Forced Labor and Gulags
The Soviet Union operated a vast network of forced labor camps that imprisoned millions under hard conditions, often for political or arbitrary reasons. These camps served as tools of punishment, intimidation and economic development. Although the physical infrastructure of the Gulag has disappeared, the penal system remains a feature of political control in Russia today, with opposition figures often sent to remote prison colonies. The government tends to minimize the scale and brutality of forced labor, portraying it as part of a broader narrative of national sacrifice and progress. Public commemorations are limited and attempts to examine this history openly are frequently met with legal and political barriers. As institutions like Memorial face increasing restrictions, personal testimony remains one of the few enduring ways to document and understand these experiences.
Stanislaw Zurakowski
This interview preserves a victim’s account of their experiences as a Polish civilian and later prisoner during World War II. The victim describes their life in Ostrog, Poland, prior to the ear, their capture by soviet forces in 1939, and subsequent imprisonment in both Stanisławów and Chernigov Prisons. The account details their experiences as a prisoner in the Soviet Union, including hard labor in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and brutal treatment by guards, as well as their eventual service with the Polish Armed Forces in the East.
View Item →Tomasz Konstanty Piesakowski
This interview preserves a victim’s account of their experiences as a Polish civilian and later prisoner during World War II. The victim describes their life in Ostrog, Poland, prior to the ear, their capture by soviet forces in 1939, and subsequent imprisonment in both Stanisławów and Chernigov Prisons. The account details their experiences as a prisoner in the Soviet Union, including hard labor in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and brutal treatment by guards, as well as their eventual service with the Polish Armed Forces in the East.
View Item →Fedir Bobonič
This interview preserves a victim’s account of their experiences as a political prisoner and forced laborer during World War II. The victim recounts their life in Carpathian Ruthenia, including their escape from Hungarian occupation and subsequent arrest by Soviet border guards. The account describes the harsh conditions endured during their deportation to the Soviet Union, including forced labor in the gold mines of Kolyma, and their eventual release following an amnesty for Czechoslovak citizens.
View Item →References
Kragh, Martin. “Free and Forced Labor in the Soviet Economy: An Uncertain Boundary.” In Punishment as a Crime? Perspectives on Prison Experience in Russian Culture, edited by Julie Hansen and Andrei Borisovich Rogachevskii. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 5. Uppsala: Uppsala Univ, 2014. Rosefielde, Steven. “Stalinism in Post‐communist Perspective: New Evidence on Killings, Forced Labour and Economic Growth in the 1930s.” Europe-Asia Studies 48, no. 6 (September 1996): 959–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668139608412393.