Cathy Jedruczek

Just as the history of Germany would not be accurate if one did not talk about the Holocaust, the Soviet Union’s history is not complete if one does not focus on Stalin’s forced labor camps. However, for years, people in the Soviet Union as well as the outsiders were not aware of how extensive the labor camp system was and how harsh conditions were. Historians could not study Gulags because they had no direct access to the camps or written documents and the accounts of survivors provided only a sketch of what was really happening. The “iron curtain,” erected after the Second World War and separating the Soviet Union from the West during the Cold War, further delayed a thorough study of the Gulags.

The Gulags would not have existed if they were not Stalin’s idea. He needed obedient people to put his plan into practice, and so it was his subordinates, the administration, the commanders and the guards who arrested, interrogated and exploited the people of the Soviet Union. My grandmother, Marianna Mogielnicka, and her family were victims of Stalin’s terror. They were sent to Kazakhstan and worked in various camps for five years. In addition to enduring cold, hunger, and disease, my relatives’ lives were dependent on the commanders and guards. The prisoners’ daily routine cannot be fully grasped if one does not discuss the commanders and guards of the camps. The bosses of the Gulag, and the jailers who directly supervised the prisoners’ work, had total control over human lives. The administration of the Gulag made sure that the guards were cruel and vicious toward the prisoners. Bosses who were too lenient were replaced, and jailers who were kind to prisoners were often dismissed. Prisoners’ lives were in the hands of guards who ignored human suffering and treated people as machinery or tools, rather than living creatures. In order to get the picture of how the system functioned, one must understand the role the guards played in Gulags? To understand their function in the labor camps, I will discuss the structure of the Gulag, what characterized all guards, and how they treated prisoners.

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