Notorious Russian gulag gets 75th anniversary party

From left to right: Vorochilov, Molotov, Stalin and Nikolai Iejov aka Nikolai Yezhov, pose at the shore of the the Moscow-Volga Canal, in 1937. Yezhov was the senior figure in the NKVD (the Soviet secret police) under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. After Yezhov was tried and executed he vanished between 1939-1991 from this image. The Moscow Canal, named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast. It was constructed from the year 1932 to the year 1937 by Gulag prisoners during the early to mid Stalin era. / AFP/GettyImages

MOSCOW Millions of people died in Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's gulag, but the 75th anniversary of the founding of one of the notorious forced-labor camps was cause for a celebration in Russia.

Russian news portals reported Tuesday that local officials and prison wardens threw a party last week honoring the Usolsky camp in the Urals, with music and dancing and speeches by former camp guards.

The NKVD, the KGB predecessor which ran the gulag, "instilled traditions in the camp that still hold value today," the Solikamsky regional department of Russia's prison service said in a statement. These traditions included allegiance to the motherland, mutual assistance and respect for war veterans, the statement said.

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Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers who had been captured by Nazi forces during World War II were sent to the gulag after the war.

"So hard were the times in which the Usolsky camp was founded, so heavy were the burdens it overcame!" Sergei Yerofeyev, deputy chairman of a committee for retired prison wardens, said in the statement. The camp was founded in 1938, a year when the NKVD executed hundreds of thousands of people for "political crimes" and sent millions more to the gulag.

"What bravery its directors displayed over that time, so that the institution could stand tall and successfully complete its production and social tasks," Yerofeyev added.

Usolsky camp held from 10,000 to 30,000 prisoners at any given time, including those convicted of "counter-revolutionary activity" and other political crimes. More than 16 percent of prisoners there died of malnutrition and overwork, one of the highest rates in the gulag.

Many political prisoners were freed after Stalin died in 1953. The Usolsky camp transferred its remaining political prisoners in 1955 and was closed in 1960.

[SL-Mania]

Josef Stalin's interest was to keep powers in his hand.That's all.
He wasn't interested in Russian People at all. He was as a notrious dictator as Hitler.

[ppatwick]

Soldiers in my company, 'C' 1/72 Armor, 2nd Inf Div. (Korea) held a Ted Nugent record smashing party in 1972. Anyone who smeared their bodies with their excrement in order to escape the draft was held in total disregard by we G.I.s. Nugent is the perfect example of the republican mindset.

[socialismisevil]

obammaammamaaa

[ppatwick]

The original picture has more characters than the one shown. Soviet artists purged, purged Russians, thereby 'liquidating' them totally. Their children became orphans, the older children were also liquidated with their parents - all for the "good" of Stalin & the "Party".

[WildPainter]

My father and many members of his family were interned in the Gulag. How can these people celebrate the horror and nightmare that they created. My father was among the fortunate in that he, along with ten men managed to escape, though only five survived. When I met with my aunt and uncle 15 years after their release they could not speak of their experience without breaking down into sobs. It is inhuman for the Russian officials to celebrate the harm and evil that they perpetrated.

[quincytodd]

Although he gets no credit from the West, Nikita Khrushchev was responsible for closing down many of these camps through his destalinization process. He liberated many people and eased harsh laws. This also alienated him from the Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung.

[ppatwick]

Most 'Western countries' fail to tell the truth about these dark events as hatred became common during the Cold War. The "facts" we receive from western journalism lacks two things; Truth & Depth.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

There is nothing Democratic, Republican, socialist, communist, royalist, fascist or any other political doctrine when it comes to Stalin. He was simply a perverted pig who wasn't the first sociopath to lead, and unfortunately won't be the last. Living in Ukraine for a year, I was surprised to see how many older folks respected and missed Stalin, for they felt society was generally safe and orderly under his rule, especially since Stalin received all the credit for saving Russia from the Nazis. It serves a good lesson when looking at our own government, for abuse always starts as seeming to be the "right thing to do".

[cleric77]

O the glories of an amoral socialistic government!

[ppatwick]

You forget Nixon!