Illness and Mortality

This chapter discusses the role of the Gulag medical-sanitation department. Their task was not necessarily to keep prisoners healthy, but to maximize exploitation and minimize “labor losses.” The Gulag routinely reported health data under the heading “illness and lost labor.” Inmate health was only relevant as it impacted production. The Stalinist leadership established quotas on illnesses and deaths, and would not tolerate large numbers of non-working prisoners. The Stalinist leadership called this “labor therapy,” and believed in work as the key to convalescence. Although sickness, emaciation, and disability were widespread, Gulag officials concealed their existence. In the Gulag, illness was widespread, yet it remained largely untreated, concealed, and even criminalized.