Production and terror: The operation of the Karelian Gulag, 1933-1939.
AbstractThis is the second of two papers surveying the origins, expansion and operation of the Karelian ‘special’ camp system between 1923 and 1939. Together, they aim to offer an extended and detailed case study of the development of the Gulag at regional level. In June 1933, the OGPU completed con...
| Published in: | Cahiers du monde russe |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | French |
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Éditions de l’EHESS
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4000/monderusse.8487 http://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/8487 |
| Summary: | AbstractThis is the second of two papers surveying the origins, expansion and operation of the Karelian ‘special’ camp system between 1923 and 1939. Together, they aim to offer an extended and detailed case study of the development of the Gulag at regional level. In June 1933, the OGPU completed construction of the Belomor Canal and established an extensive network of prison camps in central and northern Karelia and on the Kola Peninsula to exploit regional economic resources. The camp authorities envisaged the transformation of the Belomorsko-Baltiiskii Kombinat (BBK) into “a Urals-Kuznetsk Combine on a smaller scale.” The Soviet centre, however, refused to allocate sufficient funding to realise this vision, and the camp instead specialised in timber felling and processing. This paper first considers how the BBK regulated the lives and labour of its prisoner population in these activities, and how it interacted with the regional civil, party and security authorities. It then investigates the BBK’s role in the Great Terror of 1937-1938, which focused the camp on its core productive and repressive functions. In conclusion, it describes Beria’s efforts to rationalise and further retrench the camp’s operations on the eve of war. RésuméProduction et terreur : le fonctionnement du Goulag de Carélie, 1933-1939.Cet article est la seconde partie d’une étude portant sur les origines, l’expansion et le fonctionnement du système « spécial » des camps en Carélie entre 1923 et 1939 et visant à examiner de façon extensive et détaillée la question du développement du Goulag au niveau régional. En juin 1933, l’OGPU acheva la construction du canal Belomor et mit en place un réseau étendu de camps de détention dans le centre et le nord de la Carélie et sur la péninsule de Kola afin d’exploiter les ressources économiques locales. La direction du camp avait l’intention de transformer le Belomorsko-Baltijskij Kombinat (BBK) et d’en faire un « combinat Oural-Kuzneck en plus petit ». Cependant, le pouvoir central refusa d’allouer ... |
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