On Thursday, March 5, 2026, 73 years were completed since the death of Joseph Stalin. In an article we published a year ago (6/3/2025), titled “Joseph Stalin: The unknown facts of his life, the mass purges in the CPSU and his dramatic end,” we referred extensively to Stalin’s death. Today we intended to deal with an “institution,” the Gulags, which are closely connected to the Stalinist regime. However, the publication by Mr. Ioannis Bougas of the testimony of a young Greek woman in 1953—who after the civil war had found herself in the “Community” of Kostas Loules in Florika, Romania—about how Stalin’s death was received by the Greek political refugees there, truly impressed us and we thought to start from that.
This is the personal testimony of Eirini Damopoulou presented by Mr. Bougas (whom we warmly thank for giving us permission to republish this story). The testimony, along with other interesting information, appears in the book by Ioannis K. Bougas “The Voice of Eirini” (Erōdios Publications, 2006).
Mourning and lamentation by Greek refugees in Romania over Stalin’s death and six months (!) of mourning – The poem by Yannis Ritsos for Stalin’s death
The testimony of Eirini Damopoulou follows. She was held with her younger brother and their mother in the Community of Kostas Loulés in Florika, Romania. She describes how the communists presented Stalin’s death on 5/3/1953 to the children of the Paidomazoma (the wartime removal of children) and their hostage parents:
“…When Stalin died—I think it was in 1953—everything stopped at the school and the KKE community in Florika. Those in charge behaved as if the greatest disaster had struck us. The teachers at school, as soon as they learned of Stalin’s death, dismissed us immediately. But before allowing us to leave the school they put a black armband on each of us.
As we returned to our room, unfortunately our mother was there as well. ‘Why did you leave school?’ she asked us.
‘What are those things you’re wearing?’
‘Our Father Stalin died!’ my little brother quickly answered her.
‘Ah, the dog died,’ my mother said.
At that moment my little brother became furious. He opened the window of our room and started shouting:
‘Listen, listen to what my mother said! She called our Father Stalin a dog—the fascist! Kill her! She’s a fascist! I don’t want her as my mother!’
Hearing my little brother shouting, I was completely terrified. ‘Who will hear him?’ I thought, ‘and what trouble will my mother get into again?’
Crying and pleading, I finally convinced my brother to stop shouting. Being the older one, I was truly afraid they would take my mother back into isolation again as a “reactionary.” The mourning at the school and the Community for Stalin’s death lasted six months.”
(“The Voice of Eirini,” Ioannis K. Bougas, ERŌDIOS Publications, 2006)
As is also well known, our great poet Yannis Ritsos (1909–1990) did not want to believe that Stalin had died. When he learned of it, he wrote the following poem:
“No. It is not true. It is not true.
Stop the bells then. Stop them.
Joseph Stalin has not died. Stalin is present at his global post. Stalin raises on the battlements of the five continents the flags of peace. Stalin prepares with the scattered flour of the world a perfectly round loaf of health.
Stop the bells then. Stop them.”
Gulags: an “institution” closely connected with Stalin
We have dealt with Joseph Stalin in several articles. After all, he was a dominant figure in world history for many years. We have also briefly referred to the Gulags, whose “operation” began in 1918–1919. In the 1920s the Gulag system spread rapidly and at least 100,000 people were “hosted” in them. Gradually their population grew while their number increased. A key role in the operation of the Gulags was played by the notorious Lavrentiy Beria, head of the NKVD secret service, who ensured that dissidents were sent to the Gulags.
But what exactly were the Gulags? In the archives they appear as GULAG, an acronym for the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel’no-trudovykh LAGerei), a bureaucratic entity of the Soviet security service. Stalin’s secret police had various names: the Unified State Political Directorate (OGPU), the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Thus, the Gulag was a state agency managing the system of forced-labor camps (called reformative or corrective labor under the Soviet regime). Eventually the name remained in history to designate the camps themselves (or exile settlements according to some historians).
Incidentally, the Gulag administration also managed transit camps—where after 1941 Soviet soldiers captured by the Germans were also imprisoned—prisoner-of-war camps, prisons, corrective colonies, etc.
The Gulags were unknown in the West until 1973, when the Nobel laureate (1970) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) caused worldwide sensation with The Gulag Archipelago, and the term “Gulag” became synonymous with the Soviet system of forced labor camps. About 25 years ago some Soviet archives opened and information about the Gulags emerged.
The Greek-American historian Golfo Alexopoulos, professor of history at the University of South Florida and director of the Institute of Russian, European and Eurasian Studies at the same institution, wrote in 2017 the book Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag (Yale University Press). The book was published in Greek in 2023 under the title “Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag” (Kastaniotis Publications).
From this 410-page book (+50 pages of references and index) it is impossible to present all the data. We will mention some key points and several others that particularly impressed us: the terrible treatment of women in the Gulags, the tragic sanitary conditions, and finally—perhaps most important—the high mortality rates in the camps. Soviet reports mentioned mortality from 1–2% to 5–6%. However, it was much higher.
Studying the Gulags through new evidence
Survivors often referred to the Gulags as “death camps.” However, early archival findings by historians revealed strong emphasis on labor productivity, convictions for prisoner mistreatment, frequent releases of prisoners, and low mortality rates. Thus the prevailing view until recently was that they were not camps designed for systematic extermination. In reality, things were very different.
The leadership of the secret police (OGPU, NKVD, MVD) and the Gulags claimed that surveillance of enemies of the state was the camps’ most important function. Before and after World War II, according to officials, the goal of the Gulags was “the isolation of particularly dangerous counter-revolutionaries and other criminal offenders from the rest of society” and, secondarily, “re-education through productive, socially useful labor.” The official directive of the secret police focused primarily on punishing deviants.
According to Golfo Alexopoulos and new evidence, the essential purpose of the Gulags was violent human exploitation. The system of exploitation during Stalin’s years was unchanging, punitive, and increasingly brutal. Prisoners under Stalin were to be used to the fullest and work until complete exhaustion.
A Gulag commander in the early 1930s wrote:
“We must squeeze everything out of the prisoner in the first three months—after that we no longer need him.”
In a 1941 letter to Lavrentiy Beria, another camp commander wrote:
“Our job is to squeeze (vyzhat’) the camp population and obtain from them the maximum amount of usable products.”
Official Soviet documents describe a system of norms that imposed extreme physical exploitation and systemic starvation on prisoners, who were often treated like ancient slaves.
The Russian writer and journalist Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov, exiled in Siberia for 17 years, described conditions in his major work Kolyma Tales:
“Hungry and exhausted, we were harnessed into a horse collar. Blood blisters formed on our chests as we dragged a cart loaded with stones along the sloping floor of the mine. The harness was the same method used long ago by the ancient Egyptians.”
The history of the Gulags in the USSR
Forced labor and exile as criminal punishment had existed for decades in Tsarist Russia. The Bolsheviks continued this practice and adapted it to new conditions.
Lenin first created “concentration camps” in 1918 for opponents of the new regime. Stalin, who succeeded him, renamed them “corrective labor camps.” A turning point came in 1929, when Stalin—due to collectivization—decided to crush the kulaks. Hundreds of thousands were sent to Gulags.
Gradually industrial workers, artists, and intellectuals disliked by the regime also passed through the Gulag gates. The Soviet leadership aimed to exploit the country’s rich natural resources through Gulag prisoners, achieve industrial development, and profit from gold, platinum, nickel, timber, and coal reserves.
Stalin wanted the camps to be self-sustaining and profitable. When prisoners could no longer work, the system did not support them. This became evident during World War II when weakened and emaciated prisoners increased dramatically.
After 1949, with Stalin’s order to intensify prisoner labor, even more weakened prisoners were forced into heavy work while receiving fewer resources for survival. Data showed that 60% were seriously ill and emaciated, capable only of very light work—yet all were forced to work.
To reduce mortality statistics, authorities used a tactic: releasing prisoners who were about to die. Thus, although essentially dead, they died outside the Gulags, immediately after “release.” Official mortality figures of 1–6% were therefore highly misleading.
Sanitary conditions: Τhe terrible toilets and diseases
Hygiene conditions in Gulags were unacceptable. Most camps lacked proper water supply and sewage systems. Bacterial infections were widespread. There was no quality drinking water.
There were no proper toilets or sewage. Prisoners used buckets or containers for bodily needs. Some external huts without sanitary equipment served as toilets. This often created “feces burial points within the zone,” leading to bacterial infections and gastrointestinal diseases.
Typhus and pneumonia were common. In the Solovki camp (established in 1923 on the Solovetsky Islands), 25,552 typhus cases were recorded in 1929–1930.
Another disease responsible for thousands of deaths was pellagra, caused by vitamin B3 (niacin) deficiency. Without treatment or improved nutrition, patients died—exactly what happened in the Gulags.
Murderers and rapists in the Gulags
Habitual criminals (ugolovniki) were also held in Gulags. According to Shalamov, robbers, murderers, and rapists formed groups with their own customs, tattoos, and violent behavior. They barely worked. They received the best food and often acted as informal guards, beating and torturing political prisoners on orders from camp authorities.
Their percentage initially ranged from 10–15%, rising to 23% in 1939, and later dropping to 5% by 1952.
Women who deliberately became pregnant and children dying of hunger
There were Gulags for women, women with children, and children’s homes. Children were considered unprofitable because they provided no labor and required more food. Authorities often allowed them to fall ill, starve, and suffer neglect.
In 1948, nearly one-third of children in Gulag children’s homes died from pneumonia, tuberculosis, and dysentery. As Alexopoulos writes:
“Children cost money, so officials preferred to get rid of them.”
Women prisoners also faced severe problems. Initially assigned lighter work, after World War II they performed the same heavy labor as men (for example in quarries). Some deliberately became pregnant to escape hard labor for a few months.
In 1949, there were 500,000 women in Gulags. Among them were 9,000 pregnant women and 24,000 mothers of small children. The central Gulag administration (under Beria) considered pregnancy days “lost workdays.” Camp commanders therefore pressured pregnant women and mothers to return quickly to work.
Some, unable to bear the pressure, performed dangerous abortions inside the camps. Many died.
Over 30% mortality – at least 6,000,000 dead
The Soviet leadership claimed mortality rates of 1–6% in Gulags. Official incomplete data mention 1.5–1.7 million deaths.
After thorough research, Golfo Alexopoulos concluded that of the 18 million people who passed through Gulags, at least 6 million died either inside the camps or as a result of their imprisonment.
Thus mortality exceeded 30%, while Soviet authorities—even in their highest estimates—referred to only 8%.
Many men, unable to endure conditions, even self-mutilated to be released.
The end of the Gulags
After Stalin’s death in 1953 and the rise of Nikita Khrushchev, the dismantling of the Gulag system began. By the summer of 1953 1.5 million prisoners (about 60%) had been released.
Disabled and weakened prisoners were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Soviet Ministry of Social Security. Gradually, the slave-labor workforce was freed or reassigned. Camps thereafter held mainly counter-revolutionaries or enemies of the state.
The Soviet regime managed to keep the Gulags secret until 1973, when Solzhenitsyn published The Gulag Archipelago.
Their remote locations across the vast USSR, the ban on contact with the outside world, and practices such as trains transporting prisoners stopping in uninhabited areas so citizens would not see them packed in wagons—all contributed to keeping this brutal system hidden.
Epilogue
If all Gulag archives ever open, even more shocking details will surely come to light. Golfo Alexopoulos’s book contains many more documented facts with hundreds of references.
We believe we have provided a clearer picture of the Gulags. Many people had heard of them and imagined certain things, but probably few knew the details described above. If the great poet Yannis Ritsos had known them, he probably would not have written that poem for Stalin’s death—and the little boy in Florika might not have cried so bitterly for the “Father” who had died.
Source: Golfo Alexopoulos, Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag, Kastaniotis Publications, 2023.
Special thanks to Mr. Ioannis Bougas for his valuable assistance.
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