Secret Police and the Gulag System Flashcards

What was the NKVD?

The Soviet secret police that enforced Stalin's rule in the 1930s-40s.

What was the Gulag?

A network of forced labour camps run by the NKVD.

Who were sent to the Gulag?

Political prisoners, 'kulaks', criminals, and later prisoners of war and some national minorities.

Why did Stalin use the Gulag?

To punish enemies and to supply cheap labour for big projects.

Name one major project built with Gulag labour.

The White Sea-Baltic Canal or the Moscow-Volga Canal.

What were conditions like in many Gulag camps?

Harsh: hard labour, low rations, extreme cold, and high death rates.

How did the secret police get confessions for trials?

By using torture, threats, and long interrogations.

What does the term Yezhovshchina mean?

The 1937-38 terror led by NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov.

Where were many Gulag camps located?

Remote regions such as Siberia and the Arctic.

How did many arrests happen?

Often at night after someone informed on them; many had no fair trial.

Name one role of the NKVD during the Second World War.

They enforced discipline and deported groups seen as disloyal, like the Volga Germans.

What was the Cheka?

The first Bolshevik secret police, set up in 1917; later replaced by the OGPU and then the NKVD.

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