NEP: Novaya ékonomicheskaya politika (New Economic Policy)—Soviet economic policy launched in 1921. Briefly brought back petty capitalism (private shops and traders). Lenin viewed it as a “strategic retreat,” and Stalin abolished it altogether
norm: the amount of work a prisoner would be required to do in a single shift
normirovshik: the camp clerk responsible for setting work norms
Novyi Mir: Soviet literary magazine, the first to publish Solzhenitsyn
NTS: Narodno-trudovoi Soyuz, the “people’s worker’s party,” an underground political grouping which opposed Stalin, with branches in the USSR and abroad
obshchaya rabota: literally “general work.” In a camp, usually unskilled physical labor such as cutting trees or digging ditches
osoboe soveshchanie: “special commission.” Committees used to sentence prisoners during periods of mass arrest, from the late 1930s
osobye lagerya: “special camps.” These were set up for especially dangerous political prisoners in 1948
otkazchik: someone who refuses to work
otlichnik: an outstanding worker
OUN: Organizatsiya Ukrainskikh Natsionalistov, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. West Ukrainian partisans who fought against the Red Army during and after the Second World War
parasha: a slop bucket in a prison cell or barracks
pellagra: a disease of starvation
People’s Commissar: head of a government ministry
perestroika: a (failed) program of restructuring the Soviet economy, launched by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s
Politburo: The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In practice, the Politburo was the most important decision-making body in the USSR: the government—the Council of People’s Commissars—had to do its bidding
Pravda: the newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party
pridurok (plural pridurki): a prisoner who is not on “general work,” but has an easier or more specialized job
psikhushka: psychiatric hospital for political dissidents
refusenik: Soviet Jews who had asked to emigrate to Israel, but had been turned down
rezhim: prison regime
samizdat: illegal, underground publications. An ironic pun on “Gosizdat,” the name of the state publishing house
scurvy: a disease of malnutrition, from lack of vitamin C. Among other things, results in night blindness and loss of teeth
sharashka: special prison where imprisoned scientists and technicians carried out secret assignments. Invented by Beria in 1938
SHIZO: from shtrafnoi izolyator, a punishment cell within a camp
SLON: Severnye Lagerya a Osobogo Naznacheniya (Northern Camps of Special Significance). The first camps set up by the political police in the 1920s
Social Revolutionaries: A Russian revolutionary party, founded in 1902, which later split into two groups, Left and Right. Briefly, the Left SRs participated in a coalition government with the Bolsheviks, but later fell out with them. Many of their leaders were later executed or sent to the Gulag Sovnarkom (or Council of People’s Commissars): theoretically the ruling government body, the equivalent of a ministerial cabinet. In practice, subordinate to the Politburo
spetslagerya: concentration camps set up by the Soviet Military Administration in occupied Germany after 1945
sploshnye nary: a long, unseparated wooden plank bed—a sleeping shelf—on which many prisoners slept at once
Stakhanovite: a worker or peasant who has overfulfilled the required work norm. Named after Aleksei Stakhanov, a miner who cut 102 tons of coal instead of the norm of seven in a single shift in August 1935
starosta: literally “elder.” In prison cells, camp barracks, and train cars, the starosta was responsible for keeping order
Stolypin wagon or Stolypinka: nickname for a railway car used for prisoner transport, in fact a modified passenger car. Named, unfairly, in honor of Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of Czarist Russia from 1906 until his assassination in 1911
suki: literally “bitches.” Camp slang for criminal prisoners who collaborated with the authorities
taiga: northern Russian landscape, characterized by pine forests, wide rivers, open fields
Thaw: brief period of reform following Stalin’s death. Launched by Nikita Khrushchev’s speech to the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956, and effectively halted by his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, in 1964
tovarishch: “comrade.” A term of respect in the USSR
troika: three Soviet officials who sentenced prisoners in lieu of courts during periods of mass arrest, starting in 1937
trudosposobnost: work capability
tufta: in a camp, a method of cheating on work norms in order to receive a larger food ration
tundra: Arctic landscape, where the earth is permanently frozen. Only the surface melts briefly in summer, creating a swamp, a few shrubs and grasses, but no trees
udarnik: a worker or peasant who has overfulfilled the required work norm. After 1935, the term “Stakhanovite” was more common
urka: a professional criminal; also known as blatnoi or vor
vagonki: double-decker bunks in camp barracks, for four people
vakhta: the headquarters of the camp armed guard, stationed at the entrance into the camp compound
valenki: felt boots
Vlasovites: followers of General Vlasov, who fought with the Nazis against the Red Army during the Second World War
VOKhR: from voenizirovannaya okhrana, armed guard. The armed guards in a camp
vor: a professional criminal; also known as urka or blatnoi
Wehrmacht: Hitler’s military forces
zek: from z/k, an abbreviation for zaklyuchennyi, or prisoner
zemlyanka: a house or barracks built in a hole in the ground; an earth dugout
TEXT AND ILLUSTRATlON PERMISSIONS
Text
Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are the author’s own. Every effort has been made to find copyright holders. The author and publishers welcome any additions or corrections.
W.W. Norton: from “The Son Does Not Answer for the Father,” by Alexander Tvardovsky, translated by Vera Dunham; from “Children of the Cult,” by Andrei Voznesensky, tranlated by Vera Dunham; from “The Lower Camp,” by Elana Vladimirovca, translated by Vera Dunham; from “Stalin is Not Dead,” by Boris Chichibabin, translated by Vera Dunham; from An End to Silence: Uncensored Opinion in the Soviet Union from Roy Medvedev’s Underground Magazine Political Diary, edited by Stephen F. Cohen, translated by George Saunders. Copyright © 1982 by W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Used by permission of W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Leonid Sitko: “I was a soldier, now I’m a convict” and “There were four roads,” from Tiazhest Sveta. Copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Leonid Sitko.
Polska Fundacja Kulturalna: “Willow Trees in Alma-Ata,” from Gułag Polskich Poetów, Copyright © 2001 by Polska Fundacja Kulturalna. Used by permission of Polska Fundacja Kulturalna. “Good-bye to the Camp,” from Gułag Polskich Poetów, Copyright © 2001 by Polska Fundacja Kulturalna. Used by permission of Polska Fundacja Kulturalna.
Vozvraschenie: “What Does It Mean—Exhaustion?” from Memoria by Nina Gagen-Torn, Copyright © 1994, Vozvraschenie. Used by permission of Vozvraschenie and Galina Gagen-Torn. “Even our wives didn’t feel sorry for us,” by Yuri Dombrovsky, from Menya Khoteli Ubit, Eti Suki, Copyright © 1997, Vozvraschenie. Used by permission of Vozvraschenie and Klara Dombrovskaya. “In the Prison-Camp Barracks,” by Anna Barkova, from Dodnes Tiagoteet, Copyright © Sovetskii Pisatel. Used by permission of Vozvraschenie.
Simeon Vilensky: “The Sound of a Distant Bell,” 1948. Used by permission of Simeon Vilensky.
“Requiem 1935–1940,” from Poems of Akhmatova, by Anna Akhmatova. Translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward. Copyright © 1967 by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayw
ard. Used by permission of Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman Literary Agents.
Excerpt from Prison Poems, by Yuli Daniel. Translated by David Burg and Arthur Boyars. Copyright © 1971 by David Burg and Arthur Boyars. Used by permission of Marion Boyars Publishers.
“The Statue’s Sundered Plinth,” by Alexander Tvardovksy. Translated by George Reavey. From The New Russian Poets: 1953–1968; an Anthology by George Reavey. Copyright © 1981 by George Reavey. Used by permission of Marion Boyars Publishers.
Varlam Shalamov: “Toast to the Ayan Uryakh River” and “To a Poet” used by permission of Iraida Sirotinskaya. “I am poor, alone and naked,” from Neskolko Moikh Zhizn, copyright © 1996 by Respublika, used by permission of Iraida Sirotinskaya.
Illustrations
Collection of Yuri Brodksy: photographs 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b.
Memorial Society: photographs 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 12a. Drawings by Benjamin Mkrtchyan, Ivan Sukhanov, Sergei Reikhenberg, Yula-Imar Sooster, and Aleksei Merekov.
The David King Collection: photographs 6a, 6b, 11a, opposite title page.
GARF: photographs 7b, 9b, 11b, 12b, 13a, 13b, 15a, 16a, 16b, cover.
KARTA Society: photographs 8a, 8b, 8c, 9a, 10a, 10b.
The Hoover Institution: photographs 14a, 14b. Drawings by Thomas Sgovio.
Anne Applebaum
GULAG
Anne Applebaum is a columnist and member of the editorial board of The Washington Post. A graduate of Yale and a Marshall Scholar, she has worked as the foreign and deputy editor of the Spectator (London), as the Warsaw correspondent for The Economist, and as a columnist for the online magazine Slate, as well as for several British newspapers. Her work has also appeared in The New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, and The Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. Applebaum lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Radek Sikorski, and two children.
Also by Anne Applebaum
Between East and West:
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, MAY 2004
Copyright © 2003 by Anne Applebaum
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Gulag: a history / Anne Applebaum.— 1st ed.
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Includes bibliographical references.
1. Concentration camps—Soviet Union—History.
2. Forced labor—Soviet Union—History.
3. Prisons—Soviet Union—History.
4. Soviet Union—Politics and government.
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