sites. Under a secret declaration, no prisoners were released from
these camps; rather they were exiled to the Kolyma River area in
northeastern Siberia.
At the time of Stalin’s death in 1953, 2.5 million Soviet citizens
were in the camps and another 2.75 million lived in enforced exile.
Life in the camps during the Stalin era was Hobbsean: at least 2.5
million died of hunger and overwork in the camps between 1930 and
1953, and the real figure may be twice that. While prison labor was
available as long as the Stalinist terror continued, it was by all ac-
counts expensive and inefficient. In 1952 gulag projects used ap-
proximately 10 percent of the capital construction budget of the So-
viet Union, but many projects were unfinished or abandoned. Most of
the industrial and mining enterprises run by labor camps were trans-
ferred to industrial ministries in 1953 within six months of Stalin’s
death. The post-Stalin leadership cancelled many of the major proj-
ects, such as the canal between the Volga and Don rivers.
Following Stalin’s death, the Soviet Union used labor camps for
criminal and political convicts. Between 1955 and 1987, 10,000–
15,000 political offenders passed through the camps, as well as thou-
sands of religious believers who refused to conform to Soviet law.
While these camps were not as brutal as those of the Stalin era, a
number of political and religious dissidentsdied of overwork and
medical problems.GVISHIANI, MIKHAIL MAKSIMOVICH (1905–1966). After join-
ing the Red Army at 16, Gvishiani entered the OGPUin 1928. Like
other Georgians in the security service, Gvishiani rose quickly after
Lavrenty Beriamoved to Moscow. Gvishiani was posted to the So-
viet Far East in 1938, where he remained for almost a decade. He
took part in the deportationof the Chechen people, reportedly or-
dering mass executionsof the old and infirm, according to a recent
study. During Red Army operations against Japan in 1945, he was
decorated for success in repatriating Manchurian industrial plants to
the Soviet Union. In 1945 he was promoted to lieutenant general.
In August 1953 Gvishiani seemed in deep trouble. His patron and
boss, Beria, had fallen and was destined for execution. But although
Gvishiani was removed from the MGB, he never was arrested and
apparently he kept his rank. He was married to the daughter of Com-110 •GVISHIANI, MIKHAIL MAKSIMOVICH (1905–1966)06-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 110