Keep in mind that Solzhenitsyn's books are primarily fiction and far from historical.

Primarily fiction meaning most of it didn't happen???

Yet it is based on the testimony of the 200 people he interviewed as well as his own first hand experience. And was so well documented the KGB couldn't discredit it. Try as you might.

> Primarily fiction meaning most of it didn't happen???

Exactly.

I'm definitely not the most informed person on this topic, but if you're really into it, you can find a lot of materials disproving his claims. Probably most of them are in Russian though, I don't know.

> KGB couldn't discredit it. Try as you might.

There's no point in discrediting someone's beliefs. I just want you to look at his books critically. At least double check the numbers he wrote about.

Upon investigation it seems they are likely of enough accuracy to get you into the right ballpark of understanding what life in the Gulag was like.

If you want to debate specifics of how many million vs how many 10s of millions, you're missing the point.