Bendera: general in the Soviet army who betrayed his country during WWII
CED: Culture and Education Department
Chetezes: galoshes made of scraps of motor tires, after the Cheliabinsk tractor works
GULAG: Central Camp Administration, used also to mean camps in general
Kolkhoz: Communal farm
Kulak: a landed peasant in Czarist Russia
Lett: Latvian
Magara: Chinese oatmeal, basically cooked yellow grasses
Old Whiskers: Stalin
PPD: Production Planning Department
"Special" camps: camps for political crimes
Taiga: the frozen Siberian woods
Valenki: knee length felt boots for winter wear
Vechorka: Slang for Vecheruyaya Moskva, an evening newspaper
Volk: wolf, the root of Volkovoi's name
Zek: abbreviation of Russian for prisoner