Children's institutions in Karlag

The article discusses key aspects of the history of children's institutions and, first of all, children's homes, in the Karaganda СLС (Correctional labor camp) of the PCIA (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) of the USSR. The organizational and legal bases of the formation of the children's contingent in the Gulag camps have been revealed and characterized. Organization, structure and location of children's institutions in Karlag were determined. The number, composition and movement of the children's contingent, the nature and content of food and material provision, housing and living conditions, as well as medical and sanitary care and child mortality were covered. The causes and scale of child mortality were evealed and characterized. The dynamics of the number of children's institutions in Karlage were demonstrated. Quantitative and qualitative parameters of children's nutrition and food allowance were considered. The extremely low level of material and technical supply and the weak arrangement of homes for babies, the lack of caregivers and the lack of medical and sanitary services were emphasized. A wise assessment of the character and content of the daily practice of the functioning of the child's home was given. The opinions about the consequences for the Soviet society of the results of the “education” of children in children's homes were expressed