Katorga

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Look up katorga in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Katorga (Russian: ка́торга; from medieval and modern Greek: κάτεργον, romanized: katergon, lit. 'galley'; and Ottoman Turkish: کادیرغا, kadırga)) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire^[1] and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union).

Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East where voluntary settlers and workers were never available in sufficient numbers. The prisoners had to perform forced labor under harsh conditions.