Book Talk: "Gulag Town, Company Town Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta"
What was the relationship between the Gulag and Soviet society? What was the legacy of Stalin's massive system of forced labor? This talk explored answers to these questions using the case of Vorkuta, one of the Soviet Union's most notorious prison camp complexes. Built in the 1930s and 1940s to house the USSR's most dangerous criminals, the city would become a Soviet coal mining company town in the decades following Stalin's death. Vorkuta's story reveals new insights about the place of the Gulag in Soviet society and the system's legacy in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.
For more information about the book please see Yale University Press.
Event Sponsors
Speakers
Associate Professor, History and Art History, George Mason University
Hosted By
Kennan Institute
The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange. Read more
History and Public Policy Program
A global leader in making key archival records accessible and fostering informed analysis, discussion, and debate on foreign policy, past and present. Read more
Polar Institute
Since its inception in 2017, the Polar Institute has become a premier forum for discussion and policy analysis of Arctic and Antarctic issues, and is known in Washington, DC and elsewhere as the Arctic Public Square. The Institute holistically studies the central policy issues facing these regions—with an emphasis on Arctic governance, climate change, economic development, scientific research, security, and Indigenous communities—and communicates trusted analysis to policymakers and other stakeholders. Read more