Location: Territory of the present-day Ulytau Region, in the vicinity of the city of Zhezkazgan. During the Soviet period, this region had significant industrial importance.
Year established: 1948.
Official name: Stepnoy Corrective Labor Camp (STEPLAG).
Purpose: Isolation of particularly dangerous prisoners, primarily political detainees, and their use in forced hard labor. The camp held representatives of the intelligentsia, military personnel, religious figures, and members of the creative professions deported from all regions of the Soviet Union.
General Information about the Camp
STEPLAG was established as one of the special camps (osoblags) within the GULAG system, intended for the detention of political prisoners.
The STEPLAG camp system covered almost the entire Zhezkazgan region. The camp was located near a major industrial facility – the Zhezkazgan Copper Combine—where prisoner labor was extensively used for heavy work in the construction of industrial and infrastructure facilities. At its peak, the camp consisted of 9 divisions, later reduced to 6. Camp units were distributed across a vast territory, ranging from Zhezkazgan to the areas of Ulytau, Zhezdy, Baikonur, Satpayev (formerly Nikolsky), Terekty, and Konyrat.
The main camp and administrative headquarters were situated in the city of Zhezkazgan, in Division No. 3, located between factory and plant facilities. This division housed the camp’s administrative and economic management, the commandant’s office, guard units, and a detention facility.
In 1954, the historically significant Kengir Uprising took place in the Kengir division. Prisoners rose in defense of human dignity, human rights, and labor freedom. This uprising became one of the key events that accelerated the crisis and subsequent collapse of the Soviet camp system.
Between 1940 and 1956, more than 60,000 people passed through STEPLAG, including scholars, religious figures, writers, and representatives of the working class. In 1956, the camp was officially dissolved. Today, its history is preserved through memorial markers and museum exhibitions located on the site of the former camp.
In total, the camp held 20,698 prisoners, including 16,667 men and 46021 women. The prisoners were distributed by nationality as follows:
- Russians – 2661
- Ukrainins – 9596
- Belarusians – 878
- Azerbaijanis – 108
- Georgians – 132
- Armenians – 154
- Turkmens – 76
- Uzbeks – 204
- Tajiks – 54
- Kazakhs – 291
- Kyrgyz – 50
- Lithuanians – 2690
- Latvians – 1074
- Estonians – 873
- Tatars – 127
- Bashkirs – 9
- Udmurts – 20
- Chechens – 124
- Ingush – 56
- Jews – 174
- Moldovans – 208
- Finns and karelians – 16
- Germans – 359
- Poles – 379
- Romanians – 24
- Iranians – 18
- Afghans – 8
- Mongols – 2
- Chinese – 55
- Japanese – 30
- Koreans – 52
- Greeks – 21
- Turks – 8
- Others – 167
Sources
- Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Fund 940, Inventory 1, File 38.
- online (Czech Expedition).
- The Camp System in Kazakhstan // Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2019.
- Historical outlines of USSR MIA Stepnoy camp (1948-1956). – 808 p.
