The Gulag system had always contained a number of foreigners, primarily foreign wives and communists. After 1939, the NKVD rounded up many individuals from Soviet-occupied countries. The authorities wanted to secure the areas and increase Sovietization in these areas. As a result, many Poles, Balts, Ukrainians, and others were arrested as political prisoners, which could mean just about anything. With these massive arrests, the Soviet authorities abandoned any pretense of legality, doing away with trials and sentencing altogether. They also began arresting and imprisoning minority groups within the Soviet Union who were targeted as potential German collaborators.
The deportation of some groups, such as the Chechens, was particularly brutal. Guards placed many in sealed transports with no food or water. Applebaum argues that these deportations could be referred to as "cultural genocide.".....
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