Gulag: A History Study Guide & Notes

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Gulag: A History is an account of the Soviet Russian Gulag labor camps during the twentieth century and discusses what life was like within the camps for prisoners. Applebaum makes extensive use of recently opened Gulag archives, memoirs, interviews, and other official documents to narrate this history.

The first section of the book describes the origins of the Gulag from the Bolshevik Revolution through the Great Terror of the late 1930's. During this time, forced labor camps were organized throughout the Soviet Union. These camps housed a wide variety of prisoners, from professional criminals to "kulaks" to "politicals." Leaders within the Soviet Union often used the camps as a way of eliminating political challengers—both real and perceived—and others who criticized the Soviet regimes. Prisoners were forced to participate in hard labor, often in large projects that were not well funded or thought out, including the White Sea Canal. In the...
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