Gold and Forced Labour
The Camp Complex Dal’stroi
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The area along the river Kolyma is inextricably linked to forced labour. Under Stalinism, the industrial camp complex Dal’stroi exploited people, gold, and other raw materials. From 1931 until 1957, 876 043 people were incarcerated in Dal’stroi. At its peak, the complex made up a seventh of the Soviet Union’s territory. Administratively, economically, and politically, the camp enjoyed a special status. In their literature, Varlam Shalamov and Evgeniia Ginzburg bore witness to the wretchedness of forced labour there. The history of the gulag is inseparably connected to Dal’stroi.
(Osteuropa 2/2008, pp. 65–80)