The system of forced labor camps was
established in the first years of the Communist regime in the Soviet
Union. It became essential part of the Soviet repressive system. The
Communist takeovers in the Eastern and Central Europe during the World War
II led to mass arrests of non-Communist politicians and people identified
as class-enemies. Many of them were sentenced to forced labor camps. In
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. Here you can find
highlihts of the Open Society Archives hodings
related to the Gulag and other forced labor camps. Original web site for the Gulag exhibition is
www.osa.ceu.hu/gulag |