Katorga

For the concept in the Soviet Union, seeKatorga labor (Soviet Union).

Removing of shackles: painting byAleksander Sochaczewski(1843–1923)

Katorga(Russian:ка́торга,IPA:[ˈkatərɡə];from medieval and modernGreek:κάτεργον,romanized:katergon,lit. 'galley') was a system ofpenal laborin theRussian Empireand theSoviet Union(seeKatorga labor in the Soviet Union).

Prisoners were sent to remotepenal coloniesin vast uninhabited areas ofSiberiaand theRussian Far Eastwhere voluntary settlers and workers were never available in sufficient numbers. The prisoners had to performforced laborunder harsh conditions.

History

Prisoners at anAmur Cart Roadcamp, between 1908 and 1913

Bashkirsconducting convicts to Siberia, painted byWilliam Allan,1814

Katorga,a category of punishment within thejudicialsystem of theRussian Empire,had many of the features associated withlabor-campimprisonment: confinement, simplified facilities (as opposed toprisons), andforced labor,usually involving hard, unskilled or semi-skilled work.

Katorga camps were established in the 17th century by TsarAlexis of Russiain newly conquered, underpopulated areas ofSiberiaand theRussian Far East—regions that had few towns or food sources. Despite the isolated conditions, a few prisoners successfully escaped to populated areas. From these times, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment, which was further enhanced by theSovietgulagsystem.

After the change in Russianpenal lawin 1847,exileand katorga became common punishments for participants in nationaluprisingswithin the Russian Empire. This led to increasing numbers ofPolessent to Siberia for katorga. These people have become known in Poland asSybiraks( "Siberians" ). Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Siberia.

The most common occupations in katorga camps wereminingandtimberwork. Another example involved the successful construction of theAmur Cart Road(Амурская колесная дорога).

In 1891Anton Chekhov,the Russian writer and playwright, visited the katorga settlements onSakhalinisland in the Russian Far East and wrote about the conditions there in his bookSakhalin Island.He criticized the short-sightedness and incompetence of the officials in charge that led to poor living standards, waste of government funds, and decreased productivity.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,in his book about the Soviet-era labor camps,Gulag Archipelago,quoted Chekhov extensively to illustrate the enormous deterioration of living conditions for inmates and the huge increase in the number of people sent there in the Soviet era, compared to the katorga system of Chekhov's time.

Peter Kropotkin,whileaide de campto the governor ofTransbaikaliain the 1860s, was appointed to inspect the state of the prison system in the area; he later described his findings in his bookIn Russian and French Prisons(1887).

Notable katorgas

• Nerchinsk katorga(Нерчинская каторга)
• Akatuy katorga(Акатуйская каторга)
• Algacha katorga(Алгачинская каторга)
• Kara katorga(Карийская каторга)
• Maltsev katorga(Мальцевская каторга)
• Zerentuy katorga(Зерентуйская каторга)
• Sakhalin katorga(Сахалинская каторга)

Famous katorga convicts

Georgian

• Joseph Stalinescaped twice, in 1902 and 1908, before being finally confined in a katorgaon theYenisei River1913–1917, finally being released at the time of theFebruary Revolution

Russian

• Aleksandr Nikolayevich Radishchev,author and social critic arrested and exiled underCatherine the Great
• AuthorFyodor Dostoyevsky,from 1849 until 1854, for revolutionary activity againstTsarNicholas I.
• Nikolai Chernyshevsky,from 1864 until 1872 fornarodnikrevolutionary activity.
• David Riazanov(1891–1895), a narodnik at the time and latter founder of theMarx-Engels Institute
• RevolutionaryVera Figner,a well-known political activist.
• Decembrists:initial verdict was 16 persons for termless katorga, 5 persons for 10 years, 15 persons for 6 years. After the trial, Tsar Nicholas I reduced the sentences; subsequent amnesties further shortened the terms.
• Fanny Kaplan,a Russian political revolutionary and attempted assassin ofVladimir Lenin.
• Sukhomlinov,a Russian former Minister of War, for abuse of power.
• Andrei Sinyavsky,a dissident author tried in the 1960s withYuli Daniel
• Nadezhda Sigida

Polish

Farewell to Europe,byAleksander Sochaczewski

Main article:Sybirak

• ChekafounderFelix Dzerzhinsky,imprisoned (and escaped) twice, in 1897 and 1900, for revolutionary activity.
• Aleksander Czekanowski
• Jan Czerski
• Benedykt Dybowski
• Bronisław Piłsudski
• Józef Piłsudski1887–92
• Piotr Wysocki
• Barbara Skarga1944–54

Ukrainian

• Poet and artistTaras Shevchenko,from 1847 until 1857, for revolutionary activity againstTsarNicholas I of Russia.
• LeadSovietrocket engineer during thespace race,Sergei Korolev,from 1938 to 1944.
• Nadia Smyrnytska
• Maria Kovalevska
• Maria Kalyuzhnaya

Soviet times

Further information:Forced labor in the Soviet Union

After theRussian Revolution of 1917the Russian penal system was taken over by theBolsheviks,who eventually transformed the katorga into theGulaglabor camps.

In 1943 the "katorga labor"(каторжные работы) as a special, severe type of punishment was reintroduced. It was initially intended forNazi collaborators,but other categories of political prisoners (for example, members ofdeported peopleswho fled from exile) were also sentenced to "katorga labor". Prisoners sentenced to "katorga labor" were sent to gulag prison camps with the most harsh regime, and many of them died.

See also

• Gulag
• Penal transportation

References

• P.Kropotkin,In Russian and French Prisons,London: Ward and Downey; 1887.

Further reading

• Daly, Jonathan W.Autocracy under Siege: Security Police and Opposition in Russia, 1866–1905(1998).

External links

• P.Kropotkin: In Russian and French Prisons