Who Went and Why

The Gulag's victims were staggeringly diverse. It didn't target one group — it consumed whole categories of Soviet society.

• Kulaks — farmers branded "class enemies" for owning a cow or hiring a helper; over 1.8 million were deported
• Article 58 prisoners — anyone accused of "counter-revolutionary activity," which could mean almost anything
• National groups — entire peoples deported, including Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans, and Koreans
• POWs — Soviet soldiers captured by Germany were sent to camps on their return, blamed for "allowing" their capture

During the Great Purge of 1936-38, the secret police worked to arrest quotas, and officers competed to fill them by seizing ordinary citizens.