gulag

[ goo-lahg ]

noun

, (sometimes initial capital letter)

1. the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union.
2. a Soviet forced-labor camp.
3. any prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners.

Gulag

/ ˈɡuːlæɡ /

noun

1. (formerly) the central administrative department of the Soviet security service, established in 1930, responsible for maintaining prisons and forced labour camps
2. not capital any system used to silence dissents

gulag

1. A system of prison camps inside the former Soviet Union used for political prisoners. Under Joseph Stalin , millions of prisoners in these camps died from starvation and maltreatment. This system was given worldwide attention in the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn . Gulag is an acronym in Russian of the name meaning Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gulag¹

1970–75; < Russian Gulág, acronym from Glávnoe upravlénie ispravítelʾno-trudovýkh lageréĭ Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps

Word History and Origins

Origin of gulag¹

C20: from Russian G ( lavnoye ) U ( pravleniye Ispravitelno-Trudovykh ) Lag ( erei ) Main Administration for Corrective Labour Camps

Example Sentences

These institutions inherit many of their practices from the gulags, a network of forced-labor camps that stretched across the Soviet Union.

From Washington Post

Soviet leaders from Joseph Stalin onward wielded the gulags as a tool of political repression and exploited prison labor to kick-start the country’s industrialization and later build major infrastructure projects.

From Washington Post

The dam and reservoir were also built by gulag prisoners, who worked through the war to make sure the unfinished station could still power Moscow.

From MIT Technology Review

A former lover of Shostakovich, the writer Galina Serebryakova, disappeared into the Gulag camps.

From The Daily Beast

When I wrote the novel about the Gulag, House of Meetings, the name Stalin only appears in a footnote very early on.

From The Daily Beast

I am sure that no one in a Gulag or Kanz-lager would have turned their nose up at some fresh poultry.

From The Daily Beast

It was post-Stalin, and they were unthreatened by the gulag, but censored and surveilled.

From The Daily Beast

Inside of prison, even our privileged American prison, scarcity is just as much of an issue as it was in the Gulag.

From The Daily Beast

Gular suture: the line of division between the gulag or throat and the gene or cheeks.

From Project Gutenberg

They cruised into a private gate, away from the militarized gulag that fronted Miami International.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1974, after publishing Gulag Archipelago (about life in Soviet prison camps), the writer was exiled from his homeland.

From Project Gutenberg

Gulo-mental: includes the region covered by the gulag and mentum.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gas chamber
• gulag
• internment camp
• prison camp