![]() While laden with racism, homophobia and other explicit slurs, slang functioned as a way to position inmates into different roles in the same way as other popular prisoner pastimes. Most often these words were entirely specific to the camp environment or criminal world, such as the term for ‘crowbar’. In Gulag prisoner society there were often multiple layers to prisoner slang, ranging from the most secretive to that also used by camp authorities. SlangĪnother vital skill for gang members was the use of various forms of prisoner slang, which had developed new meanings from that which had been used before the 1917 revolutions. (Credit: Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive/CC). The wrist manacle signifies a sentence of more than 5 years. Photograph of Gulag tattoo taken between 19. This helped to create a strict divide between prisoners with a background in the criminal underworld and those from other areas of society. ![]() Among the most stringent observers this often meant a refusal to perform labour duties which would result in many being sent to punishment cells.Īlthough individual groups developed their own more intricate and detailed sets of rules, these two main principles always remained central. Similar to other worldwide prison traditions, the most basic laws upheld by criminal gangs in the Gulag were opposition to camp authorities and hostility towards any fellow prisoners seen to be collaborating with them. Thieves’ LawĬrucial to the cohesion of criminal gangs was loyalty to the ‘Thieves’ Law’ which not only dictated their behaviour toward other prisoners but also helped to enforce internal discipline. Mark has looked at thousands of journals, song collections, tattoo drawings and slang dictionaries to reveal a hidden side of Gulag daily life Watch Now 2. Mark Vincent is an expert in criminal subculture and prisoner society in Stalinist Labour camps. Given the frequency of prisoner transfer and release, alongside high mortality rates, movement through the gang hierarchy was dependant on both respecting the hierarchy and mastering the following behavioural traits. Beneath this, a host of other recruits would look to perform menial and occasionally dangerous tasks to work their way up through the ranks. They were supported by lackeys known as Shestyorka (‘Sixer’), named after the lowest number in a Russian card deck. ![]() The leader of gangs in the Gulag was often referred to as the Pakhan (boss). It was extremely important for gangs to have a clearly defined hierarchy, with designated individual roles similar to wider criminal organisations such as the Sicilian mafia group Cosa Nostra. Here are 9 codes of the Gulag criminal underworld. The impact of the gangs became particularly prominent following the Second World War, when the overall prisoner population peaked at roughly two and a half million leading up to the death of dictator Josef Stalin in early March 1953. Images of tattooed, toothless and scarred criminal recidivists regularly feature in films and TV shows about the Stalinist Gulag.ĭescriptions of the horrific crimes of criminal gangs also fill the pages of memoirs written by former inmates imprisoned for suspected political crimes.Īs the system developed into a vast network of camps during the 1930s, the violent actions of criminal gangs would have far reaching effects on Gulag inmate society. ![]()
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