1. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag Experience
Émilie Vézina and Tamara Belley

2. What do you know about Gulags already?

3. Did you know that Gulag is an acronym? Any ideas?

4. Overview Gulags Prisoners Secret Police Jospeh Stalin
Nikita Khrushchev
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Paintings of the Gulags

5. What is a Gulag?
Forced labour camp that imprisoned millions of people during the reign of Stalin
Kept the Soviet Union in constant fear and contributed to the economy
Took over all penitentiary institutions
Created by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky in 1917
Called Kontslagers in the beginning
Expanded and built in remote places when Stalin rose to power
in 1929
Operated from 1919 to 1960

6. What is a Gulag? Existed various types of Gulags - Labour camps
- Punishment and criminal camps
Imprisoned felons
- Robbers
- Murderers
Imprisoned enemies of the state
- Political enemies
- Minor crimes

7. Prisoner Work Worked 14-15 hours per day Tasked with:
-Manual harsh labour
-Cutting trees
-Mining
Fed poorly and did not receive proper work uniforms (often went with only rags on their feet)
Constructed the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal
prisoners participated from
-Used minimal tools
-Many died

8. Video - GULAG Perm 36 Soviet Prison Camp

9. Joseph Stalin – Ruthless Dictator
Born in 1878
Won over the Communist Party after the death of Vladimir Lenin
Became dictator in the 1929
Ruled a totalitarian state
Got rid of anyone that opposed him
Was ruthless and spread fear
Died in 1953
“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic” – Joseph Stalin

10. Secret Police Established the NKVD and the KGB
Arrested anyone they believed was guilty of a crime
Interrogated the guilty party for a short time
Enforced control in the Gulags and were responsible for administration
Tasked with torturing, beating, murdering and disposing of millions of people

11. The Khrushchev Thaw
Nikita Khrushchev took power after the death of Stalin
The period of destalinization occurred from
There was a slight positive change
The Secret Speech was delivered in 1956
There was a reduction in the size of the Gulags
One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was allowed to be published
-Written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
-The life in a Gulag is shown

12. Anatomy of a Gulag

13. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Born on December 11th, 1918 in Kislovodsk
Lived in Rostov on the Don during his childhood
Studied mathematics at Rostov University during the late 1930’s
Attempted to publish manuscripts in the 1930’s
Studied at the Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature in Moscow from
Became in charge of an artillery-position-finding company from
Worked in the front line until his arrest in 1945
Died on August 3rd, 2008 in Troitse-Lykovo

14. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Survivor
Arrested in 1945 on the East Prussian front by the Soviet spy agency
Had written letters to a friend that criticised Stalin
Sentenced to eight years in labour camps, never stayed very long in each camp
Moved timber, dug clay and suffered moral and spiritual breakdowns
Spent three years, starting in 1946, in Special Prison No. 16, in Moscow
Experienced hardship in a desolate penal camp in Kazakhstan in 1950
Exiled from after he served his term

15. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Author
Gained government publishing privileges from Khrushchev
Published One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
In 1964, cultural activities were restricted after the fall of Khrushchev
Forced to publish by underground means
Released Cancer Ward and The First Circle in 1968
Published The Gulag Archipelago in 1973

16. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Nobel Prize Winner
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970
Did not attend the ceremony in Stockholm
- Feared that he would not be readmitted to the Soviet Union when he returned
- People, in the Soviet Union believed that he received the award for anti-Soviet writings
Planned to be given the Prize at the Swedish embassy
Attempted to have a ceremony at his apartment
Stig Fredrikson eventually became his secret courier
- Helped to smuggle his Nobel Prize from the USSR
“For the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature".

17. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – The Gulag Archipelago
Published in 1973
Drew from his own experience and those of other prisoners and archives
Written in three volumes
Became a threatening piece of literature to some European countries
- Jean-Paul Sartre describes it as a “dangerous element”
Arrested and deported into exile in 1974
- KGB found manuscripts
- Was stripped of his citizenship

18. Nikolai Getman – Paintings of the Gulag
Escape
Eternal Memory in the Permafrost

19. Nikolai Getman – Paintings of the Gulag
Waiting to be Shot
Punishment by Mosquitoes

20. Interesting Facts
Many prisoners were released during World War II because they needed them to fight on the frontlines
In the 1930s, it was common for prisoners to graduate to a position of camp guard
Each camp featured Soviet propaganda, including images of the omnipresent Stalin
Once released, prisoners were often restricted to residency in the camp complex and were forced to work as free laborers on the same work as prisoners still serving
By the end of the 1930s, a Gulag could be found in each of Russia’s twelve time zones
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn outlived the Soviet Union by 17 years

21. Conclusion