Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic from 1929 to 1953. (history.com) While Stalin was ruling, he transformed the government from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower.  He ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. (history.com) Once he was in power, he collectivized farming and had potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps. (history.com)

Stalin

During World War II, their were Gualgs. A Gulag was a system of forced labor camps established during Joseph Stalin's long reign as dictator of the Soviet Union. (history.com) The first targeted people were the opposing members of the Communist Pary, military officers and government officials. Later, educated people and ordinary citizens, doctors, writers, intellects, students, artists and scientists were sent to the Gulag. (history.com)

Gulags were first established in 1919, and by 1921 the Gulag system had 84 camps. (history.com) After the Russian revolution, Vladimir Lenin took control of the Soviet Union. When Lenin died of a stroke, Joseph Stalin made his way and became dictator. (history.com) These Gulags lasted from the 1920s and ended shortly after Stalin died, in 1953. 

Gulag camps existed throughout the Soviet Union, but the largest camps lay in the most extreme geographical and climatic regions of the country from the Arctic north to the Siberian east and the Central Asain south. While being in these camps there were many brutal conditions while having to be in Gulags.

Some consisted of working up to 14 hours a day, in any weather, even when it was severe. Many died due to starvation. They also died due to diseases that the Germans didn't care about. Even exhaustion, due to the number of hours they were outside and then having to go sleep on wood boards, which made it hard for many people to get sleep. and some of them were simply executed when they got off of the trains that took them to the Gulags.

The Gulag was a system of Soviet labor camps and accompanying detention and transit camps and prisons. (britannica.com) It housed political prisoners and criminals of the Soviet Union. (britannica.com) It is estimated that about 18 million people were killed at these Gulags. Each Gulag held between 2,000-10,000 people and there were hundreds of these labor camps. It wasn't until Stalin's rule that the prison population reached significant numbers. (history.com)

From 1929 until Stalins death, the Gulag went through a period of rapid expansion. (history.com) Stalin thought of the camps as a way to boost the industrialization in the Soviet Union and an access for valuable resources such as timer, coal, and other minerals.

Back during World War ll, women did not have the same opportunities they have today. That did not stop them from helping in the war. About 350,00 joined the world effort.