The Great Purge
From 1937-1938 about 1 million people were murdered under Stalin’s rule in what is known as the Great Purge. Stalin was set to purge anyone in Russia that he deemed to be opposing him or considered disloyal. Those suspected were either killed or sent to the gulag – forced labor camps that were mostly in Siberia. Many people in the labor camps died from starvation or disease; they were given tiny rations of food to eat and had to endure hard physical labor no matter how sick or hungry they were.