilt, 150

collective punishment, 98, 151, 171, 174

collective responsibility, 40, 80, 140

collectivization, 10, 22, 33–35, 96, 255, 264n23; religious opposition to, 112

colonization, 39–40

common criminals (bytoviki): amnesty of, 207; contrasted with political prisoners, 83, 87, 93, 164, 175, 281n17; in Kengir uprising, 215, 219, 222, 315n72; reformability of, 87; victimization of political prisoners, 89

Communist Party members, 243, 247; deportation of, 97, 150, 153, 300n239

comrade courts, 64

conditional early release. See early release

Conquest, Robert, 8

contamination, 14, 189

copper mining, 30, 167–168, 254

corrective labor, 16, 33, 36–38, 255; for Westerners, 110. See also labor

corrective labor camps, 17, 21–22, 249; abolishment of, 251–252; bitches’ war in, 173–182; during Brezhnev years, 258; Chechens in, 153; contrasted with corrective labor colonies, 26; contrasted with prisons, 19, 44; death rates in, 76–77; early openness of, 255–256; at end of 1950’s, 253; exile following release from, 24–25; importance of labor in, 36; in Karaganda region, 30; kulaks in, 35; population of, 34, 113, 202; postwar population of, 158–160, 165; releases from, 72; 1956 reorganization of, 250–251; Soviet Germans in, 149; wartime escapes from, 138–140; Westerners in, 188–190. See also Karlag camp

corrective labor colonies, 17, 21, 25–27, 249; contrasted with special settlements, 24; death rates in, 76; at end of 1950’s, 253; importance of labor in, 36; Kazakh people in, 307n148; in Kazakh Republic, 268n80; in liberated territories, 154; population of, 34, 202; postwar population of, 158, 160; releases from, 72; 1956 reorganization of, 250–251; transfer from labor camps to, 251–252

correspondence, 69, 71, 136, 256, 293n114; censorship of, 13, 137; Katorga and, 141; in special camps, 168, 171, 233

counterrevolutionary prisoners, 158–159; accused of fascism, 162; among Soviet German population, 148; as anti-Soviet, 282n31; as camp employees, 52; declining population of, 183, 252–253; evacuations of, 136; excluded from cultural-educational activities, 67–68; excluded from postwar amnesty, 207; in labor brigades, 150; organization of uprisings by, 135; prewar population of, 113; releases of, 234, 237; in special camps, 165–166, 173; in strict-regime divisions, 233; wartime incarceration of, 123, 257. See also Article 58 prisoners; political prisoners

Craveri, Marta, 203, 213

Crimeans, 153, 243–245, 256

criminal gangs, 42, 90–91, 250–253, 305n118. See also professional criminals

criminality, 11, 13–14, 281n17

criminals. See common criminals; nonpolitical criminals; professional criminals

cult of action, 162

cultural brigades, 46, 64, 210

cultural-educational activities, 57–59, 61–65, 67–68, 85; labor output and, 128–131; labor productivity and, 163; patriotism and, 133; political prisoners excluded from, 85; in postwar period, 160; prisoner response to, 65–66; rewards for participation in, 74; at special camps, 171–172. See also educational activities; political education

Cultural-Educational Sections (KVChs), 37, 57–63, 65–68, 276n113, 276n119; political education and, 129

Dal’lag, 167, 183

Dashnaki, 190

David-Fox, Michael, 11

death camps, 8, 10

death penalty, 17–18, 76, 209, 279n186; abolition of, 183, 302n23, 306n144. See also executions

death rate, 1–2, 76–77; in corrective labor camps, 22; of deportees, 152; downward trend in, 311n8; in Katorga divisions, 21, 142; in postwar period, 158, 203; during World War II, 5, 113, 116–118, 121–122

de-kulakization, 10, 33, 34–35, 255, 264n23

denationalization, 196

deportations, 97, 144–154, 255; based on nationality, 190–191, 256; of Chechens, 152–153; of ethnic minorities, 96; growth of Gulag and, 35; of “punished peoples,” 151–153; of Soviet Germans, 145–151, 297n205, 299n222; of Westerners, 108, 111, 190; during WWII, 123. See also exile; internal exile

desertion, 112, 125, 157

de-Stalinization, 258

differentiation of rations, 41–43, 255

dissident movement, 247

doctors’ plot, 197, 248

Dolgikh, Ivan, 207, 221

Dolgun, Alexander, 1, 164, 179, 209–210, 248; release of, 236, 246; in special camp, 169–174

Dolinka, 32, 45, 52, 72

Dran’ko, Ekaterina Nikitichna, 242

Drevits, Georgii Mikhailovich, 118–121, 290n63

Dubrovlag, 227

Dzhezkazgan, 117, 164, 167–169, 182, 214; Kengir uprising and, 221–222; post-Stalin change in conditions, 210; professional criminals in, 173; releases from, 236

early release, 73–76, 255; abolishment of, 78, 108, 205; counterrevolutionary prisoners excluded from, 85; for outstanding labor performance, 25, 52, 72, 126, 165, 236; reintroduction of, 233. See also mass release; release

economic issues, 10, 35–36, 270n28; arrests and, 35–36, 38, 40, 270n28; cultural-educational activities and, 58–59; decline of Gulag and, 202–203; economic vs. penal tasks, 33; funding of Gulag, 293n114; ideology and, 128; inefficiency of Gulag, 200, 258, 311n7; labor productivity as, 40–41; mass arrests and, 35; in postwar period, 160–164; special camps and, 184–185; total Soviet economic output, 191n113; unprofitability of camps, 47, 127–128; during WWII, 109, 123–128. See also labor productivity

The Economics of Forced Labor in the Soviet Union, 10

educational activities, 49–50, 58–59; for camp employees, 129; prisoner response to, 65; women and, 99. See also cultural-educational activities; political education

Efimov, Vasilii Mefod’evich, 134

Ekibastuz, 167, 169, 180–181, 182; prisoner resistance at, 185

escape, 26, 53–57, 163, 190, 199–200; downward trend in, 77, 203, 311n8; from Katorga divisions, 141; ongoing existence of, 212, 252; preoccupation with preventing, 24, 50, 95, 126, 139, 308n191; punishment for, 49, 54–55, 70, 80, 170, 214; from special camps, 166, 168–169, 183, 185; during WWII, 137, 138–140

Estonians, 189–190, 327n268; decline in incarceration rates of, 253; exempted from release, 238; as permanent exiles, 193–194

ethnicity, 80, 86, 132; contrasted with nationality, 93; exile based on, 96–98, 123

ethnonational movements. See nationalist movements

evacuations, 114–116, 288n32; of counterrevolutionary prisoners, 136

executions, 17–18, 184, 211, 248–249, 254; of Beria, 202, 213; during Great Terror, 86, 256, 279n191; of Kengir rebels, 230; for labor infractions, 125–126; political, 295n164; of political prisoners, 136; total numbers of, 1. See also death penalty

exile, 22, 268n68; based on ethnicity, 96–98, 123; based on nationality, 144, 153–154, 185, 188, 189–191, 193; following release from camps, 24–25, 166, 192, 238, 246; forced labor and, 254; in Kazakhstan, 308n201, 323n192, 323n193; living conditions in, 190; mass release from, 244–245; of “nonnational” groups, 190–191; permanent, 153, 165; postwar population of, 195; release from, 237–245, 258; wartime release from, 115; of Westerners, 111. See also deportations; internal exile; special settlements

Ezhov, Nikolai, 214, 267n59

fascists, 156, 219, 243; class enemies labeled as, 86; political prisoners labeled as, 88, 162, 164; Soviet Germans labeled as, 145, 147–148

Fastenko, Anatolii, 88–89

Fel’dman, Artem, 173, 179, 185, 197, 309n208; on Stalin’s death, 204, 208

Figes, Orlando, 103, 130, 260n8

filtration camps, 17, 124, 154, 156–157, 189; Red Army veterans at, 197

financing of camps, 251–252

fines, 17, 27

Firin, Semen, 16, 85

First Five-Year Plan, 255

Fogel, Mariia Ivanova, 242

food, 41–43, 255; reduced as punishment, 68–69; tied to labor output, 165; wartime scarcity of, 116–117, 119–120

former kulaks, 19, 96–98, 144, 191, 195, 238, 323n197; executions of, 86; wartime release of, 115. See also kulaks

freedom of movement, 24, 43–44, 244

Galkina, Antonina Nikolaevna, 242–243

gender identity, 98–106; loss of “womanhood” and, 101–102. See also women

Genuine Orthodox Church, 112–113

Gerin’sh, Boleslav Adamovich, 230

Germans. See Soviet Germans

Getty, J. Arch, 10

Gigant state farm, 30–32

Gilboa, Yehoshua, 110–112, 117

Ginzburg, Eugenia, 20, 22, 89, 93; on anti-Semitism, 197; on categorization, 81; on gender identity, 102; rearrest of, 192–193; release of, 73; transfer of, 70; wartime experience of, 130, 145

Gol’dshtein, Samuil, 131–133

Gorky, Maksim, 87

Great Break, 29, 144

Great Patriotic War. See World War II

Great Terror, 15, 35, 98, 108, 267n59; aimed at former kulaks, 19, 97; camp death rates during, 77; executions during, 18, 86–87, 103, 256, 279n191; reeducation and, 276n113

Greeks, 190, 245

Gregory, Paul, 10

group cells, 68

guards, 47–53, 174, 188, 274n76; brutality towards prisoners of, 55–56, 100, 114, 168; counterrevolutionary activities among, 140; effect of WWII on, 123, 135–137, 140; former prisoners as, 88, 208; Kengir uprising and, 214–215, 224, 231; political education of, 163, 180; postwar shortage of, 203; propaganda aimed at, 12; Red Army veterans and, 198; relationships with prisoners, 51, 54, 101, 178; in special camps, 168, 171–172; at Steplag, 183, 306n139. See also camp employees

The Gulag Archipelago, 8–9, 213, 314n51

Gulag Cultural-Educational Department, 57

Gulag identity, 4–5, 12, 81–83, 105–106; as basis for propaganda, 218; gender and, 98–105; individual evaluations and, 80; nationality and, 93–98, 144, 219–220; political prisoners vs. common criminals, 83–93; in special camps, 172–173

Gulag population, 1, 34–36, 310n4; escapes and, 55; of exiles, 191–192, 195; of informants, 182; under Khrushchev, 249; maximum, 202; political prisoners as a percentage of, 123, 137, 165, 281n17; post-Stalin decline in, 234–237; in postwar period, 157–160, 165, 301n11, 302n23; of recidivists, 252; reduced by amnesty, 205, 207; release of, 8, 12, 72, 254; of special camps, 182; wartime decline in, 113, 122–124; of Westerners, 189; of women, 282n36; before WWII, 113, 256

Gumeniuk, Pavel Mikhailovich, 126

Gur’evsk, 308n201

Herling, Gustav, 83, 88

Higher School of the NKVD USSR, 140

The History of the Gulag: From Collectivization to the Great Terror, 9

holidays, 65, 278n148, 284n68

homosexuality, 105

honest thieves (chestnyagi), 174–175

human perfectibility, 266n30

hunger strikes, 110, 180, 185

Iagoda, Genrikh, 52, 214

Ibragimov, Zaidula Khamidilovich, 230

ideology, 9–12, 91, 217, 264n17; economic considerations and, 128; exposure to non-Soviet, 155–156, 189, 212, 231, 315n56; of labor, 37, 59

illness, 117, 122, 285n86, 290n74, 304n66

individualization of prisoners, 80–81. See also categorization of prisoners

indoctrination networks, 2, 59, 107, 276. See also cultural-educational activities; political education; propaganda

informants, 53, 55, 56–57, 175; growth of, 182; during Kengir uprising, 317n86; murder by prisoners of, 179–182, 203, 305n122; wartime increase in number of, 138. See also agent-informant networks

Ingush, 152–153, 187; autonomous region for, 244; exile of, 195–196, 256; isolation of, 252; release from exile, 239–241, 245

internal camp prisons, 19, 69, 180, 304n73

internal exile, 1, 23, 202, 241, 253, 256, 268n61; in Karaganda region, 26, 31, 46; of kulaks, 35, 96, 264; of Soviet Koreans, 97; of Westerners, 111, 239. See also exile; special settlements

international affairs, 112, 194–195

interrogation prisons, 18–19, 267n50

Iranians, 151, 190

Islam, 133

isolation of prisoners, 13–14, 17, 48, 82, 126, 184, 252, 262n5; cost of, 45, 160–161; following Kengir uprising, 230–231; in Katorga divisions, 141, 257; of political prisoners, 21, 173, 257; in prisons, 19; of recidivists, 250; in special camps, 165, 168–169, 200; in strict-regime divisions, 233; temporary nature of, 223; during WWII, 116, 124, 137

Istoshchenie, 290n72

Ivanova, Galina, 87, 203, 247

Ivanova camp, 309n3

Ivashchenko, Valentin Vladimirovich, 230

Izvestkovaia, 70

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, 196

Jews, 131–133, 145, 162; anti-Semitism and, 196–197

Kalmyk people, 244–245

Kamenlag, 290n57

Karachai people, 244–245

Karaganda region, 2–3, 12, 29, 30–31; Chechens in, 240; coal mining in, 148–149; contact between prisoners and noncamp population, 46; corrective labor camps in, 22; deportations to, 146–148, 195–196; exiles in, 25, 152, 195–196, 237–238, 308n201, 323n193; special camps in, 164, 166–167, 182–183; special settlements in, 196

Karlag camp, 3, 28–34, 199–200; agricultural nature of, 32, 44–46; bitches’ war in, 177; Chechen-Russian hostility in, 240; Chechens in, 324n205; closing of subdivisions, 237; cohabitation in, 101; as corrective labor camp, 17; counterrevolutionary prisoners in, 67–68; cultural-educational activities in, 58–59, 62–63, 128; declining population of, 183; effect of 1953 amnesty on, 206–208, 210–211; effect of WWII on, 113–114; employee conditions in, 49; escapes from, 54, 56; executions in, 125–126; exiles in, 25; food provisions in, 41; founding of, 29–30, 32–33; holidays in, 65; Katorga divisions in, 143; Kuznetsov in, 230; liberation commissions in, 235; light-regime conditions in, 233–234; living conditions in, 30–31, 44, 136–137; national minorities in, 95; penalty facilities at, 68–69; political education in, 162–163; political prisoners in, 85–86, 294n153; population of, 34; postwar population of, 159; POW camp in, 124; prisoner-on-prisoner violence in, 181–182; prisoner resistance in, 137; releases from, 72, 75; religious groups in, 112; shock workers in, 60; size of, 269n13; Soviet Germans in, 148; special camps in, 213; three-tiered regime in, 305n118; victimization of political prisoners in, 89–90; wartime death rates in, 116–118, 121–122; wartime demographics of, 123–124; wartime escapes from, 139–140; wartime releases from, 111–112, 115; women in, 99, 102–105; Zhuravlev-Drevits feud in, 119–120

Katerinenko (Assistant Director of Karlag), 107

Katorga camp divisions, 20–21, 140–143, 184–185, 213, 257; end of, 210, 232; special camps and, 168

Katyn, 111

Kazakh prisoners, 95, 307n148

Kazakh Republic: Chechens and Ingush in, 188, 241; corrective labor camps in, 17; deportations to, 147, 151–153; as location for exile, 166, 195–196, 308n201, 323n192, 323n193; special camps in, 182–183; special settlements in, 22. See also Karaganda region

Kazitlag camp, 25, 30–31, 57, 269n10

Kekushev, Nikolai L’vovich, 232

Keller, Gersha, 227–228

Kengir camp, 173, 214; aftermath of uprising, 229–232, 234; in Gulag Archipelago, 314n51; prisoner uprising in, 5, 200, 211–225, 227–231, 309n2, 318n97; releases from, 236; Westerners at, 189, 239

Khemshil people, 245

Khlevniuk, Oleg, 9, 35, 203

Khmel’nytskyi, Hetman Bohdan, 133

Khrushchev, Nikita, 206, 231, 248, 258; ouster of, 249

Kirghiz Republic, 22

Kmiecik, Jerzy, 112–113

Knopmus, Iurii Al’fredovich, 222, 228–230

Kogan, Lazar, 25, 52, 57, 73

Kolyma camp, 1–2, 12, 65–66, 256; anti-Semitism in, 197; attempted escape from, 54–55; early release from, 126; employee conditions in, 49; guards in, 50; Katorga divisions in, 143; Petrov in, 273n67; special camps and, 166; transfer to as punishment, 70, 217, 230; wartime death rates in, 116–118; as worst possible destination, 17, 21, 126

Kondratas, Iozac, 230

Kondratenko, 147–148

Konovalov, Sergei Aleksandrovich, 238–239

Kopelev, Lev, 145, 156, 196–197, 198; description of bitches’ war, 174–176

Korean War, 194

Kotkin, Stephen, 24, 26, 65

Kovpak, Sydir, 198

Krasnoiarsk Krai, 22, 166

Kronstadt, 309n3

Kruglov, Sergei, 117, 119, 122–123, 153, 165; Kengir uprising and, 215–216, 220

kulaks, 264n23; contrasted with ethnic exiles, 153; exile of, 22, 25, 35, 96, 144; released from exile, 191, 289n42. See also de-kulakization; former kulaks

Kun, Ol’ga, 239

Kurds, 245

Kurmanbaev, Senkul, 61

Kuznetsov, Kapiton Ivanovich, 211–212, 215, 320n130; aftermath of Kengir uprising, 230; as leader of Kengir uprising, 224–229, 320n134; as target of propaganda, 219–220

labor, 36–41; Bolshevik ideology of, 36, 38, 59, 125; cultural importance of, 125; food and, 41–43, 165; forced, 38, 254; ideology of, 11, 59; as key to reforging, 16; as method for reeducation, 40; redemption and, 126; reeducation and, 59–60, 134; rehabilitation and, 255; rewards for, 75–76; unproductiveness of forced labor, 160, 311n7; wartime increases in, 126–127; wartime politics of, 128; as weapon, 131. See also corrective labor

labor brigades, 80, 82, 149–150; women in, 299n228

labor camps. See corrective labor camps

labor colonies. See corrective labor colonies

labor columns, 40–41, 148–149

labor heroism, 60–61; during WWII, 131

labor laws of 1940, 113, 115, 125–126, 257; growth of Gulag and, 35

labor productivity, 39–40, 60–61, 161–163, 232, 271n39; creation of special camps and, 184–185; cultural-educational activities and, 58, 68, 129; leading to early release, 72, 75, 126, 137, 150, 243; post-Stalin improvements in, 232; rewards for, 41, 71, 163–164, 233; unproductiveness of forced labor, 38, 127–128, 160, 203; during WWII, 129, 133

Latvians, 189–190, 253, 327n268; exempted from release, 238; as permanent exiles, 193–194

Lazarev, Vasilii Nikoforovich, 192

Leninist justice, 248

liberation commissions, 234–236

Linin, O. G., 47, 71

Lithuania, 190, 307n165

Lithuanians, 145, 186, 188–190, 327n268; decline in incarceration rates of, 253; exempted from release, 238; as permanent exiles, 193–194

living conditions, 9, 30, 43–47, 255; efforts to improve, 71, 163; faced by exiles, 190; following Stalin’s death, 209–210, 232; at special camps, 168–169; during WWII, 122, 150

Loginov, 130–134

Luglag, 167, 182–183

Magnitogorsk, 15, 23–24, 26–27, 65–66; heroic labor at, 60–61

Makeev, Aleksei Filippovich, 219, 229

Maksimchuk, I. Ia., 242

Malenkov, Georgii, 204, 208, 216

marriages, 99–100

Maslov V. N., 60

mass arrests, 7, 35, 111, 154, 267n50

mass burial, 122

mass release, 160, 243, 248, 254, 256, 324n219; closure of camps and, 237; of nationalities, 241, 244–245; in post-Stalin era, 234–237; prisoner uprisings and, 202; during WWII, 113, 257. See also release

mass terror, 202, 258

Matrosov, Aleksandr Matveevich, 134

Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), 17–172, 166, 174, 204, 208–209, 236; Gulag deaths and, 248–249; Kengir uprising and, 216, 218; reforms proposed by, 250–252; release of exiles and, 242–243, 245

Ministry of Justice, 205

Ministry of State Security (MGB), 166, 171–172, 188, 236

modernity, 13, 265n25

Moldavia, 154

Moldovan Republic, 190

Moldovans, 189

Mongols, 151

“monolithic family” of socialism, 218

morale building, 49

Mordovian autonomous republic, 166

mortality. See death rate

Moscow-Volga Canal, 84

MVD, 171–172, 204

Nal’giev, Israil, 239

Nasedkin, Viktor, 114–115, 127, 129, 137, 139–140; on deportations, 146; deportations and, 152; on Katorga, 142; role in Zhuravlev-Drevits feud, 119–120, 290n63

national identity, 93–98, 185–191, 237–242; camp antagonism and, 188; categorization of prisoners by, 256; of Chechens, 153; deportation based on, 190–191; exile based on, 144, 153–154, 189–191, 193; inescapability of, 191; mass release and, 244–245; permanent exile based on, 165, 193; in postwar prisoner society, 185–191; as primary category of identity, 219–220; role of during WWII, 143–154

nationalism, 88, 185–186, 245; Russian, 131, 300n247

nationalist movements, 70, 108, 110, 145, 185–186, 190, 200, 231–232, 316n66; Baltic nationalists, 108, 154, 189, 211, 257; involved in Kengir uprising, 211–212, 214, 217, 220, 224–225, 229, 231; release of members, 245, 247, 253; Ukrainian nationalists, 179–180, 189, 238–239, 274n84. See also Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)

nationality. See national identity

national minorities, 94–95, 99

Nazi concentration camps, 132, 259n2

Nazis, 81, 109, 114, 151, 153, 186

Nazi-Soviet pact, 110, 112, 125

new Soviet person, 10

noncamp populations, 46, 147

noncustodial forced labor, 17, 27

nonpolitical criminals, 250–251, 253. See also common criminals; professional criminals (urki)

Noril’sk, 3, 12, 22, 143, 166; uprising at, 319n118

Novikov, B. V., 243

Novikova, Evdokiia Arsent’evna, 235–236

Novocherkassk, 309n3, 326n241

Novosibirsk Oblast, 22, 166

Omsk Oblast, 22

One Day in the Live of Ivan Denisovich, 50, 248

Operative-Chekist Departments, 54

oral testimony, 4, 8–9, 260n8

Order 00447, 19, 86

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), 212, 239, 242; exile of members, 190, 193, 195–196, 237, 323n193; release of members, 246

Orthodox Church, 131

Ostavnov, Aleksei Ivanovich, 134

Overy, Richard, 133

Ozerlag, 230

Panin, Dmitri, 169–170, 179–181

panopticon, 53, 56, 275n96

partisan armies, 110, 186, 197, 199, 229, 257; Western, 162, 184, 188–189, 211–212, 257, 274n84. See also nationalist movements

passports, 235

patriotism, 129, 131–133, 186

payment of prisoners, 160, 163, 205, 232

pellagra, 117, 121–122, 290n74

Peltevna, 189

penal ideology, 11

penal policy, 13, 15–16, 82, 142; WWII and, 134

penal practice, 11, 13–14, 16, 256, 262n8, 281n17

penalty camp zones, 68–69

penalty facilities, 68–70. See also punishment facilities

penalty isolators, 19, 68

permanent exile, 153, 165, 191–193, 213, 258; demands for abolishment of, 222–223; factors leading to, 184

personal files, 79–80, 236, 275n98

Peschanlag, 167, 169, 182–183; release from, 238

Petrov, Vladimir, 44, 48–49, 65–66, 90, 273n67

petty criminals (zhulik), 92, 250

Pilishchuk, Vissarion Nikolaevich, 107–108, 130

Podsokhin, Aleksei Gerasimovich, 177

Poland, 111–112, 307n165; annexation of, 108

Poles, 111–112, 151, 186–188, 188–190; as exiles, 195–196, 237; as political prisoners, 110; released from exile, 245

political agitation, 160–161

political education, 5, 49, 87, 109, 128–131, 165; of camp employees, 136, 163; in foreign affairs, 195; Kengir uprising and, 217, 223; of noncamp residents, 147; patriotism and, 133; in postwar period, 162–163; of POWs, 293n126. See also cultural-educational activities; educational activities

political indoctrination, 38, 172. See also political education; propaganda

political literacy, 129

political prisoners, 83–84, 88–89, 257, 281n17; accused of fascism, 162; in aftermath of Kengir uprising, 231; contrasted with common criminals, 83, 87, 93, 164, 175; as cultural workers, 85; decline in numbers of, 202; disagreements among, 91–93; excluded from postwar amnesty, 158–160, 205, 207, 258; executions of, 136; isolation of, 257; Katorga and, 143; Kengir uprising and, 219, 221–222; Poles as, 110; post-Stalin releases of, 234; post-Stalin status of, 249–250; postwar population of, 165; release of, 206, 237, 252–253, 258; in special camps, 5, 21, 165–166, 172–173, 213; victimized by common criminals, 89, 215. See also Article 58 prisoners; counterrevolutionary prisoners

Ponamerenko, Panteleimon, 156

Popov, V.P., 18

population. See Gulag population

population cataloging, 81

Pravda, 197

prisoner evaluations, 71, 74, 79–80, 254

prisoner marginalization, 7, 12–13, 15

prisoner memoirs, 3–4, 8–9, 51, 260n8; in special camps, 164; survival of memoirists and, 77–78. See also individual memoirists

prisoner numbers, 171, 232

prisoner of war (POW) camps, 17, 124, 154, 291n71, 293n126; suspicion following release from, 156–157

prisoner-on-prisoner violence, 176–182, 199, 211, 252, 306n126; Chechen-Russian hostility and, 240–241. See also bitches’ war

prisoner resistance, 50, 203; at Ekibastuz, 180–181; at Karlag, 137; Kengir uprising as, 231; low rate of, 212; rebellious organizations and, 138; at special camps, 183, 185. See also escape; prisoner uprisings; strikes

prisoners of war (POWs), 127; political education of, 129, 293n126; role in Kengir uprising, 315n59

prisoner uprisings, 5–6, 258, 319n118; aftermath of Kengir, 229–232, 234; consequences of, 231; following Stalin’s death, 212; Kengir uprising, 201, 211–225, 227–231, 309n2, 314n51, 318n97; official response to, 309n3; in special camps, 202; in Steplag camp, 3; at Vorkuta, 134–135, 137; during WWII, 134–135

prisons, 1, 17, 18–20, 40, 70–71, 113; compared with labor camps, 44, 142; criminal-bandit element in, 250, 252; within labor camps, 69, 71, 170, 183

production meetings, 37

professional criminals (urki), 89–91, 173–174, 237; release of, 246; during WWII, 109

Proniuk, Nikolai Andreevich, 239

propaganda, 11–12, 50–51; cultural-educational activities and, 64; early release and, 75; effect of on Gulag employees, 50; in filtration camps, 157; issued by prisoners, 222–225; Kengir uprising and, 216–225; during WWII, 131

property theft laws of 1947, 159–160, 205, 302n23; growth of Gulag and (see exile)

prostitution, 101

psychoprisons, 258

“punished peoples,” 151–153

punishment, 15, 40, 68–71, 74, 76, 125, 279n186; for attempted escape, 49, 55, 80, 140; economic, 27; execution as, 17; food withheld as, 41–42; Katorga as, 141–143; for labor violations, 92, 150; in prisons, 18, 21; in special camps, 169–171; for theft, 159–160, 205; work as, 36

punishment facilities. See penalty facilities; prisons

Putevka, 12, 15, 61, 62–63

quantification, 13

Rachlin, Rachel and Israel, 22–24

radio broadcasts, 61, 135, 222

rape, 315n72

Razgon, Lev, 201

rearrests, 192

rebellious organizations, 137–138

recidivists, 250–252–253

reconstruction, 161

Red Army: Soviet Germans removed from, 146

Red Army veterans, 107, 154, 197–199, 200, 227, 231, 257; involvement in Kengir uprising, 215; killing of, 180; relationship with nationalist partisans, 229; release of, 243; role in Kengir uprising, 211–213, 224–225; suspicion of, 156–157. See also Kuznetsov, Kapiton Ivanovich

Red Corners, 130

redeemability. See redemption

redemption, 16–17, 18, 27, 65, 254; amnesty and, 207; corrective labor and, 38; corrective labor camps and, 22; of counterrevolutionary prisoners, 85; of criminals, 251; death and, 255; hierarchy of, 184; individual redeemability, 12; interrogation prisons and, 18; of national minorities, 94; political education and, 130; of political prisoners, 85, 237; prisons and, 18–19; shock worker movement and, 60; of special camp prisoners, 172; through labor, 126

reeducation, 12, 57–58, 165, 254–256; of class enemies, 85; corrective labor and, 38; counterrevolutionary prisoners excluded from, 67–68; of ethnic minorities, 96; during Great Terror, 276n113; labor as a method for, 40, 134; political education and, 130–131, 217; political prisoners excluded from, 84; prisoner skepticism and, 66; release and, 59; survival and, 78; of Westerners, 110. See also cultural-educational activities

reforging, 33, 57–58, 266n33; of common criminals, 87; exclusion of counterrevolutionary prisoners, 67; labor and, 16

rehabilitation, 12; corrective labor and, 38; executions and, 86. See also redemption

release, 8, 10, 71–76; de-Stalinization and, 258; early release, 74–76; exclusion of nationalities, 151; from exile, 237–245; followed by exile, 24–25, 192, 238; individual petitions for, 241–242; life after, 246–249; mass vs. individual, 241–244; of political prisoners, 206, 237, 252–253; redemption and, 12; reeducation and, 59; during WWII, 111–112, 114–115. See also amnesties; early release; mass release

religion, 99, 112

Resurrected, The, 130

Revolution of 1917. See Bolshevik revolution

rewards, 41, 71–75, 150

Riabov, Viktor Petrovich, 230

Riewe, Karl, 209, 222, 232, 246

Rittersporn, Gábor Tamás, 10

Roga, Ol’ga Krishevna, 248

Romanians, 151

Rudenko, Roman, 215, 216, 220, 234

Russian Liberation Army, 162, 195–196

Russians, 187, 327n268; conflict with Chechens, 95, 240; conflict with Ukrainians, 188, 219; in Kengir uprising, 219–220; privileged position of, 145, 186

sabotage, 54, 125, 174, 279n186

Sasykul’, 56

Scholmer, Joseph, 77, 83, 194

scientific prison institutes, 17

Selivanov, Vasilii Petrovich, 112, 287n22

Semenova, Galina Aleksandrovna, 29, 72, 103, 104, 117; wartime experience of, 120

“semi-released” prisoners, 136

Serzhantov, Ivan Iakovlevich, 134

sexual relationships, 100–101, 103, 121. See also cohabitation

Shimanskaia, Mariia Semenova, 230

Shmidt, Khristian Georgievich, 233

shock workers, 60–61, 87, 131; sentence reductions for, 73–74

Shumuk, Danylo, 82–83, 197, 286n9

Siberia, 17

silicosis, 304n66

Skiruk, Vitalii Petrovich, 230

slave labor, 7, 36, 262n5

Sluchenkov, Engel’s Ivanovich “Gleb,” 215, 225, 318n103; conviction of, 230; relationship with Kuznetsov, 227–229; as target of propaganda, 219–220

social engineering, 108

social hierarchies, 16

social identity, 4–5, 218. See also Gulag identity

socially friendly/socially harmful boundary, 87–88

Sokolov, Vasilii Petrovich, 122

Solikamskii camp, 150

solitary confinement, 19–20, 68, 267n50; at special camps, 170

Solovetskii, 12, 15, 38–39, 272n45; cultural-educational activities in, 59–60, 62, 64, 91, 255; political prisoners in, 84–85

Solovki region, 12

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 1–2, 13, 16, 37, 50, 194, 233, 248–249; on bitches’ war, 175; critique of, 262n8; cultural participation of, 85; as historian, 4, 8–9; on ideology, 10; on Kengir uprising, 213, 216, 221–222, 224, 231; on Kuznetsov, 226–227, 229; on liberation commissions, 235; as political prisoner, 88–89, 92; on political prisoners, 84; on postwar politics, 160; in special camp, 167; on special camps, 172–173; survival of, 77–78; as veteran, 199; wartime experiences of, 130

sorting of prisoners, 184

Soviet Germans, 145–151, 298n212; deportations of, 150–151, 297n205, 299n222; exile of, 195–196, 237–238, 256; labor mobilization of, 148–149, 150–151, 299n228, 299n234; liberation of, 244–245

Sovietization, 144, 154, 189

Soviet Koreans, 97, 151, 256

Soviet society, 13, 16, 37–38, 54, 58, 81, 223, 258; anti-Semitism in, 196–197; cultural activities in, 61, 63–64; exiles in, 192; inmates as dangerous to, 21, 39, 46, 49, 124, 137, 184–185, 213; place of prisoners in, 42, 217, 318n88; political education in, 130–131; in postwar period, 109, 155, 160–162; recreated in the Gulag, 5–6, 41, 58, 106, 109, 128; Red Army veterans in, 197–198, 257; reintroduction of prisoners into, 74, 133, 157, 206–207, 247, 251; Westerners in, 108; during WWII, 116, 122, 125, 131–132, 134

Spassk camp, 29, 181–182, 252, 304n66; Chechen-Russian hostility in, 240; Chechens in, 324n205; as POW camp, 124, 167

speaking “Bolshevik,” 212, 222, 232, 321n164

special camps, 3, 5, 17, 20–21, 164–173, 182–185, 213, 257; Article 58 prisoners in, 84; creation of, 136, 159; Gulag economy and, 160; nationality in, 186; permanent isolation of prisoners, 222–223; population of, 182; post-Stalin moderation of, 232–233; prisoner resistance in, 202, 212, 231

special corrective labor prisons, 250–251

special prisons, 17, 166, 170. See also prisons

special settlements, 17, 22–25, 268n68; informants in, 138; in Karaganda region, 196; kulaks and, 96; labor of, 292; legal situation of, 190; release from, 238–239, 244–245; wartime release from, 115. See also exile

Spiridonova, Mariia, 136

Stakhanov, Aleksei, 60

Stakhanovite movement, 15–16, 60–61, 87, 131; sentence reductions and, 74

Stalin, Josef, 14, 262n4; death of, 6, 201–202, 204, 208, 213; ending of early release by, 75; reaction to death of, 312n14; wartime radio broadcasts of, 135

Stalin constitution, 86–87, 282n27, 284n68

Stefanskaia, Militsa, 28, 44–45, 89–90, 102–103

Steplag camp, 1, 29, 181–183, 213–214, 304n73; closing of, 237; Kengir uprising in, 3, 5, 200, 211–225, 227–231; Kuznetsov in, 227; post-Stalin improvements in, 232; prisoner-on-prisoner violence in, 179; reaction to Stalin’s death in, 204; release from, 238, 246; as special camp, 167–169; Westerners in, 189. See also Kengir camp

strict-regime camps, 252, 305n118, 324n205

strikes, 180–181, 203, 223, 257–258; in Kengir, 214–216, 217

surveillance, 6, 53–57, 135, 150; of camp employees, 129; performed by prisoners, 50–51, 53–54, 305n122; prisoner countermeasures to, 203; in special camps, 168; wartime increase in, 138

Temir-Tau, 237

Terekhov, 119–120

terror of 1948, 184, 192

theater groups, 64, 67, 91

thieves (vory), 174–176, 178, 306n126. See also common criminals; professional criminals (urki)

Third Department, 54

three-tiered camp regime, 233, 305n118

torture, 18, 180, 228

transfer, 82, 252, 316, 316n23; death during, 254; to prevent violence, 178; as punishment, 17, 19, 69–71, 229–230, 240; as reward, 71, 76, 233–234, 250; to special camps, 166, 170, 183

treason, 54, 74, 157

Trotsky, Leon, 36

trusties, 175–176, 207

tufta, 182

Turks, 190, 245

Ukraine, 193; deportations from, 190; mass executions in, 136; Soviet annexation of, 109–110, 154, 256; Sovietization of, 154; wartime evacuation of, 114

Ukrainians, 180, 184, 188–190, 327n268; accused of fascism, 162; anti-Semitism among, 197; cultural resistance of, 186; decline in incarceration rates of, 253; exempted from release, 238–239; as exiles, 195–196; in Kengir, 214; release from exile of, 245; role in Kengir uprising, 219–220, 224–225, 227–229, 231–232, 314n51; at Vorkuta, 307n168. See also Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)

Ukrainian Insurgent Army, 212

underground organizations, 202–203

The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin’s Special Settlements, 9–10

urki. See professional criminals

Uzbek Republic, 22, 26, 190, 241

venereal disease, 285n86

Vilnius, 307n165

Viola, Lynne, 9–10

virgin lands campaign, 248

Vlasovites, 162, 191, 198–199, 274n84; as exiles, 195–196; in Kengir uprising, 213, 215; released from exile, 238

Vorkuta, 3, 12, 134–135; anti-Semitism in, 197; corrective labor camps in, 22; Katorga divisions in, 143; special camps and, 166; Ukrainians in, 307n168; uprising in, 134–135, 137, 319n118; Westerners in, 186, 188

Voroshilov, Kliment, 229

vory. See thieves (vory)

Vyshinskii, Andrey, 15, 37, 75

wall newspapers, 63–64, 162–163

Warsaw Pact, 258

Westerners, 110–111, 188–190, 257; anti-Soviet attitudes following release, 247; arrests of, 89, 108, 154, 297n203; cultural traditions maintained, 186; decline in incarceration rates, 253; deportation of, 108, 111, 190; exempted from release, 238; in partisan armies, 162, 184, 257, 274n84; permanent exile of, 193–194; role in Kengir uprising, 211–212, 219–220, 239; in Soviet society, 108; suspected of rebellion, 138. See also Estonians; Latvians; Lithuanians; Poles; Ukrainians

White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal, 11, 36, 256

women, 99–106; economic tasks of, 104; in Kengir, 214; in Kengir uprising, 220–222, 309n2, 314n51; labor mobilization of, 299n228; murders among, 178; population in labor camps of, 113; rape of, 315n72; release from exile of, 243; Soviet ideal of, 221; in special camps, 170; venereal disease and, 285n86; wartime incarceration of, 123, 151; during war years, 282n36. See also gender identity

worker strikes, 6, 27

World War II, 5–6, 108–109, 256–257, 289n43; camp death rates during, 77; cult of war, 161–162; effect of on Gulag population, 113–124; former prisoners fighting in, 133–134; Gulag economy and, 124–128; intensification of camp discipline during, 135–140; mass deportations and, 144–154; political education during, 129–130; postwar social identity and, 218–219; Russian nationalism and, 131–132; Soviet penal policy and, 134

wrongful convictions, 234

Young Communist League, 50

Zadorozhnyi, Anatolii Kostritskii, 230

Zemskov, Viktor N., 10, 182, 244

Zhukov, Georgii, 208

Zhuravlev, V.P., 47, 117–122, 126, 139; feud with Drevits, 119–120