Cilka's Journey

The primary setting of Cilka’s Journey is Vorkuta Gulag, a forced-labor camp within the Soviet Gulag system. The Gulag System was a network of forced-labor camps created by Lenin, reaching its peak under Stalin. Prisoners in this system came from a wide range of criminal backgrounds, from petty criminals to political prisoners, many of whom were convicted by an unfair justice system. Eighteen million people passed through the Gulag system between 1929 and 1953, and an estimated six million died. The camps spread across the entire Soviet Union, but most were in the far north and east. Once released, prisoners often stayed near the camps, founding towns and cities. These towns and cities included a complex network of roads, railways, dams, and factories.

Vorkuta Gulag, the labor camp where the Soviets send Cilka in the novel, sits 99 miles above the Arctic Circle and was established in 1931 for its coal deposits. By 1939, over 15,000 prisoners were working in the camp. When Cilka arrived in 1946, the inmate population was 62,700. Vorkuta is considered one of the largest and most brutal camps in the Gulag system, with two million prisoners going through it between 1931 and 1957. Of that two million, 200,000 prisoners died. The living conditions for the administrators and guards were luxurious, especially in comparison to the rest of the Soviet Union, but the living conditions for the prisoners were horrific, especially in terms of the cold and the smell. Both men and women worked manual-labor jobs for 10 hours a day. Although the men’s and women’s camps were separate, rape was still prevalent, and male inmates often kept servants or mistresses. Ten months out of the year, the cold was a significant factor in camp life, and mining accidents were frequent. In the brief summers, the relative lack of cold led to insect infestations. As mentioned in the novel, an uprising in Vorkuta occurred between July and August 1953, in which workers went on strike to try to improve their working conditions. The strike changed little but left 66 inmates dead. The Gulag officially closed in 1962, and 40,000 people live around the prison today.