History of Gulag in Timeline

The Gulag was a system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. Originally referring to the division of the Soviet secret police overseeing these camps, the term "Gulag" is now widely used to describe the entire Soviet forced labor system, especially during Stalin's era from the 1930s to the early 1950s. The abbreviation GULAG (ГУЛАГ) stands for "Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGerei," though the agency's full official name evolved over time.

1906: Number of katorga convicts serving sentences

In 1906 approximately 6,000 katorga convicts were serving sentences in the Russian Empire.

1916: Number of katorga convicts serving sentences

In 1916 approximately 28,600 katorga convicts were serving sentences in the Russian Empire.

1918: Early Gulag history

From 1918 to 1929, it is difficult to calculate the number of prisoners.

1918: Forced Labor Camp Experiments

In 1918, Trotsky experimented with forced labor camps for Czech war prisoners.

1918: Establishment of Solovetsky Camp

Soon after the Revolution in 1918, the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea became one of the earliest Gulag camps, often reusing remote monasteries, and was presented as a new Soviet method for "re-education of class enemies" through labor.

1920: Repression as a tool

From 1920 to 1950, the leaders of the Communist Party and the Soviet state considered repression a tool that they should use to secure the normal functioning of the Soviet state system.

1921: Imprisonment sentences investigated by the secret police

From 1921–53, official data suggest that there were over 2.6 million sentences to imprisonment on cases investigated by the secret police.

1922: Oversight of the Justice System

Until 1922, The People's Commissariat of Justice oversaw the judicial and prison system.

1923: Arrest of Naftaly Frenkel

In 1923, Naftaly Frenkel was arrested for illegally crossing borders and smuggling and sentenced to 10 years' hard labor at Solovki.

1923: OGPU Administration

In 1923, the OGPU began administering the Gulag system until 1934.

1924: Stalin Takes Control

Following Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin gained control of the Soviet government and began forming the Gulag system.

1927: Views on Compelled Labor

In 1927, the official in charge of prison administration was opposed to compelled labor.

1928: Number of Internees

In 1928, there were 30,000 individuals interned.

1928: Gulag Population Estimate

In 1928–1953, Historian Orlando Figes estimates there were 25 million prisoners of the Gulag.

April 1929: Elimination of Judicial Distinctions

In April 1929, the judicial distinctions between criminal and political prisoners were eliminated, and control of the entire Soviet penal system was turned over to the OGPU.

June 27, 1929: Politburo Meeting

On June 27, 1929, a Politburo meeting discussed the use of penal labor.

July 11, 1929: Secret Decree on Penal Labor

On July 11, 1929, the Sovnarkom issued a secret decree about the use of penal labor, which served as the legal basis for the "corrective labor camps".

July 27, 1929: Official Term Suggestion

On July 27, 1929, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union suggested the official term "correctional labour camp" for official use.

1929: Gulag Labor Camps Population

From 1929 to 1953, some historians estimate that 14 million people were imprisoned in the Gulag labor camps.

1929: Maxim Gorky's Visit and Apology for Solovki Camp

In 1929, Maxim Gorky visited the Solovki camp and published an apology for it in a report included in "Po Soiuzu Sovetov", Part V, subtitled "Solovki," where he wrote that "camps such as 'Solovki' were absolutely necessary."

1929: OGPU Tasked with Colonization

In 1929, the OGPU was given the task to colonize sparsely populated remote areas and exploit their resources using forced labor. The notion of "free settlement" was introduced to facilitate this.

1929: Dekulakization Program Launched

In late 1929, Stalin launched the dekulakization program, resulting in the imprisonment and execution of Soviet peasants.

April 7, 1930: Sovnarkom Order

The Gulag was officially established on April 25, 1930, as the GULAG by the OGPU order 130/63 in accordance with the Sovnarkom order 22 p. 248 dated April 7, 1930.

April 1930: Yagoda's Letter to the OGPU Commission

In April 1930, Genrikh Yagoda wrote to the OGPU Commission.

April 25, 1930: Official Establishment of the Gulag

On April 25, 1930, the Gulag was officially established as the GULAG by the OGPU order 130/63.

1930: Gulag Growth and Expansion

From 1930 to 1953, roughly 14 million prisoners passed through the Gulag camps and 4 million through the Gulag colonies, with approximately 1.5 to 1.7 million prisoners perishing.

1930: Gulag Established

In 1930, the Gulag was established as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. The agency was initially administered by the OGPU.

1931: Mass Exiles

In 1931 alone, 1,803,392 people were exiled as part of the dekulakization process.

1931: Gulag Prisoner Count

In 1931, the Gulag held approximately 200,000 prisoners in its camps.

August 1932: Decree on Theft from Collective Farms (Law of Spikelets)

On August 7, 1932, a new decree drafted by Stalin (Law of Spikelets) specified a minimum sentence of ten years or execution for theft from collective farms or cooperative property, leading to a fourfold increase in prosecutions.

May 1933: Relaxation of Law of Spikelets

On May 8, 1933, the Law of Spikelets, a decree specifying punishment for theft from collective farms, was relaxed. Overall, during the first half of 1933, prisons saw more new incoming inmates than the three previous years combined.

1933: Gorky organizes trip of writers and artists

In 1933, Gorky organized a trip of 120 writers and artists to the White Sea–Baltic Canal.

1933: Nazino Affair Reveals Ineffectiveness of Special Settlements

In 1933, the plan to use "special settlements" instead of labor camps was abandoned after the Nazino affair, which revealed the ineffectiveness of these settlements.

1933: Harsh Working Conditions and Mortality in Camps

In early 1933, up to 15% of the prison population in Soviet Uzbekistan died monthly. Prisoners received around 300 calories a day, and attempted escapes led to increased coercive measures, with camps directed "not to spare bullets".

1934: Propaganda book about the White Sea–Baltic Canal

In 1934, 36 writers and artists wrote a propaganda book about the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal.

1934: NKVD Administration

In 1934, the NKVD took over the administration of the Gulag system from the OGPU and continued until 1946.

1934: Increase in Prisoners with Higher Education

In 1934, the number of Gulag prisoners with higher education began to increase.

1934: Gulag Population

In 1934, the total population of the Gulag camps was estimated to be 510,307.

1935: Gulag Camp and Colony Population

In 1935, the Gulag housed approximately 800,000 prisoners in camps and 300,000 in colonies.

1935: Prisoner Activities and Reduced Workday

In early 1935, a course in livestock raising was held for prisoners at a state farm; those who took it had their workday reduced to four hours. In that year, the professional theater group in the camp complex gave 230 performances to over 115,000 spectators. Camp newspapers also existed.

December 31, 1936: Gulag Population Size

On December 31, 1936, the archival figure of 1,196,369 was recorded for the combined population of the Gulag and labor colonies.

1937: Increase in Inmate Numbers due to Great Purge

In 1937, mass arrests during the Great Purge led to a significant increase in the number of Gulag inmates. Tens of thousands were executed for alleged "counterrevolutionary activities" under NKVD Order No. 00447.

1937: NKVD Census Data

In 1937, the NKVD provided the Census Board with data indicating a labor camp population of 2.75 million.

1937: Destruction of propaganda book about the White Sea–Baltic Canal

In 1937, the propaganda book about the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal was destroyed.

1938: Beria's Report on Labor Camp Numbers

At the end of 1938, Beria reported to the Politburo that there were almost 7 million prisoners in the labor camps.

1938: Vyshinsky's Memorandum to Yezhov

In 1938, during the Great Purge, Andrei Vyshinsky, chief procurator of the Soviet Union, wrote a memorandum to NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov.

1939: Gulag Population on the Eve of World War II

In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Soviet archives indicated that the combined camp and colony population in the Gulag system was upwards of 1.6 million people.

1939: Soviet Union Sentences for Political Crimes

In 1939, the total number of sentences for political and anti-state crimes in the USSR was 211,106.

1939: World War II Starts

The GUPVI was similar to the GULAG and the Soviet Union during and in the aftermath of World War II (1939–1953).

March 1940: Gulag Camp Directorates

In March 1940, there were 53 Gulag camp directorates (simply referred to as "camps") and 423 labor colonies in the Soviet Union.

1940: Gulag Population Reaches 1.5 Million

By the end of 1940, the Gulag camps' population reached approximately 1.5 million prisoners.

1940: Polish prisoners of war captured by USSR

In 1940, approximately 300,000 Polish prisoners of war captured by the USSR during and after the "Polish Defensive War". Almost all of the captured officers and a large number of ordinary soldiers were then murdered or sent to Gulag.

1940: Labor Disciplinary Measures Implemented

In 1940, due to low labor productivity, 1.8 million workers were sentenced to 6 months of forced labor with a pay cut, 3.3 million faced sanctions, and 60,000 were imprisoned for absenteeism.

1940: NKVD Prioritizes Railroad Construction

In 1940, the NKVD focused most of its energy on railroad construction.

1940: Soviet Union Occupies New Territories and Sends Inhabitants to Gulag

In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina, leading to the arrest and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens and inhabitants of these annexed lands to the Gulag camps.

1940: Implementation of Laws for Short Camp Sentences

In mid-1940, laws were implemented that allowed giving short camp sentences (4 months or a year) to those convicted of petty theft, hooliganism, or labor-discipline infractions.

January 1941: Increase in Gulag Workforce

By January 1941, the Gulag workforce had increased by approximately 300,000 prisoners due to new laws.

June 1941: Increased Pressure on Gulag Labor Resources

From June 1941, as the Axis armies pushed into Soviet territory, labor resources in the Gulag became further strained, and many of the camps had to evacuate out of Western Russia.

June 1941: Worsening conditions in Gulag camps after German attack

Immediately after the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, conditions in Gulag camps drastically worsened, with increased quotas, cut rations, and scarce medical supplies, leading to a sharp increase in mortality.

June 1941: Loss of Prisoners to the War Effort

In June 1941, as the Soviet Union went into a total war footing, the camps lost prisoners to the war effort as many laborers received early releases so that they could be drafted and sent to the front.

1941: Significant Increase in Educated Prisoners

By 1941, the number of Gulag prisoners with higher education had increased more than eight times compared to 1934. The number of prisoners with high education increased five times during the same period.

1941: Peak Gulag Population

In 1941, the Gulag population reached its peak at 1.5 million prisoners.

1941: Gulag Production Shift to War Supplies

In 1941, with the German advance into the Soviet Union starting, the Gulag quickly switched to the production of arms and supplies for the army, including ammunition and uniforms. Skilled workers and specialists produced tanks, aircraft, armaments, and ammunition.

1941: Gulag Population Decline Due to Starvation

In the winter of 1941, a quarter of the Gulag's population died of starvation.

1942: Camp Functioning Ceased Due to Conditions

By the spring of 1942, Gulag camp functioning ceased due to dire conditions, including excessively long work hours and low food rations, leading to starvation and death.

1942: Steep Rise in Gulag Mortality

During the Great Patriotic War, Gulag populations declined sharply due to a steep rise in mortality in 1942–43.

1942: Punishment of Workers

In 1942, 1.3 million workers were punished with the reduction of 25% of food rations.

1942: Survival of Polish Prisoners Sent to Kolyma

In 1942, of the 10,000–12,000 Poles sent to Kolyma in 1940–41, most prisoners of war, only 583 men survived, they were then released to join the Polish Armed Forces in the East.

1942: Food Shortages and Population Drop in Camps

In 1942, serious food shortages began in Gulag, and camp populations dropped again.

1942: Gulag Sets Up Supply Administration

In 1942, the Gulag set up the Supply Administration to find their own food and industrial goods due to lack of central aid during the war. The NKVD also limited rations to motivate prisoners to work harder for more food.

1943: Punishment of Workers

In 1943, 1 million workers were punished with the reduction of 25% of food rations.

1943: Reintroduction of Katorga Works

In 1943, the term katorga works was reintroduced in Gulag. Initially intended for Nazi collaborators, it was later applied to other political prisoners, resulting in their placement in the harshest prison camps.

1943: Transfer of GULAG to NKGB

In 1943, when the GULAG was transferred to the NKGB, the GULAG personnel began to use NKGB ranks and distinctions.

1944: New Camps Established and Others Disbanded

From the beginning of the war to halfway through 1944, 40 Gulag camps were set up, and 69 were disbanded.

1944: Punishment of Workers

In 1944, 1 million workers were punished with the reduction of 25% of food rations.

1944: Filtration Camps for Freed POWs

In 1944, freed Soviet POWs went to special "filtration" camps, of which more than 90 percent were cleared, and about 8 percent were arrested or condemned to penal battalions.

February 11, 1945: Yalta Conference Repatriation Agreement

On February 11, 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the Soviet Union, potentially leading to the forced repatriation of up to two million former Soviet residents.

May 1945: End of War in Europe and Start of Forceful Repatriation

In May 1945, when the war in Europe ended, as many as two million former Russian citizens were forcefully repatriated into the USSR.

1945: Filtration Camps for Repatriated Persons

In 1945, about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated Ostarbeiter, POWs, and other displaced persons, which processed more than 4,000,000 people.

1946: Gulag Population Figures

Around 1946, the official figures of the GULAG population reflected the camps' capacity, not the actual number of inmates, leading to actual figures being approximately 15% higher.

1946: MVD Administration

In 1946, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) assumed administration of the Gulag system.

1946: Clearing of Filtration Camp Population

In 1946, the major part of the population of filtration camps were cleared by NKVD and either sent home or conscripted. 226,127 out of 1,539,475 POWs were transferred to the NKVD, i.e. the Gulag.

1947: Return of Polish Evacuees to Soviet-Controlled Poland

In 1947, Out of General Anders' 80,000 evacuees from Soviet Union gathered in Great Britain only 310 volunteered to return to Soviet-controlled Poland.

1947: Tightening of Legislation on Property Offences

In the summer of 1947, legislation on property offenses was tightened, leading to hundreds of thousands of convictions to lengthy prison terms for petty theft or embezzlement, as there was a famine in some parts of the Soviet Union.

1947: End of Forced Repatriation Operations

The forced repatriation operations of former Soviet citizens by British and United States authorities took place from 1945 to 1947.

1948: Internal transport within the Gulag

In 1948, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were "directed to other places of detention" which was referring to internal transport in the Gulag rather than release.

1948: Establishment of Special Camps for Political Prisoners

In 1948, the system of "special camps" was established exclusively for a "special contingent" of political prisoners, convicted according to the more severe sub-articles of Article 58.

1948: End of Ration Limitation Policy

The policy of NKVD limiting rations to motivate prisoners to work harder for more food, ended in 1948.

1950: Repression as a tool

From 1920 to 1950, the leaders of the Communist Party and the Soviet state considered repression a tool that they should use to preserve and strengthen their positions within their social base, the working class.

1950: Wage Payments for Prisoners

From 1950 onward, wage payments were instituted for prisoners in addition to other incentives to boost productivity in the Gulag.

1952: Report on Labor Camp Numbers

In 1952, the Soviet minister of State Security reported to Stalin that there were 12 million prisoners in the labor camps.

March 1953: Stalin's Death

In March 1953, Stalin died. The state continued to maintain the extensive camp system for a while after, although the period saw the grip of the camp authorities weaken, and a number of conflicts and uprisings occur.

1953: Prisoner Count at the Beginning of the Year

At the beginning of 1953, the total number of prisoners in prison camps was more than 2.4 million of which more than 465,000 were political prisoners.

1953: End of Gulag Era and Statistics on Mortality

By 1953, approximately 18 million people had passed through the Gulag system since 1930. Of these, an estimated 1.6 to 1.76 million had perished due to their detention.

1953: End of an Era

From 1929 to 1953, it is estimated that 14 million people were imprisoned in Gulag labor camps.

1953: Gulag Prisoner Statistics

From 1930 to 1953, statistics show that of the 14 million prisoners who passed through the Gulag camps and the 4 million prisoners who passed through the Gulag colonies, approximately 1.5 to 1.7 million prisoners perished there or died soon after release.

1953: Sentence reduction for petty theft

From 1953, the maximum sentence for petty theft was six months, having previously been one year and seven years.

1953: Amnesty Limited to Non-Political Prisoners

In 1953, an amnesty was issued, but it was limited to non-political prisoners and political prisoners sentenced to not more than 5 years, therefore mostly those convicted for common crimes were then freed.

1953: Gulag Population Maximum

In 1953, the Gulag population reached its maximum value.

1953: Maximum Gulag Population

In 1953, the combined population of GULAG camps and labor colonies reached its global maximum at 2,625,000 inmates during the Stalin era.

1953: End of Soviet handling of foreign prisoners

In many ways the GUPVI system was similar to GULAG and it operated from 1939 to 1953.

1954: Release of Political Prisoners Begins

In 1954, the release of political prisoners started.

February 1956: Khrushchev's Denunciation of Stalinism

In February 1956, after Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism in his Secret Speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the release of political prisoners became widespread, and mass rehabilitations occurred.

1956: Certificates of death in the Gulag system

Certificates of death in the Gulag system for the period from 1930 to 1956

1956: End of Period for Gulag Death Toll Estimates

The period for western scholarly estimates of total deaths in the Gulag, ranging from 1.2 to 1.7 million, concluded in 1956. These deaths occurred between 1918 and 1956 due to long hours, harsh conditions, inadequate food, and executions.

1958: Maximum Sentence Reduction

In 1958, the maximum sentence for any crime was reduced from twenty five to fifteen years.

January 1960: Gulag System Abolished

On January 25, 1960, the Gulag system was officially abolished when the remains of its administration were dissolved by Khrushchev.

January 25, 1960: Closure of the Gulag institution

On January 25, 1960, the Gulag institution was officially closed by MVD order No 020, though forced labor colonies for political and criminal prisoners continued to exist.

1960: MVD Ceases Centralized Camp Administration

In 1960, the Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) stopped functioning as the Soviet-wide administration of the camps in favor of individual republic MVD branches, temporarily ceasing centralized detention administrations.

1973: Publication of The Gulag Archipelago

In 1973, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published "The Gulag Archipelago", which brought international repute to the term 'Gulag'.

1992: Publication of Statistical Data on the Gulag

Between 1990 and 1992, Viktor Zemskov published the first precise statistical data on the Gulag based on the Gulag archives. This data was generally accepted by leading Western scholars, though some inconsistencies were noted.

1993: Study of Archival Data on Gulag Deaths

In 1993, a study of archival Soviet data revealed that a total of 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag from 1934 to 1953.

1995: Zemskov's Publication on Restricted Access

In 1995, Viktor Zemskov noted that foreign scientists had begun to be admitted to the restricted-access collection of OGPU-NKVD-MGB-MVD documents in the State Archive of the Russian Federation since 1992.

2004: Publication of Archival Documents

In 2004, archival documents were published in the edition Istoriya Stalinskogo Gulaga. Konets 1920-kh — Pervaya Polovina 1950-kh Godov. Sobranie Dokumentov v 7 Tomakh, with each volume covering a particular issue related to the Gulag.

2009: Rosefielde's Estimate of Gulag Excess Deaths

In 2009, Steven Rosefielde stated that more complete archival data increases camp deaths by 19.4 percent, estimating 1.6 million excess deaths from 1929 to 1953.

2015: Opening of Gulag Museum in Moscow

In 2015, another museum dedicated to the Gulag was opened in Moscow.

2018: Healey's Statement on Gulag Mortality Consensus

In 2018, Dan Healey stated that new studies using declassified Gulag archives have provisionally established a consensus on mortality, showing a death toll between 1.5 and 1.7 million for the years from 1930 to 1953.

2018: Golfo Alexopoulos's Study on Gulag Mortality

In 2018, Golfo Alexopoulos published a study challenging previous mortality figures in the Gulag by considering those whose lives were shortened due to Gulag conditions, arguing that the practice of releasing sick prisoners led to an underestimation of total deaths.

2020: Nakonechnyi's Dissertation on Medical Release and Mortality

In 2020, Mikhail Nakonechnyi concluded in his University of Oxford dissertation that approximately 1 million terminally ill individuals were discharged early from the Gulag on medical grounds, and that roughly 800,000-850,000 excess deaths could be attributed to the results of Gulag incarceration.

2024: Study on Gulag Camps and Economic Growth

According to a 2024 study, areas near gulag camps holding a larger share of educated elites among prisoners have shown greater subsequent economic growth, demonstrating long-run persistence of human capital across generations.