On 3-4 November 2011 in the conference room at Grand Hotel in Łódź (ul. Piotrkowska 72) an international scientific conference was held entitled "The Soviet system of concentration camps and prisons. The form of political repression in Central and Eastern Europe in the first half of the 20th century". The participants included researchers from Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Hungary. The aim of the conference was both a general summary of research on the Soviet prison system in the years 1922-1953, as well as the exemplification of this problem in depth discussion on single camps, prisons and examples of the organisational system.
The conference has been organised by the Łódź Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance.
Media patronage: „Rzeczpospolita”, „Nasz Dziennik”, „Focus Historia”, „Dziennik Łódzki”, Polska Agencja Prasowa, TVP3 Łódź, TV TOYA, Radio Łódź, portal Dzieje.pl.
Conference programme:
3 November 2011
12.00-12.30 - beginning of the conference
12.30-14.00 - papers
Prof. Galina Iwanowa (Russian Academy of Sciences)
Conditions of detention of political prisoners in the USSR. Legal basis and reality
Dr Meelis MARIPUU (Estonian Institute of Historical Memory)
Characteristics of the Soviet prisons and camps in Estonia during 1940-1950
Edita Jankauskiene (Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania)
Citizens of Lithuania - Gulag prisoners
14.00-14.30 - discussion
14.30-15.30 - break
15.30-17.00 - papers
Dr. Bogusław Kopka (Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw)
Polish Gulag 1944-1956. Statistical Perspective
Prof. Albin Głowacki (University of Łódź)
Subordination, functions, and types of NKVD camps for Polish prisoners of war (1939-1941)
Prof. Vadim Zolotariow (University of Kharkov)
NKVD USRS employees in Gulag authorities in 1937-1939
17.00-17.30 - discussion
4 November 2011
10.00-10.30 - beginning
10.30-12.30 - papers
Prof. Yuri Szapował (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences)
Ukrainians in Sołowki
Dr. Ritvars Jansons (Occupation Museum of Latvia)
Riga Central Prison - principal place of detaining the politically oppressed in Latvia in the years 1940-1953
Dr. Arūnas Bubnys (Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania)
KGB prison in Vilnius (1954-1990)
Prof. Tadeusz Wolsza (Polish Academy of Sciences)
Gulag from the Polish emigration perspective, 1939-1956
12.30-13.00 - discussion
13.00-13.30 - break
13.30-16.30 - papers
Dr. Dariusz Rogut (Jan Kochanowski University - Branch in Piotrków Trybunalski)
Officers of the Home Army in the Soviet prisoner of war camps in Gryazovets, 1947-1948
Dr. Pál Attila Illés (Pázmány Péter Catholic University)
Hungarians in Soviet camps after World War II in the light of the memoirs by Nádasi Alfonz OSB
Prof. Wanda Krystyna Roman (Nicolaus Copernicus University)
Polish internees from the camps in Lithuania and Latvia in the camps of the NKVD (July 1940 - August 1941). Formal and legal status and treatment
Prof. Piotr Niwiński (University of Gdańsk)
The fate of Vilnius Home Army - Miedniki, Ryazan, Kaluga
16.30-17.00 - discussion and summary of the conference