Part 1, Chapter 2: The First Camp of the Gulag—Summary

Located in an old monastery, the Solovetsky concentration camp is commonly known among prisoners as the first camp of the Gulag. Although other camps existed during the early 1920's, and though forced labor was not a new concept in the prisons, Solovetsky was the first to organize forced labor into a system. The camp held various types of prisoners, including the politicals. The Soviet solution to dealing with the potential problems the politicals might cause was to give them what they wanted (books, writing materials, etc.) but to relocate them to the outer reaches of Soviet Russia in order to make it difficult for them to remain in contact with outsiders.

Living conditions for most prisoners at Solovetsky were harsh and primitive. Bunks were made of long, broad...