Part 2, Chapter 10: Life in the Camps—Summary

Within the Gulag system, life and work varied greatly between camps. By 1939, Beria had issued stringently detailed rules that were meant to increase the economic productivity of the camps. The regulations contained everything from how the barracks should look to what the prisoners' daily life should be like. Every prisoner was to be assigned a job, with a set of norms to fill. Not surprisingly, as in other areas of the Gulag system, these regulations were met in varying degrees.

The zona was the immediate area of the camp. Within this rectanglular area, bordered by a series of fences made from barbed wire, sat the barracks and dining hall. In order to reach the ­zona from the outside, prisoners had to pass through a guardhouse. Armed guards were positioned in high...