Decision_about_sending_to_Soviet_special_camp

MVD special camps of the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

(, ''osobye lagerya'', osoblags) was a system of special

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

s established addressing the February 21, 1948 decree 416—159сс of the

USSR Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...

of February 28 decree 00219 of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs exclusively for a "special contingent" of

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s, convicted according to the more severe sub-articles of Article 58 (Enemies of people): treason, espionage, terrorism, etc., for various political opponents, such as

Trotskyists Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as a ...

, nationalists, and

white émigrés White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

, etc. It was forbidden to keep other types of convicts in these camps.Приказ МВД СССР № 00219 «Об организации особых лагерей МВД»
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History

Initially, in February 1948, five ''osoblag''s were established, nameless, numbered from 1 to 5. Later, they were given codenames, accordingly, Mineralny Минеральный ( Minlag), Gorny Горный ( Gorlag), Dubravny Дубравный (

Dubravlag The Dubravny Camp, Special Camp No.3 (), commonly known as the Dubravlag (), was a Gulag labor camp of the Soviet Union located in Yavas, Mordovia from 1948 to 2005. The Dubravlag was founded as one of several Gulag special camps in the Mordov ...

), Stepnoy Степной ( Steplag) and Beregovoy Береговой ( Berlag). Russian political prisoner and writer Georgy Demidov notices that this naming was arbitrary, unlike regular Gulag camps, which were commonly named after geographical features or major occupation.Georgy Demidov, "Без бирки" ("Without Tag"") in: "Чудная планета" ("Fancy Planet"), Moscow, Возвращение, 2008, , p. 132. Later the following ''osoblags'' were created: Rechnoy Речной ( Rechlag, August 1948), Ozyorny Озерный ( Ozyorlag/

Ozerlag Ozerlag (Озерлаг) was an MVD special camp (''osoblag No. 7'', ''osoby lager No. 7'') in the Soviet GULAG labor camp system for political prisoners. It was established in 1948 near Tayshet and included a chain of camp sites (''lagernye punkty' ...

, December 1948, Песчаный (), Луговой (), Камышовый (), Дальний (, distinguish from ), and Водораздельный (). In 1954, after the death of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, most of them were reorganized into regular corrective labor camps.Reference book ''Система исправительно-трудовых лагерей в СССР''
("The System of Corrective Labor Camps in the USSR") MVD special camps were places of the three largest Gulag uprisings: Norilsk uprising, Vorkuta uprising, and

Kengir uprising The Kengir uprising was a prisoner rebellion that occurred in Kengir ( Steplag), a Soviet MVD special camp for political prisoners, during May and June 1954. Its duration and intensity distinguished it from other Gulag rebellions during the same ...

Notes

References

{{reflist 1940s in the Soviet Union

History

See also

Notes

References