Skip to Main Content

Gulag Town, Company Town: Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta

Online ISBN:
9780300206821
Print ISBN:
9780300179446
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Gulag Town, Company Town: Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta

Alan Barenberg
Alan Barenberg
Texas Tech University
Find on
Published:
26 August 2014
Online ISBN:
9780300206821
Print ISBN:
9780300179446
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

Gulag Town, Company Town examines the history of Vorkuta, an arctic coal-mining outpost that was built in the 1930s as one of the most notorious prison camp complexes in the Soviet Union. But Vorkuta was not just a camp; it was also a Soviet city, with a substantial non-prisoner population and urban spaces. This book questions the idea that the Gulag was an “archipelago” separated from Soviet society at large. Instead, it examines camp and city together, looking at the interrelationships between them. It demonstrates that borders between the inside and outside of the camp were permeable and contested, and a web of personal connections linked camp and city together. Such connections continued to play an important role during the post-Stalin period in Vorkuta, as they allowed ex-prisoners to navigate their transition to civilian life by relying on social networks that they had established while imprisoned. Based on archival research and oral history, Gulag Town, Company Town offers new interpretations of the relationship between the Gulag and Soviet society, and of the enduring legacy of forced labor in the Soviet Union.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close