ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of Vorkuta from its origins as an isolated prison camp outpost in the early 1930s through its life as a flourishing Soviet Arctic city. It outlines the challenges that such Arctic communities have faced in a variety of political and economic contexts, including both the post-Stalin and post-Soviet transitions. The chapter shows the importance, implications, and legacies of forced labor in the Soviet development of its Arctic territories. It focuses on four periods in the life of the camp and city: first, as a remote camp outpost in the early 1930s; second, as a massive and rapidly expanding camp complex during World War II and its aftermath; third, as a city and camp struggling during the post-Stalin transition in the mid-1950s; and fourth, as a growing Soviet Arctic city in the 1960s and beyond.
