Gulag system

E7231

The Gulag system was a vast network of Soviet forced labor camps notorious for brutal conditions, political repression, and mass incarceration under Joseph Stalin.

Aliases (13)
  • Gulag ×4
  • Gulag labor camps ×3
  • GULag ×2
  • GULAG ×1
  • Gulag camp network ×1
  • Gulag labor camp ×1
  • Kolyma camps ×1
  • Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps ×1
  • Soviet Gulag ×1
  • Soviet Gulag system ×1
  • Soviet forced-labor camp network ×1
  • Soviet labor camps ×1
  • Soviet penal system ×1

Statements (73)
Predicate Object
instanceOf instrument of political repression
penal system
system of forced labor camps
administeredBy GULAG
Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps
associatedWithEvent Great Purge
World War II
collectivization in the Soviet Union
postwar repression
characterizedBy brutal treatment
disease
forced labor quotas
harsh climatic conditions
high mortality
malnutrition
overcrowding
political indoctrination
continuedInModifiedFormAfter death of Joseph Stalin
country Soviet Union
documentedBy Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
documentedIn The Gulag Archipelago
endTime 1950s
estimatedPrisonerCount millions
formalAbolition 1960
fullName Glavnoye upravleniye lagerey
Main Camp Administration
hasEffect demographic loss
mass incarceration
psychological trauma
suppression of civil liberties
historicalPeriod Stalin era
ideology Marxism–Leninism
Stalinism
influencedBy Soviet industrialization policies
security concerns of Soviet leadership
languageOfAcronym Russian
locatedIn Central Asia
Russian Far East
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Siberia
Soviet Union
notableCamp Kolyma camps
Norilsk camps
Solovki prison camp
Vorkuta camps
notableProjectType canal construction
industrial construction
logging
mining
railway construction
operatedBy MVD
NKVD
Soviet government
partOf Soviet penal system
peakIncarcerationPeriod early 1950s
late 1930s
recognizedAs crime against humanity by many historians
significantExpansion 1930s
significantExpansionUnder Joseph Stalin
startTime 1920s
usedFor collectivization enforcement
economic exploitation
forced labor
political repression
punishment of criminals
punishment of political prisoners
suppression of dissent
victimGroup ethnic minorities
kulaks
ordinary criminals
political opponents
prisoners of war
religious believers

Referenced by (28)

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