Gulag

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/gulag

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the administrative body?Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagerey (Main Camp Administration)
2. What was the Gulag and why were people sent there?The Gulag was a network of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. People were sent there to isolate those the government saw as enemies and later to help build the country’s economy.
3. How were prisoners treated inside the Gulag?Prisoners worked very hard in freezing weather and ate only small rations. Guards sometimes beat them or cut their food as punishment.

Totalitarianism: A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial, exercising complete control over public and private life.
Political Repression: The act of a state or government using force or coercion to suppress opposition or control its population.
Human Rights: Fundamental rights and freedoms to which all human beings are entitled, regardless of their background or status.