Attitude of NKVD Employees and Industrial Workers towards Prisoners of Filtration Camps (1941–1945)

Abstract

This article examines relations between workers of the NKVD inspection and filtration camps and civilian workers, with Red Army servicemen who had returned from captivity and encirclement. Taking into account the achievements and problems in anthropological studies of penitentiary institutions, the nature of their interaction and the external factors influencing it are analyzed: the independence of organs filtering from the camp administration, the duality of the status of prisoners and their regime of detention, and the ambiguity of propaganda. Influence was also divided: some prisoners stood out from the mass of camp administration and could count on a better attitude; the appearance of “collaborators” led to greater stigmatization and to increased confidence in former prisoners. The closest contact was with ordinary prison guards, often recruited from those who had successfully passed filtration. Relations between them often were not conflicting, but mutually beneficial. This analysis shows the importance of factors rarely taken into account when describing jailers whose position is close to prisoners themselves. The command posts held in the camps could show sympathy for former prisoners and open hostility, which indicates the high importance of personality factors. Business leaders and rank-and-file workers could consider former prisoners to be future cadres and full citizens, but others showed neglect and aggression, to the detriment of fulfilling production plans, which shows the strong influence of propaganda. Thus, it is impossible to identify one main factor that determined attitude towards those who entered the camps. In various situations, the behavior of security guards and workers manifested both determinism in external conditions and free will.