Russian Wardens Throw Party For Stalin’s Gulag

Photo Credit: snowlepardMOSCOW (AP) — Millions of people died in Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s gulag, but the 75th anniversary of the founding of one of the notorious forced-labor camps was cause for a celebration in Russia.

Russian news portals reported Tuesday that local officials and prison wardens threw a party last week honoring the Usolsky camp in the Urals, with music and dancing and speeches by former camp guards.

The NKVD, the KGB predecessor which ran the gulag, “instilled traditions in the camp that still hold value today,” the Solikamsky regional department of Russia’s prison service said in a statement. These traditions included allegiance to the motherland, mutual assistance and respect for war veterans, the statement said.

Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers who had been captured by Nazi forces during World War II were sent to the gulag after the war

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