Guards were poorly paid, equipped, and trained. An August 1945 report to Beriia contains the following description of Gulag guards:
The armed guards of many camps do not wear uniforms. They wear ripped shoes and tattered clothing. In the summer, they wear winter hats, wadded trousers, and quilted jackets. Their appearance is worse than that of the prisoners although the disciplinary rules of the Red Army apply to them.9
The proposal to Beriia: Make the armed Gulag guards a part of the NKVD Special Forces. The proposal was rejected because of the high cost and problems of mobilizing armed guards for the Gulag.10
Gulag guards worked long hours under generally miserable conditions in harsh climates. A March 1950 report stated that:
The work day of armed guards is excessively hard and, as a general rule, is 10 to 12 hours, and during the summer months longer. Their days off are irregular; their vacations are withheld and are granted primarily in the winter.11
A January 20, 1950, report to the head of the Gulag administration showed that the living conditions of guards had not improved: "In many divisions, the staff is miserly quartered, some in wagons, and some in heated huts.”12
Gulag guards had to stand guard under freezing conditions. According to Gulag folklore, prisoners would taunt guards manning watchtowers in freezing weather from their barracks: "Who are prisoners here? You or us?”
In one instance, a guard was electrocuted when he tried to attach a primitive stove to an electrical line. When his death was investigated, it was determined that forty-three guards had jerry-rigged primitive heating devices to electrical wires at their posts "without the permission of the commander.”13
Armed guards worked for little pay under difficult conditions, and, in many cases, they were forced into the job. It is therefore no wonder that morale and discipline were low. The Gulag administration prepared regular reports on disciplinary actions against its employees in the camp sector. On December 1, 1948, there were 276,661 employees working in the camps, the vast majority of which were guards. Of these 61,729 (22 percent) were fired or "left” in 1948. Of these, 13,003 left because of illness or age, but almost 20,000 were fired for violation of discipline, occupational crimes, etc. The report also shows that thirteen percent (36,521) of all camp employees as of 1948 had been indicted, arrested, demoted, or had reprimands placed in their records.14
Given the manpower shortages, those infractions that led to firing must have been very serious. Of those fired in 1948, 4,370 were fired by the central administration of the MVD.
World History
