Arrested and Detained (03:51)

FREE PREVIEW

Vanda Sosnor loved living in Moscow and hoped to become an opera singer. "Black Marias" escorted her to Lubianka prison; her husband was charged with espionage.

Lubianka Prison (03:09)

Natalia Voinova letter to Joseph Stalin complaining about the local government resulted in her arrest. The secret police would shoot individuals caught looking into the yard. Voinova witnessed her mother's collapse.

Communists in South Africa (02:09)

Joe Glazer's father helped the Soviets industrialize South Africa. Authorities arrested him without provocation and forced a confession.

Interrogation Tactics (04:46)

The secret police would not allow prisoners to sleep or eat until they confessed to crimes. Genrich Goltsin invented a story to trick those he interrogated into signing the document.

Lubianka Headquarters (03:04)

A member of the secret police accosted Eleonora Glazer after taunting her for marrying a foreigner. Joe served ten years for attempting to assassinate Stalin. Cameras captured life in Moscow.

Butovo Firing Range (06:02)

Lev Yakovlev would sneak under the barbed wire to pick berries. Fiodor Kraionov transported prisoners to the military zone. Rumors circulated that prisoners suffocated in the trucks.

Butovo Murders (04:14)

Researchers found mass graves filled with human remains. Kraionov did not question the use of an excavator 24 hours a day at the firing range. Prisoners were not informed of their destination.

Book of the Dead (06:00)

Flora Khakimova's father was executed at Butovo Firing Range. The state informed children of prisoners that they were to be educated and must renounce their parents. Khakimova was sent to a children's asylum.

Ninth Fort (06:00)

Joanna Murikieni's parents knew she would be transported. Prisoners began to sing when they were forced to kneel in front of the medical institute. Afterward, they marched to wooden cattle trucks for transport to Norilsk.

Prison Trains (04:48)

Many people died in Norilsk. Prison cars joined goods trains heading to Siberia. Forced-labor camps existed on both sides of the tracks; gourds allocated each prisoner less than three feet of space.

Russian State Archive (02:57)

The gulag's main departments included road building, railway building, airport construction, and documents from the General Directorate of Camps. Specialist research and development camps held famous scientists who designed innovations.

Forced Resettlement (07:20)

Tartars were deported to Stone Lambs, Uzbekistan. Trains transported individuals to Tashkent and the Ural Mountains. Famine struck and the village became a prison.

Warden Memories (04:04)

Danzig Baldaev drew images from notes he made in a secret code. At a camp in Khabarovsk, the strain of hard labor forced many women to experience uterine prolapse. Prisoners were treated like merchandise.

Credits: Gulag: Episode 2 (00:55)

Credits: Gulag: Episode 2