As the Second World War progressed, Joseph Stalin made an offer to many prisoners that in exchange for their military service they would be granted a pardon or a reduction of their prison-term at the end of the war. After the war ended, many such servicemen returned to prisons and labor camps, and were declared suki and placed on the lower end of the prisoner hierarchy. As a result, they sought to survive through collaboration with prison officials, and in return got some of the better jobs within the prison.[3]