Contrary to popular assumption , the Gulag did not cease growing in the 1930s, but rather continued to expand throughout the Second World War and the 1940s, reaching its apex in the early 1950s. By that time the camps had come to play a central role in the Soviet economy . They produced a third of the country’s gold, much of its coal and timber , and a great deal of almost every thing else. In the course of the Soviet Union’s existence, at least 476 distinct camp complexes came into being, consisting of thousands of individual camps, each of which contained anywhere from a few hundred to many thousands of people.The prisoners worked in almost every industry imaginable—logging, mining, construction , factory work, farming, the designing of airplanes and artillery —and lived, in effect , in a country within a country , almost a separate civilization .The Gulag had its own laws, its own customs, its own morality , even its own slang. It spawned its own literature, its own villains, its own heroes, and it left its mark upon all who passed through it , whether as prisoners or guards. Years after being released, the Gulag’s inhabitants were often able to recognize former inmates on the street simply from “the look in their eyes. ”
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 18:39:26 +0000
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