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The Gulag Handbook: An Encyclopedia Dictionary of Soviet Penitentiary Institutions and Terms Related to the Forced Labor Camps

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This work, in dictionary format, lists the Russian word written in Cyrillic alphabet, and then provides an English-language definition of it. Explanatory notes are also frequently included.

Of course, the gulag terms are often expressions of Communist doublespeak. For instance, the term "mass exile" was used for deported Poles. The term Pan (Sir) was a fixture of Communist ideology--an emotional term of opprobrium for Polish landlords. Of course, the vast majority of Poles deported to the interior of the USSR, or otherwise persecuted by the Communists, were not landlords. The Communists actually defined a Pan as anyone whose clothing was better than that of the typical Soviet citizen! (p. 291).

This work is not limited to vocabulary. There are sketches of gulag-camp layouts, and tables of such information as types of prison sentences, purported gulag inmates' food rations, etc. A detailed bibliography of gulag literature is included, including seldom-cited works on this subject.

The authors touch on broader matters. They, for instance, recognize the fact that the Soviet Union, not Nazi Germany, was responsible for the Katyn Massacre. (pp. 155-156).