Child Mortality and Disease in Karlag, 1941: A Comparison of Prisoners’ and Free Workers’ Children

Abstract

The article analyses archived statistical data illustrating mortality rates for the children of female prisoners, as well as the children of free labourers in Karlag in 1941. For a comparative view of the problem of child mortality in the Gulag in 1941, the article uses data from two other camps in the Gulag system, Vyatlag and Bureilag. The general trends and differences in the mortality rates of the children of mothers who were prisoners, and mothers who were free labourers, were analysed. It appears that that the number of children in Karlag agricultural camp in 1941 was significantly higher than in forest and railway industry camps, and the overall mortality rate of children of imprisoned mothers was lower on average. Almost two thirds of the children who died in Karlag in 1941 were children of female prisoners. In addition, the morbidity of children of incarcerated mothers was much higher than that of the children of free labourers. The peak of the morbidity and mortality in Karlag was April 1941.