At the time of Iosif Stalin's death in March 1953, approximately 2.5 million people were incarcerated in Soviet Gulag camps and colonies administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), another 2.7 million were in “special settlements,” and roughly 150,000 were in regular prison. Out of a total population of 188 million in 1953, some 5.4 million, or 2.8 percent of the population, were under some form of confinement. (The proportion for the adult male population under confinement was significantly higher.) Some 22 percent of those in detention were held for “counterrevolutionary crimes.” By September 1958 more than 4 million people had been released from the Soviet Gulag camps and special settlements.
Miriam Dobson's book explores these dramatic developments and their implications, including the mass amnesties of 1953–1956. She analyses the experience of those who returned to Soviet society and the impact of the Gulag subculture, including camp songs, lingo,...