gulag

American  

[goo-lahg] / ˈgu lɑg /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union.

2. a Soviet forced-labor camp.

3. any prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners.

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Gulag British  

/ ˈɡuːlæɡ /

noun

1. (formerly) the central administrative department of the Soviet security service, established in 1930, responsible for maintaining prisons and forced labour camps

2. (not capital) any system used to silence dissents

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gulag Cultural  

1. A system of prison camps inside the former Soviet Union used for political prisoners. Under Joseph Stalin, millions of prisoners in these camps died from starvation and maltreatment. This system was given worldwide attention in the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Gulag is an acronym in Russian of the name meaning Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps.

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Etymology

Origin of gulag

1970–75; < Russian Gulág, acronym from Glávnoe upravlénie ispravítelʾno-trudovýkh lageréĭ Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps

Compare meaning

How does gulag compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gulag vs. concentration camp

Explanation

In the 20th century, the gulag was a system of Russian camps where political prisoners were sent to do forced labor. Officially, the last gulag closed in the 1950s. During the regimes of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union used gulags across the country to imprison political enemies. The entire system was known as the Gulag, an acronym from Russian that roughly translates to "Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps." Each individual prison camp was also referred to as a gulag. Some historians estimate that 14 million people were forced to labor in gulags, some for crimes as petty as joking about the Soviet government.

Example Sentences

Historians debate how many people moved through the Soviet gulag, whether it was 18 million or 20 million people in more than two decades who went through that system.

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2026

As dark as the novel becomes, “the real darkness of the gulag there was so bleak that I had to cut it out,” the author has said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

They included 2003's I Am David, about a boy who escapes a gulag in Bulgaria, and the comedy Bringing Down the House, starring Steve Martin, from the same year.

From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025

As his life was contracting and he was existing in this gulag in these very hellish conditions, my life was expanding and all these wonderful things were happening.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2024

Gulo-mental: includes the region covered by the gulag and mentum.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.

Related Words

• gas chamber
• internment camp
• prison camp