The meaning of the concepts appearing in the title is of significance for the topic undertaken here. Heroism expresses the axiological and metaphysical dimension of human sacrihttps fice in the name of values fundamental to the sense and purpose of human existence. This very concept suggests anthropological-philosophical criteria of interpreting literature constituting a testimony to life in a prison camp. The Gulag, however, adds a historical-ideological perspective to such an interpretation. In presenting heroic attitudes in the Gulag, prison camp literature confirms the meaning of heroism as a moral and simultaneously existential stance, as described by Max Scheler. It originates from the position of transgressing one’s own I in the sacrificial act of self-sacrifice in the name of selected higher spiritual, moral and cultural values. In the sacrificial act of the human I (even up to the act of sacrificing one’s own life), the metaphysical essence of the values for which the act is being carried out is disclosed. The metaphysical perspective of hope for a different – authentic – life, in particular after death, is also discused. Heroism in the Gulag was not only the negation of despair and nothingness, but also a testimony of sacrifice for the value surpassing the camp system and the communist ideology. This sacrifice signified a reconciliation with suffering and death in the name of the selected value. Camp literature presents examples of heroic attitudes taken on in the name of religious values, a fellow human being, freedom, family or art. The most representative in this aspect are the works of: A. Solzhenitsyn, W. Shalamov, E. Ginzburg, W. Bukovsky. They are also cited in this work.