KarLag memorial, Dolinka

KarLag memorial, Dolinka - darkometer rating : 7 - A memorial museum about the Soviet Union 's gulag system in the area of Karaganda, Kazakhstan , which had its headquarters here in the village of Dolinka. In addition to the heavily commodified new museum exhibition, there are a few authentic relics of the gulag, as well as a cemetery, also located in Dolinka. Together with the ALZHIR memorial near Astana , this KarLag memorial is one of the most essential dark tourism sites of its type in the whole of Kazakhstan and beyond. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: most people only associate the word gulag with Siberia. But in fact not only were there gulags in European Russia too, i.e. west of the Urals mountain range (see especially Perm-36 ), even more significantly: also to the south-east of the Urals, in Kazakhstan . Even some of the German inmates deported there after WWII , however, believed they were in Siberia! So you could be forgiven the same misconception … In fact the term "KarLag" is a sort of blend of 'gulag' and 'Karaganda' (more precisely: short for "Karagandinstky Lager") – the latter being the name of both the central province in the Kazakh steppe as well as that of its regional capital city. KarLag was not just one camp but a whole system of gulags, consisting mostly of various separate hard labour camps spread out over a huge area in the endless steppe. The type of forced labour the inmates had to perform ranged from the construction of roads, canals and other industrial infrastructure, even cultural palaces, to manufacturing of army uniforms and agriculture. At peak times up to 66,000 prisoners were held here, in hundreds of sub-camps.