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{{Short description|System of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union}}
{{For|the concept in the Soviet Union|Katorga labor (Soviet Union)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2010}}
[[File:Evening - Applying handcuffs.PNG|thumb|350px|Removing of shackles, painting by [[Aleksander Sochaczewski]] (1843–1923)]]
'''Katorga''' ({{langx|ru|ка́торга|kátorga}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈkatərɡə|IPA|Каторга (online-audio-converter.com).ogg}}; from medieval and modern {{Langx|el|κάτεργον|translit=kátergon|lit=galley}}; and [[Ottoman Turkish]]: {{Lang|ota|کادیرغا}}, {{Transliteration|ota|kadırga}}) was a system of [[penal labor]] in the [[Russian Empire]]<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bucknell.edu/x17601.xml |title= Russian History Resources|website=Bucknell University – Russian Studies|date=n.d.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070228090544/http://www.bucknell.edu/x17601.xml|archive-date=February 28, 2007|location= Lewisberg, PA}}</ref> and the [[Soviet Union]] (see [[Katorga labor (Soviet Union)|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.

==Etymology==
{{See also|Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|Black Sea slave trade#Crimean slave trade (15th–18th centuries)|Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe}}

The term "katorga" (Russian: {{Wikt-lang|ru|ка́торга}}) originated from the Ottoman Turkish word "kadırga," which means "[[galley]]" (a type of ship). This transition reflects the historical practice where, among others, Ukrainian and Russian slaves, were subjected to severe penal labor on galleys or in similar harsh conditions. In the [[Crimean Khanate]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]], the practice of forcing slaves to work on galleys was common, and the suffering endured by these individuals was often depicted in [[Duma (epic)|Ukrainian dumas]] (songs).

In the Russian language, "katorga" evolved to denote a form of penal labor or a harsh prison system, transcending its initial maritime connotation. This semantic shift underscores the extreme nature of the punishment associated with "katorga," which became synonymous with "prison" in Russian parlance, reflecting the severe conditions faced by those condemned to such labor.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kizilov |first=Mikhail |year=2007 |title=Slave Trade in the Early Modern Crimea: From the Perspective of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |url=https://www.academia.edu/2971600 |accessdate=2024-09-10}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Russian prisoners of Amur Railway.jpg|thumb|300px|Prisoners at an [[Amur Cart Road]] camp, between 1908 and 1913]]
[[File:Allan, David - Bashkirs - 1814.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Bashkirs]] conducting convicts to Siberia, painted by [[William Allan (painter)|William Allan]], 1814]]
''Katorga'', a category of punishment within the [[judicial]] system of the [[Russian Empire]], had many of the features associated with [[labor-camp]] imprisonment: confinement, simplified facilities (as opposed to [[prison]]s), and [[forced labor]], usually involving hard, unskilled or semi-skilled work.

Katorga camps were established in the 17th century by Tsar [[Alexis of Russia]] in newly conquered, underpopulated areas of [[Siberia]] and the [[Russian Far East]]—regions that had few towns or food sources. Despite the isolated conditions, a few prisoners successfully escaped to populated areas. From these times, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment, which was further enhanced by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[gulag]] system.

After the change in Russian [[penal law]] in 1847, [[exile]] and katorga became common punishments for participants in national [[rebellion|uprising]]s within the Russian Empire. This led to increasing numbers of [[Polish people|Poles]] sent to Siberia for katorga. These people have become known in Poland as ''[[Sybiraks]]'' ("Siberians"). Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Siberia.

The most common occupations in katorga camps were [[mining]] and [[timber]] work. Another example involved the successful construction of the [[Amur Cart Road]] ({{langx|ru|Аму́рская колёсная доро́га|Amúrskaya kolyósnaya doróga|label=none}}).

In 1891 [[Anton Chekhov]], the Russian writer and playwright, visited the katorga settlements on [[Sakhalin]] island in the Russian Far East and wrote about the conditions there in his book [[Sakhalin Island (book)|''Sakhalin Island'']]. He criticized the short-sightedness and incompetence of the officials in charge that led to poor living standards, waste of government funds, and decreased productivity.

[[Peter Kropotkin]], while ''[[aide de camp]]'' to the governor of [[Transbaikal]]ia in the 1860s, was appointed to inspect the state of the prison system in the area; he later described his findings in his book ''In Russian and French Prisons'' (1887).

== Notable katorgas ==
*[[Nerchinsk katorga]] (Нерчинская каторга)
*[[Akatuy katorga]] (Акатуйская каторга)
*[[Algacha katorga]] (Алгачинская каторга)
*[[Kara katorga]] (Карийская каторга)
*[[Maltsev katorga]] (Мальцевская каторга)
*[[Zerentuy katorga]] (Зерентуйская каторга)
*[[Sakhalin katorga]] (Сахалинская каторга)

==Famous katorga convicts==
{{Incomplete list|date=August 2008}}

===Georgian===
* [[Joseph Stalin]] escaped twice, in 1902 and 1908, before being finally confined in a katorga{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} on the [[Yenisei River]] 1913–1917, finally being released at the time of the [[February Revolution]]

===Russian===
* [[Aleksandr Nikolayevich Radishchev]], author and social critic arrested and exiled under [[Catherine the Great]]
* [[Decembrists]]: initial verdict was 16 persons for term-less katorga, 5 persons for 10 years, 15 persons for 6 years. After the trial, [[Tsar]] [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] reduced the sentences; subsequent amnesties further shortened the terms.
* [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], from 1849 until 1854, for revolutionary activity against Tsar Nicholas I.
* [[Nikolai Chernyshevsky]], from 1864 until 1872 for [[narodnik]] revolutionary activity.
* [[Vera Figner]], a revolutionary and well-known political activist.
* [[Yelizaveta Kovalskaya]], a revolutionary and founding member of the [[Black Repartition]].
* [[Nadezhda Sigida]], a revolutionary associated with [[Narodnaya Volya]].
* [[David Riazanov]], imprisoned from 1891 to 1895, a narodnik at the time and latter founder of the [[Marx-Engels Institute]].
* [[Vladimir Sukhomlinov]], a general in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] and former [[Ministry of War of the Russian Empire|Minister of War]], for abuse of power.
* [[Fanny Kaplan]], a political revolutionary and attempted assassin of [[Vladimir Lenin]].
* [[Andrei Sinyavsky]], a dissident author tried in the 1960s with [[Yuli Daniel]].

===Polish===
[[Image:Farewell Europe!.jpg|466px|thumb|right|''Farewell to Europe'', by [[Aleksander Sochaczewski]]]]
{{main|Sybirak}}
* [[Cheka]] founder [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], imprisoned (and escaped) twice, in 1897 and 1900, for revolutionary activity.
* [[Aleksander Czekanowski]]
* [[Jan Czerski]]
* [[Benedykt Dybowski]]
* [[Bronisław Piłsudski]]
* [[Józef Piłsudski]] 1887–92
* [[Piotr Wysocki]]
* [[Barbara Skarga]] 1944–54

===Ukrainian===
* Poet and artist [[Taras Shevchenko]], from 1847 until 1857, for revolutionary activity against [[Tsar]] [[Nicholas I of Russia]].
*Lead [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rocket engineer during the [[Space Race|space race]], [[Sergei Korolev]], from 1938 to 1944.
* [[Nadia Smyrnytska]]
* [[Maria Kovalevska]]
* [[Maria Kalyuzhnaya]]

==Soviet times==
{{Further|Forced labor in the Soviet Union}}

After the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] the Russian penal system was taken over by the [[Bolshevik]]s, who eventually transformed the katorga into the [[Gulag]] [[labor camp]]s.

In 1943 the  "[[katorga labor (Soviet Union)|katorga labor]]" ({{langx|ru|ка́торжные рабо́ты|kátorzhnyye rabóty|label=none}}) as a special, severe type of punishment was reintroduced. It was initially intended for [[Collaboration during World War II|Nazi collaborators]], but other categories of political prisoners (for example, members of [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported peoples]] who fled from exile) were also sentenced to "katorga labor". Prisoners sentenced to "katorga labor" were sent to gulag prison camps with the most harsh regime, and many of them died.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://publicist.n1.by/articles/repressions/repressions_gulag1.html |title=ГУЛАГ: общие сведения <nowiki>|</nowiki> Репрессии и пенитенциарная система в СССР
|trans-title=Gulag: general information <nowiki>|</nowiki> Repression and the prison system in the USSR
|archive-date=2009-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419222914/http://soviet-history.com/doc/prison/gulag_info1.php}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Gulag]]
* [[Penal transportation]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* P.Kropotkin, ''In Russian and French Prisons'', London: Ward and Downey; 1887.

==Further reading==
* Daly, Jonathan W. ''Autocracy under Siege: Security Police and Opposition in Russia, 1866–1905'' (1998).

== External links ==
{{wiktionary | katorga}}
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/prisons/chap1.html '' P.Kropotkin: In Russian and French Prisons'']

[[Category:Defunct prisons in Russia]]
[[Category:History of Siberia]]
[[Category:Labor in Russia]]
[[Category:Penal labour]]
[[Category:Settlement schemes in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Former penal colonies]]