Open Society Archives
Reference Information Paper 8
Forced Labor Camps Under
Communism
Introduction
The system of forced labor camps was established in
the first years of the Communist regime in the Soviet Union. Through the
organization of the NKVD and Cheka in 1917, and the adoption of the decree
on concentration camps in 1918, labor camps became the most important part
of the Soviet penal and repressive system.
According to Aleksandr Solzhenitsin, the Solovetsk
Special Camp, situated on a remote island in the White Sea, was called the
"mother of GULAG". The experience gained at this camp by the Soviet
authorities was used to introduce and spread the system of forced labor
camps all over the country.
In 1930 the Soviet secret police (GPU) established
the main administration for corrective labor camps (GULAG), thus converting
the 1918 penal colonies for "socially dangerous elements" into systematic
slave labor projects.
The United Nations International Labor Organization
Committee on Forced Labor stated in 1951 that "[…] since about 1930, the
work of both political and other prisoners has been used in the Soviet Union
for large-scale public works. […] Corrective labor camps and colonies appear
to be scattered over the whole of the Soviet Union."
Thousands of labor camp prisoners built the White
Sea-Baltic Sea Canal, the dam and power station at Dneprostroi, the
industrial center at Magnitka, the railroad between Salekhard and Igarka,
known as "The Road of Death", but they worked on many other construction
projects as well.
The system of forced labor camps was first exported
outside the Soviet Union in 1940, when a number of arrests and deportations
were effected in the Baltic countries – even before these countries became
incorporated into the USSR on August 3, 1940. After the reoccupation of the
Baltic States by the Soviet Union at the end of 1944, the first labor camps
were established on these territories, too. By 1953 their number was as high
as 56.
The Communist takeovers in the Eastern and Central
European countries immediately led to mass arrests of non-communist
politicians and all sorts of other people identified as class-enemies. Many
of them were sentenced to forced labor camps. Thus by 1952 the International
League for the Rights of Man was able to document the existence of more than
400 forced labor camps in Central and Eastern Europe.
The forced labor system was primarily an
institution of political repression, but it also served as a way of
redistributing available labor force in order to meet the needs of the
central economic plan. The economic rationale of such measures was highly
questionable from the very beginning, yet the system of forced labor
survived despite of the obvious indicators of its inefficiency.
Life conditions in these camps were extremely hard.
Many of them earned the dubious reputation of "death camps" because of the
high death rates caused by the inhuman workload imposed on the inmates, and
the severe conditions under which the work was performed. Hunger, brutality,
fear, and death were everyday companions of the forced laborer.
After Stalin's death in 1953, due to several
amnesties issued in the USSR and other communist countries of Eastern
Europe, many people purged as "political prisoners" were released and
rehabilitated.
Khrushchev's secret speech to a closed session of
the 20th Congress of the Communist Party signaled the beginning
of the period known in the history of the Soviet Union as The Thaw, which
was marked by the hope of reconciliation between the regime and society. The
conspiracy of silence surrounding the GULAGs was broken.
However, The Thaw did not last long, and though
some of the camps were closed in the Brezhnev era, the labor camp system
continued to serve the oppressive needs of the regime.
With the development of the human rights movement
in the USSR, information sent from prisons and labor camps reached the
Western world via free thinkers and dissidents from inside the country. The
letters and appeals of dissidents about the conditions in the labor camps
became a significant part of the archives of Radio Free Europe (RFE) and
Radio Liberty (RL). Many people behind the Iron Curtain learned details
about their countries’ labor camp system from these radios, which sometimes
managed to include in their broadcasts even the names and information about
the fate of particular political prisoners.
The Open Society Archives, which took into custody
the records of the RFE/RL Research Institute, holds materials relating to
forced labor and concentration camps in the following fonds:
HU OSA 205 Records of the
Open Media Research Institute
Bulgarian Subject Files
·
Security:
Prisons: [General], 1950-1996, 0.10 lm
·
Security:
Prisons: Victims, 1984-1990, 0.03 lm
Former Soviet Union Archives: Subject Files
·
Law and
Justice: Penology: Prisons and Camps: GULAG, 1991-1995, 0.07 lm
HU OSA 300 Records of RFE/RL
Research Institute
HU OSA 300-3 German Affairs (AGA)
HU OSA 300-3-1 East German Subject Files
·
2500
Prisons and Camps, 1956-1974, 0.05 linear meters
HU OSA 300-20 Bulgarian Unit
The materials include press clippings, news agency
releases, RFE/RL research reports about prisons and camps (e.g. Belena), and
lists of political prisoners from 1989. Files are primarily in Bulgarian and
English.
HU OSA 300-20-1 Subject Files
·
1919 Labor:
Recruitment of Manpower, 1952-1988, 0.03 lm
·
1925 Labor:
Work Safety, 1951-1992, 0.03 lm
·
1926 Labor:
[Forced Labor], 1985-1993, 0.03 lm
·
2200
Persecution and Purges: [General], 1968-1991, 0.03 lm
·
2315 Police
and Security: KGB, 1991-1994, 0.03 lm
·
2400
Prisoners of War: [General], 1952, 0.03 lm
·
2500
Prisons and Camps: [General], 1992-1994, 0.03 lm
·
2503
Prisons and Camps: Inmates, 1962-1993, 0.05 lm
·
2505
Prisons and Camps: Labor-Educational Schools, 1988-1992, 0.03 lm
·
2506
Prisons and Camps: Security Measures and Conditions, 1989-1990, 0.03 lm
HU OSA 300-30 Czechoslovak Unit
HU OSA 300-30-2 Old Code Subject Files I
1951-1961, 7 microfilm rolls
·
2500
Prisons and Camps: Pankrác,
Jáchymov, Ilava
·
2502
Personnel and Guards: Inmates
·
2504 Female
Prisoners
·
2507
Security Measures
·
2508
Conditions
·
2511
Escapes
HU OSA 300-30-8 Old Code Subject Card Files
·
2500
Prisons: Prisons A-Z, 0.05 lm
·
2502
Prisons: Personnel and Guards, 0.01 lm
·
2506
Prisons: Conditions, 0.01 lm
·
2500
Prisons and Camps: Camps, 0.12 lm
HU OSA 300-40 Hungarian Unit
HU OSA 300-40-2 Subject Files in English
·
Justice:
Amnesty: Rehabilitation, 1972-1989, 0.03 lm
·
Justice:
Political Crimes, 1966-1978, 0.05 lm
·
Justice:
Prisons and Camps, 1966-1978, 0.03 lm
HU OSA 300-40-4 Information Items
0.20 lm
·
137 Labor
camps:
Ajka, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Albertfalva, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Almásfüzitő, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Bag, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Balatonfenyves, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Balatonmária, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Baracska, 1958-1959
·
137 Labor
camps: Bernátkút, 1954
·
137 Labor
camps: Borsós, 1954
·
137 Labor
camps: Buda, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Cegléd, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Csabrenek, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Csolnok, 1955-1959
·
137 Labor
camps: Edelény, 1957
·
137 Labor
camps: Egercsehi, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Felnémet, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Hamvas, 1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Harta, 1955
·
137 Labor
camps: Hejőcsaba, 1952-1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Hortobágy-Elep, 1952-1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Inota, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Isaszeg, 1952-1954
·
137 Labor
camps: Jászberény, 1952-1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Kalocsa, 1951
·
137 Labor
camps: Kazincbarcika, 1953-1960
·
137 Labor
camps: Kistarcsa, 1951-1960
·
137 Labor
camps: Miskolc, 1952-1953
·
137 Labor
camps: Ormospuszta, 1955
·
137 Labor
camps: Oroszlány, 1954-1955
·
137 Labor
camps: Pálhalma, 1960
·
137 Labor
camps: Pilisszentiván, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Recsk, 1951-1956
·
137 Labor
camps: Tarcsapuszta, 1952
·
137 Labor
camps: Tatabánya, 1953-1955
·
137 Labor
camps: Tiszalök, 1953-1954
·
137 Labor
camps: Tököl, 1957-1960
·
137 Labor
camps: Várpalota, 1953-1961
·
200.9 Armed
Forces: Labor units, 1968
HU OSA 300-50 Polish Unit
HU OSA 300-50-1 Subject Files
These files consist of press clippings, RFE/RL
research papers, and reports of anonymous informants relating to the forced
labor system in Poland.
·
105.25
Penal Code, 1954-1962, 150 pages
·
135.01
Amnesty, 1952-1967, 200 pages
·
135.1 State
Security Organs, 1951-1960, 100 pages
·
135.2
Political Cases, 1951-1960, 300 pages
·
135.3
Concentration Camps in Poland, 1953-1964, 50 pages
·
135.33
Labor Camps, 1951-1956, 200 pages
·
135.92
Poles in Soviet GULAG, 1963-1967, 50 pages
·
862 Police,
1952-1959, 300 pages
·
863
Prisons, 1952-1977, 200 pages
HU OSA 300-50-3 Subject Card Files
·
Camps: A-Z,
1954-1965, 500 cards
HU OSA 300-50-7 Collection of
Interviews with Jozef Swiatlo [former head
of Polish State Security]
1954-1956, 0.50 lm
Additional information on labor camps and prisons is
available in the Polish Evaluation Index Cards, a collection of microfilms
dated 1950-1958, which contain primarily Polish and English language
materials.
HU OSA 300-60 Romanian Unit
HU OSA 300-60-1 Subject Files
·
318 Armed
Forces: Military Labor Units, 1951-1969, 0.03 lm
·
1700
Industry: Canal: Danube-Black Sea, 1951-1990, 0.06 lm
·
1919 Labor:
Recruiting of Manpower, 1951-1976, 0.05 lm
·
1926 Labor:
Forced Labor, 1951-1972, 0.08 lm
·
2500
Prisons and Camps, 1951-1971, 0.03 lm
·
2501
Prisons and Camps: Atrocities, 1951-1968, 0.05 lm
·
2502 Prisons and Camps: Personnel and Guards, 1951-1968, 0.03 lm
·
2504
Prisons and Camps: Concentration Camps: Locations, 1951-1964, 0.05 lm
·
2504
Prisons and Camps: Prisons, 1948-1964, 0.05 lm
·
2505
Prisons and Camps: New Constructions, 1951-1962, 0.03 lm
·
2506
Prisons and Camps: Security Conditions and Measures, 1951-1971, 0.03 lm
HU OSA 300-70 Yugoslav Section
HU OSA 300-70-1 Subject Files
This series contains no direct files on forced labor
camps. Nevertheless, there are several files (about 0.25 lm) pertaining to
Yugoslavia's 1948 split with the Cominform and especially to the Goli Otok
concentration camps established by Yugoslav Communist authorities in order
to isolate and control those who sided with the Soviet Union and Cominform.
These files consist of Yugoslav and foreign press clippings, RFE/RL
Background Reports and other printed matters. Materials are primarily in
Serbian.
HU OSA 300-80 Soviet “Red” Archives
HU OSA 300-80-1 Old Code Subject Files
·
Инакомыслящие: общее [Dissidents: General], 1971-1993, 0.17 lm
·
Инакомыслящие: преследования [Dissidents: Persecution], 1986-1991, 0.03 lm
·
Десталинизация [Destalinization], 1954-1987, 0.10 lm
·
Десталинизация [Destalinization: Stalin Reaction-USSR], 1956, 0.03 lm
·
Десталинизация [Destalinization: Western Press Analysis], 1956-1966, 0.03 lm
·
Идеологическая борьба [Ideological Struggle], 1976-1989, 0.05 lm
·
История:
общее [History: General], 1962-1988, 0.03 lm
·
История:
исправление [History: Re-writing], 1955-1993, 0.03 lm
·
История:
историография [History: Historiography], 1962-1987, 0.03 lm
·
Культ
личности: общее [Personality Cult: General], 1955-1966, 0.03 lm
·
Культ
личности: коллективное руководство [Personality Cult: Collective
Leadership], 1967-1991, 0.03 lm
·
Наказания:
исправительный труд: общее [Punishment: Corrective Labor], 1961-1993, 0.12
lm
·
Наказания:
исправительный труд: Воркута [Punishment: Corrective Labor: Vorkuta],
1954-1955, 0.03 lm
·
Наказания:
принудительный труд [Punishment: Forced Labor], 1955-1990, 0.05 lm
·
Наказания:
смертный приговор: общее [Punishment: Death Sentence: General], 1961-1993,
0.12 lm
·
МВД
[Министерство внутренних дел] [MVD: Ministry of Interior Affairs],
1953-1993, 0.05 lm
·
Право:
уголовное [Law: Criminal], 1953-1968, 0.03 lm
·
Преступления: политические [Crimes: Political], 1961-1993, 0.05 lm
·
Сталин и
сталинизм: общее [Stalin and Stalinism: General], 1951-1990, 0.40 lm
·
Сталин и
сталинизм: ГУЛАГ [Stalin and Stalinism: GULAG], 1965-1983, 0.03 lm
·
Сталин и
сталинизм: жертвы сталинизма [Stalin and Stalinism: Victims], 1988-1989,
0.12 lm
·
Сталин и
сталинизм: литература о сталинских лагерях [Stalin and Stalinism: Literature
on Stalin’s camps], 1963-1974, 0.03 lm
·
Тюрьмы и
заключенные [Prisons and Inmates], 1961-1993, 0.12 lm
HU OSA 300-80-7 USSR Biographical
Files
1953-1994
·
Ginzburg,
Evgeniia, 0.03 lm
·
Kuznetsov,
Eduard, 0.03 lm
·
Marchenko,
Anatolii, 0.03 lm
·
Shalamov,
Varlaam, 0.03 lm
·
Solzhenitsin, Aleksandr, 0.87 lm
HU OSA 300-85 Samizdat Archives
HU OSA 300-85-9 Published Samizdat
This series is a collection of copies of samizdat
documents written in the Soviet Union and sent abroad which includes, among
others, reports, memories and open letters about conditions in the camps and
prisons, their location, and the identity and number of inmates. Most of
these reports were gathered from prisoners.
HU OSA 300-85-12 Subject Files
1968-1993
·
History:
Stalinism, 0.05 lm
·
Human
Rights Movements: Amnesty International, Helsinki Groups, Memorial
·
Nonconformism, 0.75 lm
·
Penal
Institutions: Camps, Prisons, Protests, Slave Labor, History and Memories,
and Statistics, 0.75 lm
·
Repressive
Bodies: KGB, MVD [Ministry of the Interior], Torture, Rehabilitation, and
Censorship, 0.37 lm
·
Samizdat,
0.37 lm
·
Terror:
History, 1920-1960, 0.15 lm
·
Terror:
Kuropaty and Other Places of Mass Shootings, 0.12 lm
HU OSA 300-85-13 Biographical Files
1968-1993
·
Amal'rik,
Andrei, 0.15 lm
·
Bakhmin,
Viacheslav, 0.05 lm
·
Bukovskii,
Vladimir, 0.25 lm
·
Chornovol,
Viacheslav, 0.12 lm
·
Galanskov,
Yurii, 0.03 lm
·
Ginzburg,
Alexandr, 0.10 lm
·
Kazachkov,
Mikhail, 0.05 lm
·
Kovalev,
Sergei, 0.12 lm
·
Matusevich,
Olga, 0.03 lm
·
Orlov,
Yurii, 0.37 lm
·
Ratushinskaia, Irina, 0.37 lm
·
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 1.00 lm
·
Terelia,
Iosif, 0.05 lm
HU OSA 300-85-19 Informal Press
1968-1995
This collection consists of newspapers, periodicals,
pamphlets, and other printed materials on the history of the GULAG. The
Memorial publications (Letopis' terrora, Memorial, Memorial-aspect,
Memorial-INFO, Prava cheloveka, Stranichka uznika, 58-aia and others)
contain memories of the former GULAG prisoners and materials about the
prisons and camps existing in the Brezhnev era as well.
HU OSA 300-506 Records of Analyst Vladimir Socor:
Subject File
·
Canal:
Danube-Black Sea, 1984-1991, 0.05 lm
Related RFE/RL
Research Institute materials
Among the materials related to the topic of forced
labor camps there is an unprocessed collection of
Information Items (77 microfilm
rolls), covering the years 1951-1956. Several titles from this collection:
·
Item 5592/1953: Profile of the Bulgarian Forced Labor Camp Belene
·
Item
11524/1956: Radio Free Europe in Soviet Prison Camps
·
Items:
8047, 8614, 8807, 12545, 12577/1953, 813/1954 (reports of prisoners who
spent years in the Soviet GULAG and were rehabilitated after Stalin's death)
HU OSA 314 Interviews by
Miklós Kun Relating to the Soviet Union
HU OSA 314-0-2 Audiovisual Interviews, 45 VHS videotapes
·
Oral history interviews with former communist party
officials and leaders of security organs, their relatives and dissidents
HU OSA 317 Collection of
Miklós Kun Relating to 20th Century History
·
Belomorsko-Baltiiskii Vodnyi Put [The White Sea Canal], 1936, 0.30 hours
A propaganda film produced
by Vostokfilm and directed by Aleksandr Lemerg.
·
Solovki
[Solovki-Solovets Special Labor Camps], 1927-1928, 1.20 hours
A propaganda film produced by Sovkino and directed by
A. A. Cherkasov.
Library materials
The OSA Library has a collection of official Russian
sources and booklets from the Western press. Handbooks, documents from the
fifties and sixties, reports, and publications from contemporary archival
research await the curious. Books from the RFE/RL collection related to the
GULAG have generally been donated to the Library of the Central European
University.
Please also
visit the Forced Labor Camps
online exhibition in Galeria Centralis at OSA
http://www.osa.ceu.hu/gulag/
_________