NIKOLAI GETMAN: The Gulag Collection

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Some of the tasks set by the Five-Year Plans were so large that there were not enough workers to do them. Prisoners in prison camps were made to do the work. Their prisons became labour camps.

1 Some of the tasks set by the Five-Year Plans were so large that there were not enough workers to do them. Prisoners in prison camps were made to do the work. Their prisons became labour camps. A special department of the secret police was set up in 1930 to run the labour camps. Its name was Gulag, the chief Administration of Camps. Activity 7 The Gulags (labour camps) Source 1 NIKOLAI GETMAN: The Gulag Collection Millions of prisoners were transported by rail to the camps. The journey could take as long as fifteen days. Fifty or sixty people were packed into each freight car and given water only when the train stopped every three or four days to replenish its water supply for the boiler. Food, when provided, was generally salt herring which only made the prisoners' thirst that much greater. Not eating the fish however, meant starvation and death. For even minor infractions of the rules, a death certificate could be drawn up on the train, and the prisoner left to die on the permafrost. Given the lack of nourishment, inadequate clothing and cramped quarters, only the very strong, usually the young, reached the camps alive. The prisoners in this painting are seated on the snow in groups of five during a stop. It was Gulag custom to sort prisoners into fives. 1. If a trip to Siberia took as long as 15 days and a train had 50 boxcars, calculate the number of people being transported by the train to a gulag.

2 Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR, is defined as the number of calories your body uses per day to perform its basic, everyday, life sustaining functions such as digesting food, keeping the heart beating, breathing, etc. An active male/female may burn 2800 calories per day, whereas older people may only expend 1600 calories per day. Using the link provided, use the calculator and enter your personal information, which will also include the categories listed below. Weight goal: Maintain weight Physical activity level: High You now have calculated your nutritional needs based on your personal information. Below is a table listing your food ration based on you achieving the norm or set amount of work for the day. Full Norm Thin fish soup (some vegetables) 1 cups (twice per day) Russian Black Bread 700 grams Buckwheat (either as bread or pancakes) 1 cup Fat Food Energy (calories) Carbohydrates Protein Weight 3 grams 220 calories 50 grams 7 grams 220 grams (water) Saturated Fats 2.1 grams 28 grams 1800 calories 520 grams 56 grams 700 grams 5.0 grams 1 gram 340 calories 78 grams 6 grams 98 grams 0.2 grams *Buckwheat is most commonly sold as a dark flour, colored by husks left in during the milling process. Commonly, it is included in flour mixes for making pancakes and waffles, although it is possible to obtain the flour plain. Buckwheat is also sold in whole or cracked form for use in breakfast cereals or to add texture to breads and other baked products. 2. Based on your weight and making the norm, how many days would it take you to drop 10 pounds? Theoretically, about 3500 calories equals one pound. This means that you'd have to take in 3500 fewer calories than you need, over a period of time, to lose one pound.

3 Source 2 Above: Gulag Map showing where all the prison camps were located during Stalin's era. This map was prepared based on the directory of "System of Corective Labor Camps in the USSR" published by Memorial Association in All the main camps in the USSR between are designated. Of course, at certain times, there were fewer camps, but this map reflects a composite of all of the camps. Symbols: (1) Circles: Regional administration (departments) of maps and colonies. (2) Green lines: Roads built by prisoners. (3) Black lines: Railway roads built by prisoners. (4) Gray areas: Territories where exiles were sent in mass. Courtesy: International Memorial Society, Moscow, per Jan Raczynski. For more information about the Gulag and memoirs of prisoners who were repressed, visit: (Web site in Russian, English and German). 3. Based on the map above, name two different construction projects built by slave labour. 4. Why do you think slave labour was used on these projects?

Source 3 The transfer to the camps was often the most grueling part of a prisoner s journey. Prisoners in transit suffered greatly for lack of adequate food, water and clothing.

4 Source 3 The transfer to the camps was often the most grueling part of a prisoner s journey. Prisoners in transit suffered greatly for lack of adequate food, water and clothing. In this painting the prisoners are being transported in the back of a truck at night. Prisoners also arrived in ships and by rail. The area where the prisoners are seated is not covered, leaving them exposed to the elements. This practice continued in winter, making the journey close to unbearable.

Source 5 In the Depths of the Kolyma Mines In the mines, prisoners were expected to dig in the frozen ground with only pick axes and shovels.

5 Source 4 Gold fields were discovered far from the port of Magadan in a region inhabited only by nomads. Prisoners built the 1,200 kilometers of road from Magadan to Indigirka, using only shovels, pickaxes, crowbars and wheelbarrows. Many of the malnourished prisoners died on this project. Source 5 In the Depths of the Kolyma Mines In the mines, prisoners were expected to dig in the frozen ground with only pick axes and shovels. In the gold mines the work was extremely difficult, but there was still a small hope for survival. The inmates knew, however, that in the uranium mines hope was extinguished. Prolonged exposure to the mineral would eventually and inevitably kill them. The mere mention of the assignment made the prisoners' blood freeze. There was no set system for determining which prisoners went to the uranium mines and which did not. It was simply a matter of luck.

Source 6 Dogs were trained to maul their prey (anyone who attempted to run or flee) and were kept both to guard the convicts and the restricted areas, and to catch runaways.

6 Source 6 Dogs were trained to maul their prey (anyone who attempted to run or flee) and were kept both to guard the convicts and the restricted areas, and to catch runaways. Getman believes that turning a naturally peaceful animal into a malicious killer typifies an aspect of the inhuman Soviet mentality. The sight of the dogs' food bowls produced constant fury and envy in the prisoners. These bowls were usually full of meat, and served as a painful reminder that the Soviets treated their dogs better than their human captives.

7 Source 7 The torture-death depicted here was known as komariki (little mosquitoes). For even an insignificant misdeed, such as a harsh word to a guard, a prisoner could be stripped naked, hung crucifixion-style to a pine tree, and left to be fed upon by mosquitoes. Within thirty minutes to an hour he would be taken down. By that time, however, he would have lost so much blood that a slow and painful death was almost inevitable. Such executions were carried out beyond the barbed wire, in full view of the other prisoners. In some camps, the victims of komarki were not hung on trees, but were thrown instead into pits.

8 Source 8 This painting is meant to remember a group of 159 men taken from their barracks in the middle of the night and executed by the NKVD. Such occurrences were common and often without any apparent reason. New prisoners quickly came to understand what being dragged out in the middle of the night meant. Those taken away never returned. The men in the painting are clearly aware that they are going to be killed.

9 Source 9 In 1932, members of the Tsaregradsky, Bilibin and Drapkin expedition discovered gold at the mouth of the Utinny River. A settlement was built between the villages of Balaganny and Ola, the hills there destroyed, piers built, and the settlement named Magadan after a nearby stream. Forced laborers were brought in to build roads from Magadan to the gold. Building the roads was incredibly harsh labor in the permafrost. The prisoners were poorly fed and worked for long hours under fierce conditions with rudimentary tools. 5. What message do you think Getman was trying to create in this painting? 6. Using at least six of the sources provided describe conditions in a prison camp.

Contact for further information about this collection Abstract

Contact for further information about this collection Abstract Brauner, Henry RG-50.029*0008 One Video Tape In English Abstract Henry Brauner was born in Krakow, Poland, on May 24, 1921. Two years later his family moved to Breslau, Germany. They lived in an Orthodox