Switzer, W. Alayne, 1960-2008-11-272008-11-272008-03https://hdl.handle.net/1794/7897xi, 95 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.Early Bolsheviks seeking to redefine the family launched"cultural campaigns" to throw off the vestiges of the tsarist regime and create new societal roles. Laws were enacted to protect children and provide them with rights. "Thank you Comrade Stalin, for our Happy Childhood" was a popular slogan. Posters portraying Stalin as the benevolent father and protector of children hung in every schoolroom. Yet contrary to official propaganda millions of children were left abandoned, orphaned or separated from their families. Many of these unfortunate children found themselves victims of the Gulag. This thesis illustrates how war, famine, collectivization, political purges and capital punishment left countless children at the mercy of the state. Thousands of children were arrested or born in the camps to pregnant women or women who became pregnant through rape or camp relationships. Many perished and those who survived carried forever the scars of their "happy" childhoods.en-USThesis