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Probably because they were technically convicts from governments point of view, instead of outright slaves or someones property. I'm a bit surprised by 1954 as

Probably because they were technically convicts from governments point of view, instead of outright slaves or someones property. I'm a bit surprised by 1954 as the date, since it's pretty far from the original purges in the 30s, but not at all surprised by the find. The disappearances and summary judgements, resulting in either executions or the slow rot of the labor camps, are well documented. A person I know from that same town found a German gun folded in oiled cloth in his parents' ceiling when he was renovating. The building was built by German POWs.

CWuestefeld 11y ago
they were technically convicts from governments point of view This isn't entirely true. The work camps were powered by convicts, but also by putatively free exiles who had been sent there for a variety of reasons. And in some cases, convicts who had completed their sentences were technically freed, but not allowed to leave the camps anyway. Source: I'm currently reading "Gulag: A History" by Anne Applebaum. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224379.Gulag https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224379.Gulag
gcv 11y ago
A huge number of soldiers returning from the war had been handed 25-year (in most cases equivalent to life-long) sentences under the 58th article of the Soviet penal code (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_58_(RSFSR_Penal_Code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_58_(RSFSR_Penal_Code) — the Soviet Union officially had no political prisoners, only criminals). For the most part, their crime was contact with other Allied troops, so it was easy to accuse them of contact with the West, and eliminate any dangerous ideas they could have brought into the bright nation of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the heaven of the working man. These people would have been serving their sentences through the 1950s, and Khruschev's rehabilitation policies (far from popular in the Politburo) did not start until 1956.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 11y ago
  I know it was called the glorious proletariat, but I was wondering if the working men, proles, brought it about. I guess they didn't, but I am wondering how it all happened.
eveningcoffee 11y ago
They deported loads of people from occupied territories after end of war and releasing them only started around that time.

CWuestefeld 11y ago

they were technically convicts from governments point of view This isn't entirely true. The work camps were powered by convicts, but also by putatively free exiles who had been sent there for a variety of reasons. And in some cases, convicts who had completed their sentences were technically freed, but not allowed to leave the camps anyway. Source: I'm currently reading "Gulag: A History" by Anne Applebaum. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224379.Gulag https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224379.Gulag

gcv 11y ago

A huge number of soldiers returning from the war had been handed 25-year (in most cases equivalent to life-long) sentences under the 58th article of the Soviet penal code (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_58_(RSFSR_Penal_Code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_58_(RSFSR_Penal_Code) — the Soviet Union officially had no political prisoners, only criminals). For the most part, their crime was contact with other Allied troops, so it was easy to accuse them of contact with the West, and eliminate any dangerous ideas they could have brought into the bright nation of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the heaven of the working man. These people would have been serving their sentences through the 1950s, and Khruschev's rehabilitation policies (far from popular in the Politburo) did not start until 1956.

0xdeadbeefbabe 11y ago
I know it was called the glorious proletariat, but I was wondering if the working men, proles, brought it about. I guess they didn't, but I am wondering how it all happened.

eveningcoffee 11y ago

They deported loads of people from occupied territories after end of war and releasing them only started around that time.