Main Directorate of Forced Labor Camps, Labor Settlements and Places of Detention (Gulag)

Definition

The Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps, Labor Settlements and Places of Detention (GULag) is a division of the NKVD, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice of the USSR, which managed the system of forced labor camps (ITL) in 1934-1960, the most important organ of the system of political repressions of the USSR.

Story

On April 25, 1930, by order of the OGPU No. 130/63, in pursuance of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "Regulations on forced labor camps" dated April 7, 1930, the Administration of the OGPU Camps (ULAG) was organized (SU USSR. 1930. No. 22. P. 248). From November 1930 the name began to appear GULAG (Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps of the OGPU).

On July 10, 1934, as a result of another reorganization of the Soviet intelligence services, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created, which included five main departments. One of them was Main Directorate of Camps(GULAG). In 1934, the USSR Convoy Troops were reassigned to the Internal Security of the NKVD. On October 27, 1934, all correctional labor institutions of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR were transferred to the Gulag.

How did you get there?

Those who go to manage the Gulag get there through the Ministry of Internal Affairs schools.
Those who go there to guard are drafted through military registration and enlistment offices.
And those who go there to die must definitely and only go through arrest, this is exactly how their journey began...

For what

A year before the start of the war, the centralized card index of the Gulag reflected the necessary data on almost 8 million people, both on those who had been in isolation over the past period of time, and on those held in places of detention as of
March 1, 1940. This number, along with people convicted of “sedition” for an anti-collective farm joke or ditty, even for animal names, included those isolated for hooliganism, violation of the labor law, also included those convicted of banditry, armed robbery, robbery, smuggling activities, desertion, speculation, theft of state property, official economic and other crimes. I would like to note that not only adults, but also children, starting from the age of twelve, were “imprisoned” and tried to the fullest extent of the law, right up to execution. And according to the decree of the 1935th year, such arguments as non-intentionality, negligence and ignorance had no weight in court.

Structure (what it consisted of)

The system united 53 camps with thousands of camp departments and points, 425 colonies, as well as more than 2,000 special commandant's offices. In total, over 30,000 places of detention, the Gulag administered the system of forced labor camps (ITL).

Here are some of the most famous ITL: Akmola camp for the wives of traitors to the Motherland (ALZHIR), Bamlag (Baikal-Amur forced labor camp), Berlag (Coastal forced labor camp), Bezymyanlag, Belbaltlag, Dallag (Far Eastern forced labor camp), Dmitrovlag , Volgolag, Norilsklag (Norilsk ITL), Perm camps, Pechorlag, Pechzheldorlag, Prorvlag, Svirlag SVITL (North-Eastern forced labor camp), Sevzheldorlag, Siblag, Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON), Taezhlag, Khabarlag, Yagrinlag.

Gulag statistics

Until the end of the 1980s, official statistics on the Gulag were classified, researchers’ access to the archives was impossible, so estimates were based either on the words of former prisoners or members of their families, or on the use of mathematical and statistical methods.

After the opening of the archives, official figures became available, but the Gulag statistics are incomplete, and data from different sections often do not fit together.

According to official data, more than 2.5 million people were simultaneously held in the system of camps, prisons and colonies of the OGPU and the NKVD in 1930-56 (the maximum was reached in the early 1950s as a result of the post-war tightening of criminal legislation and the social consequences of the famine of 1946-1947).

In total, about 10 million people went through the Gulag in the 20s - 50s

By “other measures” we mean credit for time spent in custody, forced treatment and deportation abroad. For 1953, information is provided only for the first half of the year.

Number

After the publication in the early 1990s of archival documents from leading Russian archives, primarily in the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian Center for Socio-Political History, a number of researchers concluded that between 1930 and 1953, 6.5 million people were in forced labor colonies. people, of which for political reasons - about 1.3 million, through forced labor camps for 1937-1950. About 2 million people were convicted under political charges.

Thus, based on the given archival data of the OGPU-NKVD-MVD of the USSR, we can conclude: during the years 1920-1953, about 10 million people passed through the ITL system, including 3.4-3.7 million people under the article of counter-revolutionary crimes.

National composition of prisoners

According to a number of studies, on January 1, 1939, in the Gulag camps, the national composition of prisoners was distributed as follows:

Russians - 830,491 (63.05%) Ukrainians - 181,905 (13.81%)

Belarusians - 44,785 (3.40%) Tatars - 24,894 (1.89%)

Uzbeks - 24,499 (1.86%) Jews - 19,758 (1.50%)

Germans - 18,572 (1.41%) Kazakhs - 17,123 (1.30%)

Poles - 16,860 (1.28%) Georgians - 11,723 (0.89%)

Armenians - 11,064 (0.84%) Turkmens - 9,352 (0.71%)

other nationalities - 8.06%

According to the data presented in the same work, on January 1, 1951 years in the camps and colonies the number of prisoners was:

Russians - 1,405,511 (55.59%) Ukrainians - 506,221 (20.02%)

Belarusians - 96,471 (3.82%) Tatars - 56,928 (2.25%)

Lithuanians - 43,016 (1.70%) Germans - 32,269 (1.28%)

Uzbeks - 30,029 (1.19%) Latvians - 28,520 (1.13%)

Armenians - 26,764 (1.06%) Kazakhs - 25,906 (1.03%)

Jews - 25,425 (1.01%) Estonians - 24,618 (0.97%)

Azerbaijanis - 23,704 (0.94%) Georgians - 23,583 (0.93%)

Poles - 23,527 (0.93%) Moldovans - 22,725 (0.90%)

other nationalities - about 5%.

Certificate of mortality of prisoners in the Gulag system for the period 1930-1956.

Early release

On November 24, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR extended the decree of July 12, 1941 throughout the USSR and decided on the additional release of certain categories of prisoners, for example, former military personnel convicted of late reporting to their unit and minor official, economic and military crimes committed before the start of the war, while they were transferred to units of the active army. Disabled disabled people and old people who had the remainder of their sentence of up to 3 years were also subject to release, except for those convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes. Thus, they rather got rid of disabled “freeloaders” than gave them early release.

Who was released

In 1941-1942. from forced labor camps, according to the Decree
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the resolution of the State Committee
Defense, 43,000 Polish citizens and up to 10 thousand Czechoslovak citizens were released, most of whom were sent to form national units.
And in accordance with the resolutions of the State Defense Committee, citizens of the USSR of nationalities of countries at war with the Soviet Union (Germans, Finns, Romanians) were recruited to work in industry. The mobilized contingents were used in industry mainly in the mining of coal and oil, in the production of weapons, ammunition, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as in the most important construction projects of the NKVD.

Measures to improve the physical condition of prisoners

Due to the extreme stress and enormous volume of work, already in the first year of the war there was a significant change in the physical condition of prisoners, towards a decrease in their ability to work. The share of labor groups in the total composition of prisoners by labor category was:

| |1940 (%) |1942 (%) |
fit for hard work |35.6 |19.2 |
fit for average work |25.2 |17.0 |
fit for light work |15.6 |38.3 |
disabled and weakened |23.6 |25.5 |

Role in the economy

Already by the beginning of the 1930s, the labor of prisoners in the USSR was considered an economic resource. A resolution of the Council of People's Commissars in 1929 ordered the OGPU to organize new camps for the reception of prisoners in remote areas of the country

The attitude of the authorities towards prisoners as an economic resource was expressed even more clearly by Joseph Stalin, who in 1938 spoke at a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and stated the following regarding the then existing practice of early release of prisoners:

Stalin's words

“..We are doing bad things, we are disrupting the work of the camps. These people, of course, need liberation, but from the point of view of the state economy this is bad[...] Is it possible to turn things around differently so that these people remain at work - give awards, orders, maybe? Otherwise, we will free them, they will return to themselves, get in touch with criminals again and go down the old path. The atmosphere in the camp is different, it’s hard to get spoiled there. I’m talking about our decision: if according to this decision we are released early, these people will go down the old path again. Perhaps, so to speak: make them free from punishment ahead of schedule so that they remain in construction as civilian employees? ..."

Prisoners' work

In the 1930s-50s, Gulag prisoners carried out the construction of a number of large industrial and transport facilities:

canals (White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Stalin, Canal named after Moscow, Volga-Don Canal named after Lenin);

HPPs (Volzhskaya, Zhigulevskaya, Uglichskaya, Rybinskaya, Nizhnetulomskaya, Ust-Kamenogorskaya, Tsimlyanskaya, etc.);

metallurgical enterprises (Norilsk and Nizhny Tagil MK, etc.);

objects of the Soviet nuclear program;

a number of railways (Transpolar Railway, Kola Railway, tunnel to Sakhalin, Karaganda-Mointy-Balkhash, Pechora Mainline, second tracks of the Siberian Mainline, Taishet-Lena (beginning of BAM), etc.) and highways (Moscow - Minsk, Magadan - Susuman - Ust-Nera)

GULAG (Main Directorate of Camps), 1917-1960 Kokurin A I

No. 77 Information on the history of the emergence and development of the ITL and the Gulag OGPU - NKVD - Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR

Information on the history of the emergence and development of the ITL and the Gulag of the OGPU - NKVD - Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR

SECTION I. The period preceding the organization of forced labor camps, ULAG, GULAG and the transfer of all places of deprivation of liberty to the GULAG (1918–1934)

Since October 1917, the general management of correctional labor policy, the organization and management of places of deprivation of liberty on the territory of the RSFSR was carried out by the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR, which was in charge of all prisons, including military ones. Direct control over the activities of places of detention was carried out by the prison department of the NKR RSFSR [SU 1918 No. 17 Art. 256 (links to sources made by the author of the reference).].

By the Government Decree “On deprivation of liberty and the procedure for serving punishment”, instead of the former Main Directorate of Places of Detention in the NKVD of the RSFSR, the Central Punitive Department was established [SU 1918 No. 53 Art. 258.].

In the Government Decree of 1921, which approved the “Regulations on general places of detention of the RSFSR”, the functions of the Central Punitive Department of the NKVD of the RSFSR were defined as the functions of general supervision and management of places of detention [SU 1921 No. 23/24, art. 141.].

Places of imprisonment in those years included:

a) institutions for taking social protection measures of a corrective nature:

1) detention houses,

2) correctional labor houses,

3) labor colonies - agricultural, craft and factory colonies, special-purpose detention centers, transitional correctional labor houses;

b) institutions for the application of social protection measures of a medical and pedagogical nature:

1) work houses for juvenile offenders,

2) work houses for offenders from worker and peasant youth,

c) institutions for the application of social protection measures of a medical nature:

1) colonies for mentally unstable, tuberculosis and other sick prisoners,

2) institutes of psychiatric examination, hospitals, etc. [Art. 46 of the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR, approved by post. All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR December 23-1924, SU No. 86, art. 870.]

The main type of places of detention were correctional labor houses. Colonies during this period of time, both by their nature and by the conditions of detention of prisoners in them and the proportion in the system of places of detention, did not yet represent places of general confinement.

If isolators were institutions in which the regime of detention deviated towards strengthening from the general regime, then in the colonies such a deviation from the general regime was observed towards its mitigation. Only workers sentenced to a term of up to five years, who committed crimes for the first time by accident or as a result of difficult material conditions, were sent to the colonies. According to the legislator, the colonies that cause fears of escape should gradually supplant all other types of places of detention. In Art. 4 of the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1924 it was said this way: “... Corrective labor influence on prisoners for the purpose of its full and actual implementation and maximum development, instead of the network of labor, agricultural, craft and factory colonies and transitional correctional colonies remaining from previous times. labor houses, established mainly outside cities.”

Based on the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated 25.VII-1923, places of deprivation of liberty were transferred from the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR to the jurisdiction of the NKVD of the RSFSR, where they remained until the end of 1930, i.e. until the liquidation of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Union Republics [SZ 1930 No. 60, art. 640.].

The resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on the reasons for the liquidation of the People's Commissars for Internal Affairs stated that the People's Commissars for Internal Affairs “... became redundant links in the Soviet apparatus... The period of a widespread offensive against the capitalist elements of the city and countryside, the socialist reconstruction of the entire national economy necessitates greater adaptation of the Soviet apparatus to the tasks of socialist construction. Communal services require special planning management and its strict linkage with the entire local economy of the country, with the pace of its industrialization; the exacerbation of the class struggle requires greater discipline from the agencies fighting crime and protecting public safety and revolutionary order - the police, the criminal investigation department, as well as greater independence in managing them [SZ 1930 No. 60, art. 640.].

With the liquidation of the NKVD of the union republics, their functions in the field of public utilities were transferred to the Main Directorates of Public Utilities organized under the Council of People's Commissars of the union republics. The management of the police and criminal investigation was entrusted to the Main Directorates of Police and Criminal Investigation, organized under the Council of People's Commissars of the union republics. The general management of correctional labor policy, the organization and management of places of deprivation of liberty were transferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariats of Justice. All other functions of the NKVD, including maintaining civil records, were assigned to the Presidium of the Executive Committees.

Along with the places of deprivation of liberty mentioned in the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1933, since 1920 a new type of deprivation of liberty has appeared - special purpose camps. True, the camp, as a type of deprivation of liberty, was first found in the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on the Red Terror [SU 1918 No. 65], however, such a mention at that time was more declarative than practical in nature, since the organization of the first special-purpose camp dates back to 1920.

The Criminal Code of the RSFSR, as amended in 1926, adopted by the 2nd session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and put into effect by resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 26-26 from January 1, 1927 [SU 1926 No. 80, Art. 600.] in Art. 22 reflected the presence of these two types of places of deprivation of liberty: places of general confinement (colony) and forced labor camps.

This difference was based on the length of the sentence, i.e., the degree of social danger of the offender, according to which such a person was sent to one or another correctional labor institution. If convicted for a short term, the sentence is served in general prisons, if convicted for a term of more than 3 years - in a correctional labor camp.

On October 27, 1934, by a resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the activities of the Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Institutions (GUITU) of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR were terminated, and all places of detention under its jurisdiction were transferred to the Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Camps of the NKVD, within which a department of places of detention was organized [ SZ 1934 No. 56, art. 421.].

In connection with this transfer, the GULAG was renamed from the Main Directorate of Camps and Labor Settlements of the NKVD of the USSR to the Main Directorate of Camps, Labor Settlements and Places of Detention of the NKVD of the USSR [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00122 dated 23.X-34].

Since this period, the Gulag of the NKVD of the USSR has become almost the only centralized state body for the management of correctional labor institutions in the USSR.

The organization of the Gulag (January 1931) was preceded by a quantitative increase in forced labor camps, on the basis of which the need arose to organize in 1930 in the central apparatus of the OGPU, first the ULAG, and then the GULAG.

SECTION II. Organization of forced labor camps, ULAG, GULAG and their activities before the Great Patriotic War (1934–1941)

a) Organization of camps

All camps that existed and exist on the territory of the Soviet Union, in accordance with the law, can be divided into two groups: special-purpose camps (from 1918 to 1929) and forced labor camps (from 1929 to 1950).

The first special-purpose camp was intended to contain active enemies of the Soviet state. No prison labor was carried out there until 1926; the camp served only as a place of strict isolation for saboteurs and other counter-revolutionary elements.

The first group of forced labor camps was created in the North for the development of the natural resources of the Northern Territory, especially coal in the areas of the Pechora and Vorkuta river basins, oil in Ukhta, construction of railways and dirt tracks. The activities of these camps were supervised by the Directorate of Northern Special Purpose Camps of the OGPU [OGPU Order No. 136/68 of June 28, 1929].

On April 25, 1930, the OGPU issued order No. 131, in which it appealed to the KGB cadres to sign up volunteers for leadership work in the newly organized camps. The order stated that “By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated 11.VII-29, the OGPU was entrusted with the task of developing the economic life of the least accessible, most difficult to develop and at the same time possessing enormous natural wealth of the outskirts of our Union, by using the labor of isolated socially dangerous elements , their colonization of sparsely populated areas.” The task was set to organize new camps in Siberia, the North, the Far East and Central Asia [OGPU Order No. 131 of April 25, 1930].

Implementing the government decree, the OGPU in the subsequent years 1930–1932. created the following forced labor camps in various regions of the country: Nizhny Novgorod, Kazakhstan, Syzran, Kungur, Ukhto-Pechorsky, Svirsky, Bishersky, Temnikovsky, Siberian, Karaganda (state farm "Giant"). Particularly noteworthy should be the organization on November 16, 1931 of the special White Sea-Baltic forced labor camp of the OGPU for the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the construction of which was the honor of the entire OGPU team. It was during the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal that the correctness of the basic principles of Soviet correctional labor policy was convincingly proven. Here it was possible to most correctly and fully implement Lenin’s well-known dialectical instruction about the combination of coercion with conviction, which is precisely the essence of the correctional labor policy of the Soviet government.

Only “on the basis of the correct implementation of the correctional labor policy of the Soviet government,” said the resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR dated August 2, 1932 “On the opening of the White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Stalin,” “the Main Directorate of forced labor camps of the OGPU carried out a large political educational work among prisoners who have acquired labor skills and qualifications and, in a number of cases, have proven themselves well in construction work"

In 1932, new OGPU camps were organized, including: North-Eastern - for the development of the Far North and the extraction of non-ferrous metals, in Kazakhstan - Porvinsky - fishing, Dmitrovsky - in the Moscow region for the construction of the Moscow - Volga canal, in the Baikal-Amur Far East - for the construction of the railway.

In 1935, in the distant Arctic, in Norilsk, Norillag was created for the construction of a nickel plant and the development of the plant’s location [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00239 dated 25.VI-35].

To develop and develop the natural resources of the Far North, the following ITLs were organized in 1937: Vorkutinsky (S. Usa) for the construction of mines and coal mining, as well as the construction of railways. highway Vorkuta - Kozhva; Ukhtinsky - production of oil, gas, asphaltites, radium; Ust-Vymsky - construction of the Chibyu - Kotlas railway and logging in the Ust-Vymsky forest area; Pechora - barge building and logging in the Troitsko-Pechora and Kozhvinsky timber industry enterprises [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00765-37]. The organization of eight logging camps also dates back to 1937: Taishetsky, Tomsk-Asinsky, Kulomsky, Ust-Vymsky, Ivdelsky, Kargopolsky, Lokchimsky [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 078 of 16.VIII-1937].

Until 1930, labor use, as well as the rights and obligations of prisoners in ITL, were partially determined by the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1927. However, the regime of keeping prisoners in ITL was not regulated by the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1924, and even mention of ITL in this code was not was. For this reason, the regime for keeping prisoners in the ITL was largely established by orders and instructions of the OGPU.

The general principles of correctional labor policy set out in the code remained mandatory for the camps, as for all places of detention. The most important of these principles are: punishment should not pursue the goal of causing physical suffering or humiliating the human dignity of the convicted. Adaptation of offenders to the conditions of a working community.

The first document regulating the activities of forced labor camps was the “Regulations on forced labor camps”, approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on April 2, 1930.

The regulations consisted of four sections: general provisions, management of the camps, their structure and subjects of their jurisdiction, basic provisions on the procedure for keeping prisoners, prosecutorial supervision of the camps.

The main task of the camps, according to the Regulations, was to protect society from especially socially dangerous offenders through their isolation, combined with socially useful work.

The structure of the camp consisted of parts: production and operational, cultural and educational and sanitary, as well as a certification commission. The camp director headed the work in the camp.

In order to more consistently and expediently fulfill the tasks of correctional labor policy, prisoners were divided into three categories.

The first category included working-class prisoners (workers, peasants and office workers), who enjoyed voting rights before sentencing, who were sentenced for the first time to terms of no more than five years and not for counter-revolutionary crimes.

The third group included all non-working elements and persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes.

The initial regime applied to all prisoners newly admitted to the camp and lasted for prisoners of the 1st category for at least six months; for the 2nd category - at least a year and for the 3rd category - at least 2 years.

Prisoners on a light regime were used for permanent work in institutions, enterprises and industries. They lived in dormitories attached to enterprises and had the right to leave (absence for more than 6 hours after evening verification was considered an escape). They were sent to work using work books and could receive bonuses.

In addition to the conditions established for a light regime, prisoners on a preferential regime had the right to leave the camp and occupy administrative and economic positions in the management of the camp and in the production of work.

Unemployed elements and persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes could not occupy administrative and economic positions.

The incentive measures for those who work well almost coincided with the incentive measures established by the instructions for the regime of detention of prisoners in correctional labor camps and the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, approved by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR No. 0190–1947.

To provide financial assistance to persons who had served their sentences, a special fund was established, made up of partial deductions from bonuses, deductions from the wages of prisoners and other revenues.

The camps were guided by this provision until August 1939, when the order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00889 approved new instructions on the regime for keeping prisoners in the ITL, which differed significantly from the Regulations on the ITL of 1930.

Currently, the regime of detention of prisoners and their labor use is determined by orders of the NKVD - Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR No. 0190–1947, 001516-1948 and 0418–1949.

b) Organization of the ULAG, GULAG OGPU-NKVD-MVD and its structural changes

The significant growth of the camp network by 1930, as well as the presence of a direct indication in the “Regulations on forced labor camps” (clause 3) that “the camps are under the jurisdiction of the OGPU, which exercises general management of their activities,” urgently required the organization of a centralized leadership of this network. Such an apparatus as part of the OGPU center was created in April 1930. This apparatus was called the Administration of Camps (ULAG) of the OGPU [Order of the OGPU No. 130/63 of April 25, 1930] and subsequently reorganized into the GULAG of the OGPU [Order of the OGPU No. 73–37 of 15.II-31. The first mention of the Gulag is found in OGPU order No. 73–37 of 15.II-31].

There were no special orders on the organization of the Gulag. It is believed that the ULAG, a year after its organization, began to be called the GULAG by virtue of an oral order from the Chairman of the OGPU.

The nature of the relationship between the camps and the Administration of the camps was determined by the order of the OGPU dated 23.V-1930, the introductory part of which stated: “In order to strengthen control over the work and condition of the OGPU forced labor camps, bring closer direct management and coordinate their activities with authorized representative offices - local camp management should be subordinated in all respects to the corresponding authorized representative offices.”

The Camp Administration, in addition to the general management of the camps through the relevant OGPU PP, was also entrusted with accounting and distribution of prisoners among the camps and management of the economic, financial and planning activities of the camps, their supply of food, uniforms, and materials for production. Management of security and operational work was entrusted to authorized representatives (clause 4). [Archivaz UOAGU No. Ш, 9/р144 t-43, У-1930]

The first significant reorganization of the Gulag occurred in connection with the resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated October 27, 1934 “On the transfer of correctional labor institutions of the People's Commissariats of Justice of the Union Republics to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR,” which was already mentioned above.

The initial activities of the Gulag coincided with the period of complete collectivization and the liquidation of the kulaks as a class.

Even in the process of liquidating the kulaks, a complex and very important problem arose - the problem of the economic and labor arrangement of repressed people in the places of their new settlement. The implementation of this task was entrusted to the organs of the OGPU.

On August 7, 1931, the Special Commission on Special Settlers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks outlined detailed measures for the economic organization of special settlers, determined their legal status and assigned the responsibility for the economic organization of special settlers and the establishment of the procedure for their labor use to the OGPU ULAG.

For this purpose, a special department for special settlers was created in the OGPU Gulag, to which the heads of departments and inspectors for special settlers of the OGPU PP were subordinate [OGPU Order No. 330/198 of June 20, 1931].

The department for special settlers was in the Gulag until August 1941, and in August it was turned into an independent department of the NKVD of the USSR [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 001160 dated 28.VIII-41].

The GULAG carried out all its work on the economic and labor arrangement of special settlers, and later, in 1933, the labor of settlers through the departments and inspections for special settlers of the OGPU PP: North Caucasus, Middle Volga, Gorky, East Siberian, Northern Territories, Siblag, Sazlag, Northern, Western and Southern Kazakhstan, Bashkiria, Leningrad Military District, inspection of the s/p GPU of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, GPU of the Ukrainian SSR and Aldan operative sector [GULAG Archive No. 15, p. 9.].

The process of increasing the operational and production activities of the Gulag began to increase significantly from this period. The forest sector in the Gulag is reorganized into a forestry department [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 078 of August 16, 1937], the forestry department is reorganized into the forest industry department [Order No. 00690 of October 22, 1937], and a department of paramilitary security [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00205 dated March 9, 1938], which included a new department - the regime department. The department of labor colonies, which previously existed in the NKVD as an independent department, was included in the GULAG [Order No. 00270 of March 27, 1939].

A control and inspection group was created [Order No. 00149 of February 27, 1940] and the Mining and Metallurgical Industry Administration [Order No. 019-1940].

The order of the NKVD of the USSR “On the reorganization of the Gulag” established its following structure:

Directorates: Security and regime, correctional labor colonies and labor settlements, mining and metallurgical industry, industrial and special construction of factories and mining enterprises of ferrous metallurgy, timber industry, construction of aircraft factories, fuel industry and construction sites of the NKVD of the USSR.

Departments: Political, Personnel, Accounting and distribution of prisoners, Sanitary, Mobilization, Veterinary, General supply, Administrative and economic and, as a department, control and inspection group, bureau of rationalization and invention, secretariat, archive.

The following departments were abolished: planning, financial, labor and wages, and general accounting. The functions of these departments were assigned to the CFPO, the head of which was announced at the same time as the deputy head of the GULAG. In addition, the departments of railway and water transportation and technical supply were also abolished, with the functions of the latter transferred to the Department of Supply of Camps and Construction Sites of the NKVD of the USSR. The same Department included the Gulag Automotive Inspectorate.

The political department included the KVO, and the Department of Correctional Labor Colonies included the department of labor colonies for juvenile offenders, the department of special settlements and the department of agricultural camps [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 001019 of 19VII-40].

This order seemed to sum up the process of forming the Gulag, turning it into the only governing body of the system of state isolation of criminals and at the same time into a powerful production Main Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR. Even a simple listing of the directorates and departments of the Gulag, as was done above, testifies to the extremely important role of this headquarters in the system of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

In 1940, the GULAG headed the system of correctional labor institutions, consisting of ITL, ITK, juvenile colonies and correctional labor bureaus, and in its activities on the placement, regime and protection of prisoners, it was guided by government regulations and instructions developed by it on these issues and orders of the NKVD of the USSR.

The regime for keeping offenders was based on the following principles: 1) Ensuring reliable isolation in accordance with the severity of the criminal punishment; 2) The most efficient use of prison labor; 3) The work responsibilities of each prisoner as assigned by the camp administration; 4) Encouraging an honest attitude to work and compliance with the regime, administrative influence and even bringing to justice malingerers and work refusers.

The production activities of the Gulag during this period were characterized by a wide variety of manufactured products and covered industry, agriculture and the construction of major industrial centers. This industry included 17 different branches. However, the largest industry was the forestry industry. The share of logging camps in the national economy had grown so much by 1939 that the government considered it necessary back in 1938 to grant the Gulag the rights of the main logging operator and at the same time exempt it from penalty fees [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 41 of February 5, 1939].

The mining and metallurgical industry of the Gulag received its intensive development only from 1938–1939. and was under his jurisdiction until 1941, when it was transferred to the specially created Main Directorate of the Mining and Metallurgical Industry Camps of the NKVD.

This industry was mainly engaged in the mining and processing of copper-nickel ores in particularly remote areas of the country.

The Gulag fuel industry included coal deposits: Vorkutinskoye, Bukachachinskoye, Raichikhinskoye and Ukhta oil region.

Until 1941, i.e., before the organization of the Main Directorate of Hydraulic Construction, the GULAG independently produced significant hydraulic structures. In this area, his activities were determined by the instructions of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the need to “expand the construction of the greatest structure in the world - two Kuibyshev hydroelectric power stations with a total capacity of 3.4 million kW.” “Complete the construction and put into operation the Uglich and Rybinsk hydroelectric stations. At the end of the 3rd Five-Year Plan, create a deep-sea route from Astrakhan to Moscow, ensuring depths at all rifts of at least 2.6 mt.”

On February 26, 1941, the third reorganization of the Gulag took place. On the basis of the departments and directorates of the Gulag, independent industrial headquarters of the People's Commissariat were organized, including: GULZhLS, Main Directorate of Hydraulic Construction, GULGMP, GULPS, ULTP, ULLP, Directorate for the Construction of Kuibyshev Plants, Main Directorate for the Construction of the Far North (Dalstroi), Main Directorate of Highways roads [Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00212 of February 26, 1941].

The structure of the Gulag after this reorganization was presented as follows: Directorate: security and regime, correctional labor colonies; departments: operational, political, OK, accounting and distribution of prisoners, labor and special settlements, mobilization, general purpose, sanitary, control and inspection group under the head of the GULAG, secretariat, bureau of inventions, veterinary, archival department [In this modified form the GULAG existed until March 1947].

SECTION III. Gulag and forced labor camps during the war years (1941–1945)

During the Patriotic War, in accordance with the instructions of Comrade Stalin on the restructuring of all rear work on a military basis and its subordination to the interests of the front and the defeat of the enemy, all operational and production work was aimed at fulfilling special tasks of the party and government.

The war period was characterized by a gradual decrease in the total number of prisoners. In accordance with the Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 12 and November 24, 1941, as well as special decisions of the State Defense Committee, persons convicted of minor crimes were released early and a significant part of them were transferred to the ranks of the Red Army. In addition, all those released after serving their sentence and fit for military service were also transferred to the army.

The high impulse of Soviet patriotism, which gripped the entire Soviet people during the war, found its response among the prisoners. This was manifested in the mass submission of applications by prisoners to be sent to the front, the donation of personal valuables, money and government bonds to the country's defense fund, and the purchase of government military loan bonds for cash.

In total, the country's defense fund received from prisoners: in 1941 - 250,000 rubles, in 1942 - over 2 million rubles, in 1943–1944. - 25 million rubles.

The economic activities of the Gulag were also subordinated to the same national task - the defeat of the enemy. If the industry of the colonies in peacetime was engaged in the production of consumer goods, then from the very first days of the war at these enterprises the GULAG organized the production of products only for the needs of the front.

For 1941–1944 GULAG enterprises fulfilled the ammunition plan by 104%. In terms of production of certain types of ammunition, the GULAG took second place in the Union. It also ranks second in the Union in the production of special closures.

At the Gulag sewing factories, a significant amount of fabric was processed, from which uniforms for the Red Army were sewn.

In addition, during the war, the Gulag provided labor to various industries, including: the ammunition and weapons industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, the aviation and tank industries, coal and oil, power plants and the electrical industry, the timber industry, as well as all the most important construction projects of the USSR .

The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated 19-1943 was important for the punitive and corrective labor policy of the Soviet state during the war.

According to this Decree, punishment was introduced for the Nazi villains guilty of killing and torturing the peaceful Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, spies and traitors to the motherland from among Soviet citizens convicted of assisting the Nazi villains - a link to hard labor.

In pursuance of the Decree, departments for convicts were created in a number of correctional labor camps, where from 1943 all persons convicted under the Decree of April 19-1943 began to be sent.

There were no other important changes in the camp network and the Gulag during the war, except for the liquidation of individual camps and colonies in the front line.

SECTION IV. Gulag and forced labor camps in the post-war period (1945–1949)

At the end of the victorious Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. The activities of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, including the Gulag, as well as the entire national economy of the country, were determined by the instructions of the leader, Comrade Stalin, given in his historical speech on February 9, 1946 at the pre-election meeting of voters of the Stalin constituency of the mountains. Moscow.

In this speech, the Communist Party and the entire Soviet people were given the task in the coming period to “... restore the affected areas of the country, restore the pre-war level of industry and agriculture and then exceed this level to a more or less significant extent.”

The practical implementation of the instructions of Comrade Stalin by the GULAG, as one of the most important operational Main Commands, was expressed in the provision of labor for the restoration of industry, as well as camps and colonies in areas subject to temporary occupation.

Another important task that arose before the GULAG, ITL and the colonies in the post-war period was the task of transforming forced labor camps and colonies into model correctional labor institutions. Activities aimed at fulfilling this task constituted the content of all the work of the Gulag in the post-war period.

The efforts of the Gulag during this period were aimed at restoring the appropriate regime for keeping prisoners in correctional labor camps and colonies, which had been significantly weakened during the war years.

By decision of the Government on February 21, 1948, strict regime camps were created to house especially dangerous state criminals convicted of espionage, terror, sabotage, right-wing Trotskyist activities, members of other anti-Soviet organizations and groups, and persons posing a danger due to their enemy activities and connections.

It was also necessary to urgently take measures to improve the physical condition of prisoners.

The Gulag is developing a number of instructions that have brought clear clarity to the issues of the regime of detention and labor use of prisoners.

Among the most important instructions was the “Instruction on the regime of detention of prisoners in forced labor camps and colonies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” approved by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR No. 0190–1947. The standards for the regime of detention of prisoners established by the instructions differed significantly from the corresponding regulations of the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1933.

To better accomplish the above tasks, in March 1947, the structure of the Gulag underwent new changes. The following directorates and departments were created:

1. The first Security Directorate (for operational work and security) by combining the Security Directorate and the Operations Department.

2. Second (Special) department consisting of departments: organizational legal, special (formerly EURZ), sanitary, communal and operational, cultural and educational and archival departments;

3. Third Directorate (general supply);

4. Fourth Directorate (production, former UITK).

Departments: political, personnel, control and inspection; departments: railway and water transportation and settlement and financial.

5. Secretariat.

6. The veterinary department was disbanded [Order of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 00124 dated 3.II-48].

The last change in the structure of the Gulag (the 5th in a row) occurred in January 1948. This change was aimed at strengthening operational and production work. Supply functions were removed from the Gulag and transferred to the GUVS.

The Third Directorate (general supply) was abolished, and the Fourth Directorate (production) was renamed the Third Directorate of the Gulag.

SECTION V. Prosecutor's supervision and camp courts

Supervision over the activities of forced labor camps of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and UITLC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is carried out by prosecutors subordinate directly to the USSR Prosecutor's Office (Department for Supervision of Places of Detention).

In the remaining UITLIK and in all OITK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where there are no prosecutors, supervision of places of detention is carried out by the head of the department of the Prosecutor's Office of the republic, territory, region for supervision of places of detention.

The prosecutor, or a person replacing him, has the right (by territoriality) of unhindered entry into forced labor camps and colonies for:

checking the legality and conditions of detention of prisoners;

supervision over the implementation of socialist legality during the implementation of the camp regime and during the release of prisoners;

checking the timely execution of government decisions and determinations of judicial and investigative bodies related to the legality and conditions of detention of prisoners.

The camp management, UITLC - OITK is obliged to:

Provide the prosecutor and his staff with office space for work, vehicles, and, if necessary, living quarters to accommodate employees and their families;

Inform the prosecutor about all emergency incidents;

Provide the prosecutor, at his request, for review with registration and statistical data on issues within his competence;

Ensure uninterrupted access to residential and industrial areas;

Upon the proposal of the prosecutor, take measures to immediately eliminate the violations and shortcomings identified by him in the activities of the camp sector.

About camp ships

Camp courts were organized in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council dated December 30-1944 in the ITL, UITLiK OITK MVD-UMVD.

Where special camp courts are not organized, cases are heard in republican, regional and regional courts according to territoriality.

Camp courts hear cases of crimes committed in correctional labor camps and colonies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs by civilian employees, members of the rank and file of paramilitary guards and prisoners, as well as cases of early release of prisoners who have fallen ill with an incurable illness or have completely lost their ability to work (Articles 457–462 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR).

Camp courts consider cases requiring clarification of the terms of individual sentences in connection with their combination (Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR).

Camp courts summarize and analyze judicial practice in the most important categories of cases, and pose questions to the camp leadership and political department about taking measures to prevent crime.

The departments of ITL, UITL, OITK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in accordance with the order of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated January 13-1946 No. 42-1, are obliged to:

Provide special premises and necessary vehicles for the work of the apparatus and meetings of camp courts;

Provide the leading employees of the camp court with apartments, utilities and medical services on an equal basis with other civilian employees of the camp sector (Order of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 353-21.VI-1948)

Management and control over the work of camp courts is carried out by the Directorate for Camp Court Affairs of the Ministry of Justice of the USSR.

SECTION VI. Conclusion

As can be seen from the above, correctional labor institutions, in the name as set out in the Correctional Labor Code, appeared in the RSFSR only in 1924.

In 1920, the first special-purpose camp was organized on the Solovetsky Islands, where all active enemies of the young Soviet republic were exiled.

The uniform principles of correctional labor policy, which was based on the labor of prisoners, began to be applied in all places of detention around 1926.

By 1930, the camp network had grown significantly. As can be seen from the relevant Government resolutions, camps are organized in particularly remote areas with the aim of developing the natural resources of these areas.

For general management of the activities of the camps, operational activities were led by the OGPU PP; in 1930, a camp administration was created at the center of the OGPU. The following year, 1931, this Directorate became known as the Main Directorate of Camps.

In 1943, all correctional labor institutions of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR (detention houses, isolation wards, correctional labor camps and correctional labor bureaus) came under the jurisdiction of the GULAG. The GULAG is turning into the only state institution for the practical implementation of correctional labor policy throughout the entire territory of the USSR; it operates as such in a slightly modified form to the present day.

From 1930 to 1949 The organizational structure of the Gulag underwent repeated changes, but all these changes always came down to the better achievement of two tasks: to organize better isolation of the socially dangerous element from society, as well as to the labor use of prisoners for the purpose of their re-education and adaptation to the conditions of a socialist hostel.

During the period of its existence, the Gulag acquired extensive experience in the re-education of offenders. He summarized this experience in the instructions and orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 1939–1949, the exact implementation of which will ensure the correct implementation of the correctional labor policy of the Soviet state and will contribute to the transformation of places of detention into exemplary correctional labor institutions.

Referent of the reference group under the head of the Gulag of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, Captain V. LEBEDEV

GARF. F. 9414. Op. 1. D. 368. Lll. 31–61. Certified copy.