IB History Course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

IB History Course - Essay Example In some instances, they were actually used as death camps by literally working people to death intentionally, while in other cases people simply died because of the heavy demands and harsh conditions. Entire ethnic groups and races, such as Jews and Polish workers, were sent to these harsh labour camps to work until they died or at least wished to themselves that they would die to escape their miserable fate (Britannica Online 2008, Conquest 1991, and Noble 1961). The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the true purpose of the Gulags under the rule of Stalin. The investigation will cover the development of the Gulags, how they were used for different purposes, what work people were made to do in them, who were put in the Gulags, and how many people died. An analysis of these sections should indicate the extent to which these camps were actually death camps rather than labour camps. Much of the research will come from the following sources: Gulag: A History, by Applebaum; The Great Terror, by Conquest; and Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, by Montefiorte. The conditions in the Gulags were horrendous and of slave proportions. People were allowed to wear very little clothing, if any, and it was in terrible shape. Many nude photos of prisoners slaving away in the camps exist today; all one has to do is perform a quick keyword search on the Internet (Applebaum, 2005). The labor that they were subjected to was extremely harsh compared to anything that would be seen today. For example, prisoners were made to lag around large boulders, work in areas where heavy things were likely to fall on them, haul large amounts of lumber, and much more back-breaking work. They were fed very little and their meager meals in combination with the hard labor they were performing led to them being very skinny and unhealthy (Applebaum, 2005). Many times, it became physically impossible for a prisoner to handle the exhaustive physical labor and he simply could not go on. These prisoners were often whipped or beaten to death because it was taken by those who ran the labor camp that the person was refusing to follow orders. Other punishments were dealt out to these individuals as well, including starvation and isolation (Applebaum, 2005). These labor camps appear to be quite similar to Hitler's concentration camps in which many Jews perished. The main difference appears to be that the labor camps were punishment (and death) camps for the unlawful, while the concentration camps were death camps for the Jewish. In both, people were herded to them by the thousands, forced to work beyond what their bodies could handle, and were punished or killed as a result. People were lined up and shot execution style. People were herded into gas chambers. Some were just worked in the harsh weather conditions until they just fell over dead. 2. Development of the Gulags Individual camps were grouped together in what were called camp complexes. It is estimated that at least 476 of these complexes existed. Within the complexes were somewhere between 100 to over 1,000 different camps. Some camps were considered to be worse than others, with the top three on that