The conditions of life of prisoners in the Southern Kuzbass corrective labour camp of the USSR ministry of internal affairs in 1947-1950

The article examines the conditions of life of prisoners in the Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labour Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1947-1950. The camp was located in the south of Kemerovo Oblast in the Gornaya Shoria district. The main production task of the Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labour Camp was provision and transportation of wood. The reason for organizing the camp is a shortage of workers and a high demand for timber in Kemerovo Oblast. The purpose of the research is to study the living conditions, work and life of prisoners in this corrective labour camp. The sources for this publication are unpublished archival documents of the General Directorate for the support of the activities of the operational units of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Kemerovo Region and memoirs of former prisoners the Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labour Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs from the funds of the “Trehreche Museum-Reserve” of the Tashtagol municipal district”. According to the studied documents, the living conditions of the accomodation of prisoners in the corrective labour camp were not satisfactory. There were not enough houses (barracks) to accommodate them. People lived either in narrow rooms or in temporary summer premises or at the place of work (in the accounting, in the dining room, in the workshop). With the established norm of 2 m² per person in the Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labour Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, on average there were from 1.12 m² to 1.4 m² of living space. New houses (barracks) were built very slowly. Often they lacked furnaces for heating and glass. In some units of the camp, prisoners slept without bedding. The organization of food for prisoners in the corrective labour camp also had a number of shortcomings. There were no stationary kitchens. Often there was a lack of dishes, cooking robes, hubcaps, towels. Flour dishes prevailed in the prisoners ration. There was a lack of cereals, potatoes, vegetables and meat. In addition, there was a lack of clothing and shoes in the camp. Dryers for drying prisoners’ things did not work. It is concluded that the created unsatisfactory living conditions in the Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labour Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs contributed to the deterioration of the physical condition of prisoners and adversely affected the efficiency of production activities. About 30% of the prisoners were not involved in the logging and timber processing industry, which was the main activity of the forced labor camp. The camp management has repeatedly taken measures to improve living conditions, but periodic inspections of the camp units revealed the facts of unsatisfactory detention of prisoners.

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