Soviet Special Camps

Soviet Special Camps

NKVD special camps (German: Speziallager) were NKVD-run late and post-World War II internment camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany and areas east of the Oder-Neisse line. The short-lived camps east of the line were subsequently transferred to the Soviet occupation zone, where they were set up by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) and run by the Soviet secret service (NKVD). On 8 August 1948, the camps were made subordinate to the Gulag. Because no contacts of the camp inmates to the outside world were permitted, the special camps were also known as Silence camps (German: Schweigelager).

The very existence of the camps was kept secret, until massive Western press led the Soviet Union to respond with a moderate propaganda campaign of their own admitting and defending the camps' existence. No inmates were released before 1948. In 1950, the camps were handed over to the East German government who tried the remaining detainees. Between 122,000 and more than 150,000 were detained, at least 43,000 of whom did not survive.