57°43′7″N44°48′57″E / 57.71861°N 44.81583°E Unzhlag or Unzhensky ITL (Unzhensky corrective labor camp) (Russian : Унжлаг, Унженский ИТЛ) was a camp of the GULAG system of labor camps in the Soviet Union. Named after the Unzha River, it has headquarters at the railway station Sukhobezvodnoye (Сухобезводное, Сухобезводная), Gorky Oblast. It operated from February 5, 1938 to 1960. The main operation was logging and wood processing industries, but also served a wide variety of other small-scale industries: construction, metalworking, railroad servicing, clothing, footwear, pottery production, etc. The camp had 30 sites ( lagpunkts ). [1]
There is a small museum of Unzhlag on the private property of a local lore enthusiast Mikhail Shulegin in the village Yurovo, Makaryevsky District . [2]
The Gulag was a system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word Gulag originally referred only to the division of the Soviet secret police that was in charge of running the forced labor camps from the 1930s to the early 1950s during Joseph Stalin's rule, but in English literature the term is popularly used for the system of forced labor throughout the Soviet era. The abbreviation GULAG (ГУЛАГ) stands for "Гла́вное Управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х ЛАГере́й", but the full official name of the agency changed several times.
Sharashkas were secret research and development laboratories operating from 1930 to the 1950s within the Soviet Gulag labor camp system, as well as in other facilities under the supervision of the Soviet secret service. Formally various secret R&D facilities were called "special design bureau" Russian: особое конструкторское бюро, ОКБ and similar terms. Etymologically, the word sharashka derives from a Russian slang expression sharashkina kontora,, an ironic, derogatory term to denote a poorly-organized, impromptu, or bluffing organization, which in its turn comes from the criminal argot term sharaga (шарага) for a band of thieves, hoodlums, etc.)
Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev was a Soviet author and dissident.
The Solovki special camp, was set up in 1923 on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea as a remote and inaccessible place of detention, primarily intended for socialist opponents of Soviet Russia's new Bolshevik regime.
Kolyma or Kolyma Krai is a historical region in the Russian Far East that includes the basin of Kolyma River and the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the Kolyma Mountains. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. Kolyma Krai was never formally defined and over time it was split among various administrative units. As of 2023, it consists roughly of the Magadan Oblast, north-eastern areas of Yakutia, and the Bilibinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, human rights activist and former Soviet-era dissident.
Ahmad Javad was an Azerbaijani poet who is best known for writing the words of the National Anthem of Azerbaijan used under the 1918–1920 Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, and again since 1991, and another poem named Chirpynirdi gara deniz. He was later arrested by the Soviet regime and executed on October 13, 1937, accused of trying to spread Musavat-inspired nationalism to young Azerbaijani poets.
Lev Emmanuilovich Razgon was a Soviet journalist, a prisoner of the Gulag from 1938 to 1942 and again from 1950 to 1955, a Russian writer and, latterly, a human rights activist.
Norillag, Norilsk Corrective Labor Camp was a gulag labor camp set by Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia and headquartered there. It existed from June 25, 1935 to August 22, 1956.
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, also spelled Chemenzeminli, born Yusif Mirbaba oghlu Vazirov was an Azerbaijani statesman and writer known for his novels, short stories, essays, and diaries. Evidence points to the fact that Chamanzaminli was the primary core author of the famous romance novel Ali and Nino first published in 1937 in Austria under the pen-name of Kurban Said.
Art and culture took on a variety of forms in the forced labor camps of the Gulag system that existed across the Soviet Union during the first half of the twentieth century. Theater, music, visual art, and literature played a role in camp life for many of the millions of prisoners who passed through the Gulag system. Some creative endeavors were initiated and executed by prisoners themselves, while others were overseen by the camp administration. Some projects benefited from prisoners who had been professional artists; others were organized by amateurs. The robust presence of the arts in the Gulag camps is a testament to the resourcefulness and resilience of prisoners there, many of whom derived material benefits and psychological comfort from their involvement in artistic projects.
De-Stalinization comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power, and his 1956 secret speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", which denounced Stalin's cult of personality and the Stalinist political system.
Temlag (Темла́г), Temnikovsky Corrective Labor Camp, or Temnikovsky ITL was a camp of the Gulag labor camp system of the Soviet Union. It was in the Mordovian ASSR. Its name derives from the town of Temnikov because it was in Temnikov District, although its administration was in Yavas. It existed during 1931-1948. Major industries were logging, wood processing industries, and railroad construction. In addition it had a wide variety of other small-scale industries: construction, metalworking, railroad servicing, clothing and footwear production, etc. Upon liquidation its assets were split. The camp system was transferred to Dubravlag while the industries were reorganized into the Temnikovsky Industrial Combine of Gulag, which itself did not manage any camps, and later it was also merged into Dubravlag.
The Dubravny Camp, Special Camp No.3, commonly known as the Dubravlag, was a Gulag labor camp of the Soviet Union located in Yavas, Mordovia from 1948 to 2005.
Minlag or Mineralny Camp Directorate was an MVD special camp for political prisoners within the Gulag system of the Soviet Union. It was established on February 28, 1948 based on the Inta labor camp, Komi ASSR. In 1954, after Stalin's death it was reorganized into an ordinary Mineralny Corrective Labor Camp.
The Inta Corrective Labor Camp or Intalag was a forced labor camp of the Gulag, which existed between 1941 and 1948 near the town of Inta in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Prisoners at the camp were mainly engaged in the mining of local coal deposits.
The Korets–Landau leaflet, authored by the Soviet physicists Moisey Korets and Lev Landau in 1938, condemned the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the NKVD in response to the Great Purge in the Soviet Union.
Stalinist repressions in Azerbaijan were repressions carried out in the Azerbaijan SSR from the late 1920s to the early 1950s that affected not only the top leaders of Azerbaijan, but also the clergy, intellectuals, wealthy peasants, and the entire population of Azerbaijan. Repressions included shooting, arresting, sending to labor camps, and deporting the population to other regions of the USSR. People suspected of counter-revolutionary activity, espionage, anti-Soviet propaganda, or obstructing the nationalization of their property were persecuted.
Usollag, full name: Usolye Corrective Labor Camp was a Gulag forced labor camp established on February 5, 1938 and functioned after the dissolution of Gulag, until 1960. It was headquartered in Solikamsk, now in Perm Krai, Russia, and it had numerous "lagpunkts" in the northern parts of the then Molotov Oblast. Its main occupation was logging and associated industries. Its reported peak occupancy was 37,000 inmates on January 1, 1942.
Ustvymlag was a Gulag labor camp in the Soviet Union, Komi ASSR, with the headquarters in the village of Ust-Vym, later moved to Vozhayol. The full name is Ust-Vym Corrective Labor Camp. It was created from a detachment of Ukhtpechlag on August 16, 1937. After the dismantling of the Gulag system it remained a corrective labor camp of the Soviet penal system at least until 1958.