The article highlights a number of historical events related to the extrajudicial restriction and deprivation of liberty of certain categories of persons on the basis of nationality in wartime conditions. Archival documents concerning this subject have been classified for a long time, which still reduces the degree of awareness of the general scientific community about them. The methodological basis of the work is based on historical-legal and general scientific system-synergetic approaches, as well as on the principles of historicism and interdisciplinarity. The purpose of the article is to identify the regime of detention and use of Volga Germans as mobilized in labor columns and camps of the NKVD of the USSR. The research materials confirm that the main tasks assigned to the leadership of the GULAG institutions were the isolation of Soviet citizens of German nationality due to suspicion of anti-Soviet activities, as well as their active use as virtually free labor. At the same time, it turns out that the labor contribution of this category of citizens of the USSR was significant and in no way inferior to other categories of workers, but the consequences of deportation became more severe. The proposed materials and conclusions may be of interest to historians, jurists, political scientists, as well as specialists of the penitentiary system.