Gulag (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A History

With the publication of "The Gulag Archipelago" in the early 1970s, Alexander Solzhenitsyn shocked and dismayed the Western world by masterfully detailing the existence of a horrific shadow culture within the Soviet Union, a culture comprised of a mass society of slave laborers scratching out their bare-knuckled survival in unbelievable difficulty and squalor, and having been recruited into the Gulag for a variety of economic, social, and political reasons. Given the inherent limitations of this superb albeit shocking work, the West had to wait for the fall of the Soviet bloc for a more definitive and more complete treatise on the nature of the Gulag. This new book by scholar-turned-journalist Anne Applebaum represents such a work. The work is both massive and comprehensive, dealing not only with the ways in which the Gulag came into existence and then thrived under the active sponsorship of Lenin and Stalin, but also with a plethora of aspects of life within the Gulag, ranging from its laws, customs, folklore, and morality on the one hand to its slang, sexual mores, and cuisine on the other. She looks at the prisoners themselves and how they interacted with each other to the relationships between the prisoners and the many sorts of guards and jailers that kept them imprisoned. For what forced the Gulag into becoming a more or less permanent fixture within the Soviet system was its value economically in producing goods and services that were marketable both within the larger Soviet economy as well as in international trade. As it does in China today, forced labor within the Gulag for the Soviets represented a key element in expanding markets for Soviet-made goods ranging from lamps to those prototypically Russian fur hats. The Gulag came into being as a result of the Communist elite's burning desire for purges of remaining vestiges of bourgeoisie aspects of Soviet culture, and its consequent need for some deep dark hole to stick unlucky cultural offenders into to remove them semi-permanently from the forefront of the Soviet society. Stalin found it useful to expand the uses of the camp system to enhance industrial growth, and the camps became flooded with millions of Soviets found wanting in terms of their ultimate suitability for everyday life in the workers' paradise. Thus, the Gulag flourished throughout the 1920s and 1930s and even through the years of WWII, when slave labor provided an invaluable aid in producing enough war goods to help defeat the Axis powers. By the peak years of Gulag culture in the 1950s, the archipelago stretched into all twelve of the U.S. S. R.'s time zones, although it was largely concentrated in the northernmost and least livable aspects of the country's vast geographical areas. One of the most interesting and certainly more controversial aspects of the book can be found in its consideration of the relative obscurity with which both the existence and horrors associated with the Gulag has been treated to date. Compared to the much more extensively researched and discussed Holocaust of Europe's Jewish population perpetrated by the Nazi Third Reich over a twelve year period, almost nothing is known about the nearly seventy reign of the Gulag. Given the fairly recent demise of the Soviet state, and the dawning availability of data revealing the particulars of the existence of the Soviet system of political imprisonment, forced labor camps, and summary executions, one expects this massively documented, exhaustively detailed, and memorably written work will serve as the standard in the field for decades to come. This is a terrific book, and one I can heartily recommend to any serious student of 20th century history. Enjoy!

This is not an easy book to read, and I’m sure it was much harder to write in such a way that the reader would read it. It is also not a mere listing of the number who died or concise descriptions of the tortures employed for whatever purpose, although those matters are discussed if you are so interested. It is an overview of the ‘staat in staat’ of the Gulag; once you ‘entered’ the organization, Soviet public law (such as it was) became irrelevant. You were no longer a Soviet citizen; you were a denizen of the Gulag. And under Stalin, your arrest was a purely arbitrary matter; you might have as easily been hit by lightning, and for the same ‘reason’. But before a reader gets to the exploration of the subject, the author makes the introduction interesting on its own; Ms. Applebaum examines the asymmetry of Western response to Hitler, a universally despised mass murderer, compared to Stalin, who, by direct order, starved more Ukrainians to death than the number of Jews Hitler managed to kill in his ‘industrialized’ murder machines. Even now, people in the EU and the US who would never hint of a defense of Hitler will dismiss Stalin’s crimes as trivial, and often claim his show trials as, well, maybe justified. Those need to read Judt in “Post War”, (certainly no ‘capitalist tool’), who, examining all of the evidence, has to admit that ‘central planning leads to centralized murder’. But there remain in the West those who still, in spite of all evidence continue to hope otherwise. Specifically, she mentions Heidegger, whose early flirtation with the Nazis ruined his reputation, while Sarte was given a pass for taking an ‘omelets and broken eggs’ position, as was Camus, not to mention that pathetic excuse for a journalist William Durante, who originated that despicable phrase. She excuses that asymmetry in a way which seems far too kind; simply assuming the Western left was forgivably stupid. We continue to live with that stupidity, and I do not see it as forgivable; “Useful idiots” seems more than appropriate here. Regardless, we are led through the Gulag from arrest to, sometimes, release. Yes, many were released, quite a few near death to die shortly after to avoid another death stat on the camp’s record. And then quite often those released were released at the camp entrance with no resources to return to their homes, nor ‘clean’ papers. Some few who were released were given official ‘forgiveness’ and, if they could find their way ‘home’, might return to a normal life. Suffice to say, the system is revealed as it was: Slave labor, under horrible conditions, and with scant chance of return to normality. Not surprisingly, it seems the cruelty was (largely) not directed from Moscow, but was simply a product of the same dystopian Soviet system which produced thousands of shoes, all of the same size; there was no incentive for the workers to do other than the least they could. Ms. Applebaum quotes Solzhenitsyn pointing out that the zeks went thirsty not by design, but because the guards would have to fetch the water and carry it back to the zeks; they’d rather take the time for a smoke. Indeed, the banality of evil. There is far more in the detailed examination of the cultures within the camps (and prisons) zeks, trustys, guards, administrators, and finally an accounting of the delayed release of the political prisoners; it is all worth reading as it clearly defines the Soviet leadership’s dismissal of the matter; the Gulag was part and parcel of the evil of communism. For those still trying to put lipstick on the commie pig, I’m sure you’ll find details to dispute. For the rest of us, it is far beyond worthy of reading.

Gulag by Anne Applebaum is an essential work surveying the Soviet Gulag beginning in 1921. It is an excellent chronicle of the Gulag camps taking both a chronological survey, and a thematic perspective. The chronological chapters jumped too much in the time periods to have a sense of the author’s direction. However, Part two s very effective reflecting life in the camps from every aspect from being transported to the camps, groups of prisoners, guards, women, work, food, and simply daily living. There is liberal use of quotations that breathes life into the prison camps and the daily struggles for survival. She also goes into great detail how the camps evolved and changed over time covered. The government’s prison policies are well documented beginning with Lenin through Gorbachev. In the work Applebaum set a goal to include the prison camps and abuses under the Soviet Eastern European satellite countries. This chapter is lengthy and merely a collection of facts and figures and does not provide any of the qualitative struggles discussed in part 2. These chapters are included by the author to provide a comprehensive survey of the Soviet Gulag. With access to greater documentation Gulag is an excellent and more comprehensive work that updates Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago published in the West during the 1970s. I recommend reading A Day in the Life of Denis Ivanovich by Solzhenitsyn which gives a fictional account of one day in a prison labor camp published in the West in 1962-63. It is one book that has left a memorable impression on me. Due to the lack of information and contradictions in documents she notes the difficulties in assessing how many people entered the Gulag. In an appendix she provides a discussion of many people were impacted. Relying on other studies she that 6 t0 7 million people exiled and 28.7 forced laborers entered the Gulag. I found the introduction and epilogue mandatory reading. Kindle readers need to be aware that the book opens at chapter one and need to go back to the introduction. Her summary is outstanding and points out that the Gulag does receives very little attention in comparison to the NAZI Holocaust. In an epilogue she points out that Russia has not confronted its past atrocities, and is becoming a forgotten memory with the likelihood that history will repeat itself.

Equality. Brotherhood. Soviet slave labor. For profit? Downfall. These are the words that describe the progression from liberal idealism to the imprisonment and deportation of over 28 million Soviet citizens and foreigners to what were called the Gulags, labor camps spread out across much of the now defunct Soviet Union that held those deemed "criminals" and "politicals." Not until 1962 when Aleksandr's Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published did the rest of the world recognize that the Soviet vision of a worker's paradise was nothing more than barbed wire and bondage. Such overwhelming numbers should make anyone pause for a moment and question why people were willing to tolerate such abuse. While there may not be an easy answer to this question, author Anne Applebaum poses an even more daring question: Why has the world paid so little attention to a system of oppression that destroyed the lives of millions of people? In her introduction, for example, Applebaum makes a compelling argument when she describes American and West European tourists purchasing t-shirts and memorabilia from the Stalinist Soviet era. Would those same tourists in their right mind be caught wearing a Nazi armband or a t-shirt with Hitler's image on it? We know that Hitler and the Nazis stood for racial superiority and Social Darwinism, but are the Communist crimes against humanity less tragic because their stated goal of a classless society was somehow nobler? This question Applebaum poses is worth the price and time a reader will spend examining the history, the life, and the downfall of the Gulag in the former Soviet Union. In Part One: The Origins of the Gulag, 1917-1939 Applebaum briefly contrasts prison camps under the Czars to that of the Bolsheviks, where Lenin deemed those who were "class enemies" were to be sent to the camps initially to live in separate quarters from the criminals. There is the Great Turning Point of 1929 when Maxim Gorky, an author initially critical of Bolshevik power, visited and then wrote a glowing review of Solovetsky prison, even though the event was clearly staged. This was also the year that Joseph Stalin took a personal interest in the Gulag so that he could generate profits for the country's industrialization plan. His inane love affair with constructing the White Sea Canal using Gulag laborers would lead to the deaths of over 25,000 prisoners, a pyric victory considering that it was built so poorly that no ships have sailed on it since its completion. When I read that Stalin was using slavery as a means of generating wealth, the world should have recognized that Communism was not that different from Fascism. What starts out as a macro analysis of a bygone prison system quickly becomes personal in Part Two: Life and Work in the Camps. There are many interesting chapters in this section, but two that stand out are the chapters on arrests and the prisoners. The decision to arrest people can at best be described as "nonsensical" and at its worst deliberate. Those who were deemed kulaks or "prosperous" peasants, those who somehow had contact with foreigners or were labeled foreigners, and those pegged as "socially dangerous elements" found themselves quickly arrested and either deported, shot, or sentenced to a prison camp, whose severity depended on their actions against the state. Of particular interest is the culture of the Gulag in terms of those deemed criminals or politicals. Those who were considered politically subversive were reviled more than criminals who had committed heinous crimes such as rape and murder. Finally, there is the apex and rapid downfall of the Gulag, where Applebaum provides more statistics on life inside during World War II. In 1941, for example, over 352,000 prisoners died, and by the end of the war more than two million would perish. Near the end and right after the war, she also lists the thousands of foreign nationals and Soviet minorities who were deported or were arrested. Of particular interest are the thousands of ethnic Muslims such as Chechens and Tartars who were forced from their lands and were not allowed to return. Applebaum does not explicitly state this, but one can surmise that much of the terrorism we encounter today can be traced back to the decisions of Joseph Stalin. Surprisingly, in 1953, right after Stalin's death, there were close to 2.5 million prisoners in a Gulag, the highest at any point. While the Gulag officially ended after Stalin's death, there were still political dissidents in prison camps well into the 1980s under Gorbachev. What is particularly incredible about Applebaum's book is her ability to capture the sentiments of former Soviet citizens during and after the era of the Gulag. In her travels in the former Soviet Union, Applebaum describes people's mostly distained reactions when they discovered her interest in the Gulag. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent and current president of Russia, reflects this unwillingness to own up to the past other than to mention that he sees no reason to dwell upon it. Right after World War II, West Germans underwent "de-Nazification" so that they could regain their humanity. Based on Applebaum's book, shouldn't the world expect the same from Russians? Last time I checked, actions speak louder than even the right words.

Applebaum's work is a broad overview of the Gulag system and the politics that drove it. Considering the immensity, the author has done well in style, technique and substance to pull back the veil on a system of human aberrance so huge that it has no peers in recent history. But it is difficult to review this book fairly due to it's content. For those knowing names and having photos of individuals lost to this maw of human depravity there can be no enjoyment here. For them, this is a terrible, terrible book confirming the worst whispers and imaginings of what `being sent to Siberia' was really like. A ghastly book exposing the worst kinds of assault on human dignity even beyond the mass slaughters of the Katina woods or Hitler's ovens. It's victims were tortured, starved, dehumanized in the most perverse ways imaginable to not only eliminate them as hurdles to central planning but intentionally squeeze from them their last drops of blood. Many luckily died much before, but that does not change intent. The only redeeming value in Applebaum's book is the exposure to drive assurance that such inhumanity never plagues our species again. But of course, it is ongoing in other hell holes at this very time. Such being the secret inner working of totalitarians who by necessity must find venues of disposal of it's human waste. Waste being opponents, whether individuals, tribes, or whole countries that do not fit utopia's mold. Or, as Applebaum reveals, merely foils to divert attention from the systemic and abject conditions visited on the working class by it's overlord central planners. I read this book not for entertainment but to better understand what happened to those left in Eastern Europe after the Nazism took it's first cut. One person looking back to discover the desecration of his family tree and his ethnic inheritance. But imagine the disappointment to discover that "Gulags" were too good for any other than Russia's own 30 million. Eastern Europeans, as it turns out, were cast into even lower levels of hells reserved especially for them in elsewhere's unknown. It is absolutely mind boggling to multiply my familial losses, illness to the escapees and even after-affects to progeny, by 30 million. But apparently those numbers do not suffice. For even now the public record is incomplete as to other administrative compartments, categories and hells that might have been, or are still ongoing, to serve as gear-works for the machines of totalitarianism. It is a commendable book that serves it's topic well. If you are compelled to read and discover, do so. But I cannot imagine anyone having any morsel of compassion or empathy for the human soul enjoying the reading of these words.

At 1,000+ pages, this book is quite a project to pick up and commit to reading. Anne Applebaum left no stone of Gulag history unturned in writing this book. I suspect there is no more thorough documentation of Gulag history than there is this book. And it’s almost never boring! Her writing style is engaging and she balances storytelling throughout, so you’re always entertained. “Entertained” feels like the wrong word to use, as there are many parts that are hard to read — some very ugly, heart-breaking parts of human history — but I’m not sure what other word to use. The ugly, heart-breaking parts are also what make it an IMPORTANT read. As she says in the “Epilogue,” it’s important to recognize and acknowledge past atrocities by authoritarian regimes because they will happen again. Knowledge is, was, and will be the best defense against them.

I knew nothing about USSR/SOVIET UNION/RUSSIAN history until I read a book about the German Invasion, "LENINGRAD-THE EPIC SIEGE 1941-1944", by Anna Reid. A tremendous book, which was the beginning of my obsession with life under Josef Stalin, a most brutal Dictator, right up next to Mao and Hitler, in the 20th Century. I needed to know more, and I can tell you that this is, by far, one of the greatest books I've Ever read, regardless of the genre. I'm no fancy critic, but if you really want to know what tortures and torments Josef Stalin and his "henchmen", for lack of a better word, perpetrated on his own people, and the people of other, surrounding countries, you must read this book. I was particularly interested in reading about the GULAG, a word that literally struck terror into me while I was growing up. Which shows just how much a word such as GULAG, or Siberia, could scare a girl who was 10yrs old in 1975. Author Anne Applebaum has written a very detailed, yet human book about the Concentration Camps, Forced Labor Camps, Prison Camps, and all the regular prisons, too. All I can really say is how profoundly this book has affected my life. There are so many stories, right out of survivors mouths, that I would have to re-read a page, here and there, just to make sure I had read it correctly. Also, many archives became available for people to research, and Ms. Applebaum does a magnificent job of taking these records of the atrocities, inflicted on at least 20 million people, and writing about them in such a way you are literally hooked from page one. It is worth every single moment of your time to read it. Incomprehensible and shocking sound like compliments when trying to describe this amazing literary feat. Ms. Applebaum received a Pulitzer Prize for this masterpiece, and deservedly so. Every school should be using this as a classroom text. It simply must be read! Absolutely 5 stars; I give it infinite stars! Thank you, connie markarian

This is a most impressive work of research and scholarship that is absolutely needed on the Gulag system. Applebaum clearly demonstrates her skill as a historian in tying together all the many facets of the Gulags over the years. She examines how they came to be, how they were operated, who became inmates, how the inmates lived, how the guards lived, et cetera. Nothing is left out. There is a ton of information here and Applebaum draws heavily on primary source accounts. This gives readers a very vivid sense of what it was like to experience the Gulags. The reason for only 4 out of 5 stars is that despite how essential and important this book is, it is not an easy read. There are so many people and places and events that, unless you are a student of Soviet history, it is easy to get a bit confused or to feel a little overwhelmed. In the introduction Applebaum said this book was written for a general audience. I think that is true, but even still, that "general audience" might really be serious history buffs. Recommended to those who have a real interest in this topic.

Wonderfully written book on the Gulag. A difficult read but well worth it.

Muy bueno, no decepciona nada de nada, si quieres documentarte sobre las promesas y felicidad que vende el comunismo pero la dura realidad que esconde. Debería leerlo todos los pelagatos de letras de la UCM que se dejan embaucar por una "ideología" política responsable de tantos millones de muertos y aniquilación como Hitler. Pero es que los nazis perdieron la guerra y los comunistas no, y se han preocupado de que nadie cuente las verdades de sus atrocidades y millones de muertos fruto del amor a su pueblo de Lenin o Stalin. Esa idología igual que una secta que promete el paraíso y te trae la degradación y aniquilación. Debería ser lectura obligatoria de preuniversidad. ¿Para cuándo un Erasmus en Venezuela o Cuba que espabile a los borregos que capta el comunismo en España? Vamos al WC con tanto ignorante suelto.

Incredible work

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Interessante ed istruttivo. Prima e terza parte ottime.Seconda parte un po' meno buona. Globalmente una bella lettura