{{Short description|Subcamp of a Gulag labor camp}} A '''lagpunkt''' ({{langx|ru|Отдельный лагерный пункт, лагерный пункт, лагпункт}}), literally "camp point" or ''lagotdelenie'' ({{langx|ru| лаготделение, лагерное отделение}}, literally "camp detachment), may be translated as "subcamp", "camp unit", or "camp site" was a separate settlement subordinated to a major Gulag forced labor camp. Lagpunkts were convenient to decrease the time and hassle of transport of inmates to remote job sites.<ref name=jaro>Jacques Rossi, ''The Gulag Handbook'' </ref> At the same time this remoteness created difficulties for the delivery of food supplies, especially in winter.<ref name=aa/>
Anne Appelbaum in her ''Gulag: A History'' occasionally translates the term as "base camp", along with using the Russian term.<ref name=aa>Anne Appelbaum, ''Gulag: A History''</ref> Other authors use the term "base camp" for the main location of the camp.<ref> Lynne Viola, "Historicising the Gulag" in: ''Global Convict Labour'', {{doi|10.1163/9789004285026_015}}</ref>
Many camps, especially operating logging had big number of ''lagpunkts'' to man work in a particular areas. Some of them did not have a name, only number and housed about a 100 of inmates.<ref>[http://pmem.ru/index.php?id=1618 Отдельный лагерный пункт (ОЛП)]</ref><ref name=repr>Konstantin Bakharev, [https://rg.ru/2013/02/06/itl.html "Празднование юбилея Усольского ИТЛ стало причиной противоречий"], ''Rossiyskaya Gazeta'', February 5, 2013 </ref> In general, lagpunkts were of varying sizes: from several dozen to several thousand inmates. Their lifetime also varied greatly: some existed from 1920s into 1980s (when were converted into prisons or colonies), while others lasted for a summer season only or, keeping the number, moved to another location.<ref name=aa/>
Anne Appelbaum remarks that most descriptions of Gulag geography report about 500 locations, but in fact there was much more than that: many major camps had from dozens to hundreds smaller sub-units, which are close to impossible to count.<ref name=aa/>
There were other terms for temporary job locations of labor camp: ''kolonna'' ("column", in reference of "worker columns' of a labor army) a lagpunkt for road construction; ''komandirovka'' (work trip; the generic meaning of the term is "business trip"); ''distantsiya'' ("distance"), for railroad construction camp detachments for a particular stretch ("distance") of a railroad.<ref name=jaro/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Geography of Gulag