Map Of Concentration Camps In Soviet Russia

[Wlochy]: [S.n.], 1945. Original, vintage map. Surrounding text in English. Printed in black and shades of red. Folded. With a small tear of about 2 cm along the folding on the left edge. With two small brown stains on the back, unnoticeable on the front. In fine condition.. Original, vintage map. Surrounding text in English. Printed in black and shades of red. 495 mm × 695 mm.

The first appearance of a cold war map, documenting the Gulag, the Soviet concentration camp system.

The map was created by Polish military offıcers, Sylvester Mora and Pierre Zwierniak (pseudonyms for S. Starzewski and Kazimierz Zamorski), for their book, Sprawiedliwosc Sowiecka (Soviet Justice), published in Rome in 1945, that was one of the first books to include reports of prisoners about the forced labor camps in Soviet Russia. Besides Polish, the book was also published in Italian (Giustizia Sovietica) and French (Justice Sovietique). The map was possibly printed in English in order to be able to be used in all three language editions.

As a propaganda map, it shows the extent of the concentration camp systems of the Gulag that, according to the map, occupied half of the territory of the Soviet Union. On the right of the map, there is an explanatory text which states that besides the rich resources of raw materials, Soviet Russia owes its economic success "to the cheapest - because slavery - work of millions of prisoners". According to the same text, the map "was drawn up to the base of original Soviet documents and written statements from former prisoners, living in the years 1939-1942 in these 'correctional' labour camps". Below the map is "the schema of the organization", describing the particular industries and activities of each camp, while above the map "photographs of headings of Soviet documents from the camp authorities" can be seen.

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