In theSoviet Union, asharashka (Russian:шара́шка,[ʂɐˈraʂkə]; sometimessharaga,sharazhka) was a type of secretresearch and development laboratory operating from the 1920s to the 1950s within theGulag labor camp system, as well as in other facilities under the supervision of theSoviet secret service.[1] Formally various secret R&D facilities were called "special design bureaus" (особое конструкторское бюро, ОКБ) and similar terms. Etymologically, the wordsharashka derives from a Russianslang expressionsharashkina kontora (lit. 'Sharashka's office'), an ironic, derogatory term to denote a poorly-organized, impromptu, or bluffing organization, which in its turn comes from the criminalargot termsharaga (шарага) for a band of thieves, hoodlums, etc.[2]
The scientists and engineers at asharashka were prisoners picked by the Soviet government from various camps and prisons and assigned to work on scientific and technological problems. Living conditions were usually much better than in an averagetaiga camp, mostly because of the absence of hard labor.
Some of the scientists and engineers imprisoned insharashkas were released during and afterWorld War II (1939–1945) to continue independent careers; some became world-renowned.
On May 15, 1930, theSupreme Soviet of the National Economy andOGPU issued a secretcirculaire "Об использовании на производстве специалистов, осужденных за вредительство" ("On the use in production of specialists convicted ofwrecking"). It ordered the use of "engineers-wreckers" to "eliminate the consequences of wrecking" and to provide them with the necessary literature, materials and devices for this.[3][4] It also said that "the use of the wreckers must be organized in such a way that their work was carried out on the premises of the organs of OGPU."
In 1930Leonid Ramzin and other engineers sentenced in theIndustrial Party Trial were formed into a special design bureau under theJoint State Political Directorate (OGPU), which was then the Sovietsecret police.[citation needed]
In July 1931, the OGPU seized control of theIntercession Convent [ru] inSuzdal and the following year created a special prison laboratory (known as the Bureau of Special Purpose orBON) where around nineteen leading plague andtularaemia specialists were forced to work on the development of biological weapons. Colonel Mikhail Mikhailovich Faibich, a specialist intyphus, was the first director ofBON. The laboratory was in operation until 1936, when the scientists were transferred to a Red Army microbiology facility onGorodomlya Island onLake Seliger.[5]
In 1938,Lavrenty Beria, a seniorNKVD official, created the Department of Special Design Bureaus at the NKVD USSR (Отдел особых конструкторских бюро НКВД СССР). In 1939, the unit was renamed the Special Technical Bureau at the NKVD USSR (Особое техническое бюро НКВД СССР) and placed under the control of GeneralValentin Kravchenko [ru], underBeria's immediate supervision. In 1941 it received a secret name, the 4th Special Department of the NKVD USSR (4-й спецотдел НКВД СССР).
In 1949, the scope of thesharashkas significantly increased. Previously the work done there was ofmilitary and defense character. The MVD Order No. 001020 dated November 9, 1949 decreed installation of "Special technical and design bureaus" for a wide variety of civilianresearch and development, particularly in the "remote areas of theUnion".[6]
The 4th Special Department was disbanded in 1953.[citation needed]
