It is paradoxical that some prisoners - many of whom were falsely convicted - endured gruelling, barely survivable, lengthy terms of labor camp and prison and emerged maintaining their loyalty toward the system of government that was responsible for their imprisonment. With the materials that have become available, we can now begin to understand this phenomenon.  Explanations include the ‘traumatic bond’ (Stockholm Syndrome), Communism (the Party) as a surrogate for institutionalized religion, cognitive dissonance, and functionalism.
As we try to evaluate the issues surrounding the violence and misfortune wrought by leaders against their own people in the twentieth century, investigation of Gulag prisoners’ attitudes toward the Party should facilitate a deeper understanding of the dynamics of Soviet Communism, and perhaps even a deeper understanding of the dynamics of repressive regimes.  

Nancy Adler is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam. In her research, she focuses on the Soviet terror, the fate of Gulag returnees, coming to terms with the Communist past, and the institutional aftermath of mass victimization (transitional justice). Her books include The Gulag Survivor: Beyond the Soviet System (2002) and Victims of Soviet Terror: The Story of the Memorial Movement (1993).

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