Vorkutlag
The Vorkuta Corrective Labor Camp, commonly known as Vorkutlag, was a major Gulag labor camp in the Soviet Union located in Vorkuta, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was in operation from 1932 until 1962.
Vorkutlag was one of the largest camps in the Gulag system. The camp housed 73,000 prisoners at its peak in 1951, containing Soviet and foreign prisoners including prisoners of war, dissidents, political prisoners and common criminals who were used as forced labor in the exploitation of coal mines, coal mining works, and forestry. The camp was administered by the Joint State Political Directorate from 1932 to 1934, the NKVD from 1934 to 1946 and the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1946 until its closure in 1962. The Vorkuta Gulag was the site of the Vorkuta Uprising in July 1953.
History
Vorkutlag was established on May 10, 1938 by splitting it from Ukhtpechlag.In 1937 the construction of the Pechora Mainline railway started. The new railway was an addition to the Northern Railway which connected Moscow to Vorkuta, Konosha, Kotlas, the camps of Inta and other Northern parts of European Russia. It was completed in 1941. The first train arrived at Vorkuta on 28 December 1941. This important event was attended by residents of Vorkuta and photographed by Yakov Yakovlevich Fomin, who was in charge of constructing the railway. From 1939, Polish prisoners were held at Vorkuta following the occupation of Poland. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Vorkuta was then also used to hold German prisoners of war captured on the Eastern Front in World War II as well as criminals, Soviet citizens and those from Soviet-allied countries deemed to be dissidents and enemies of the state. US soldiers were also held in the camp, a majority of whom were captured during the Korean War. Many prisoners did not survive their internment and died by freezing to death in the cold climate, starvation or being worked to death. Prisoners were fed rye bread, buckwheat, meat, fish and potatoes but in very small amounts. Prisoners resorted to killing rats or stray dogs for food. Self-harm was common in the camp: if an inmate sustained an injury they would be sent to the hospital where conditions were better. The average amount of working time in the camp was 16 hours a day for every inmate. The guards who protected and managed the Gulag were a part of the NKVD, MVD and the Red Army. Guards were most often recruited on three-year contracts after completing their basic military service. Regulations allowed guards to shoot without warning any prisoner who strayed outside the designated work zone or too near a camp fence.
World War II
Working conditions
Working conditions in the camp during World War II were especially brutal. Working hours were increased from eight to ten hours for non-prisoners, and from ten to twelve hours for prisoners. A nationwide lack of food, due to compromised farmland and the mass diversion of food to the Red Army, meant that feeding Gulag prisoners was not a high priority. In 1943 and 1944, the majority of Vorkutlag prisoners lived on the cusp of starvation. The death rate of the Gulag system as a whole rose as well. In 1939 and 1940, the death rates were 38.3 and 34.7 per thousand prisoners respectively. In 1941, this rose to 67.3/thousand, in 1942 to 175.8/thousand, and in 1943, 169.7/thousand.Coal production
As a significant coal production center, Vorkutlag played a major role in the Soviet Union's war economy, supplying the factories of the war machine. Because of Germany's initial strides in the war, the Soviet Union's major coal supplier was Ukraine. By the end of 1941, the Nazi army had occupied virtually all of Ukraine, cutting Soviet coal production in half. In 1943 the Vorkutlag's prisoner population exploded, as did the rate of coal extraction. On March 17, 1943, the importance of Vorkutlag coal was underscored with the replacement of camp director with Engineer-Colonel . Maltsev was personally selected by NKVD director Beria to oversee the camp's production.Maltsev used his military experience to drastically increase production. He increased the working hours of both prisoners and non-prisoners and, to improve discipline, rewarded hard-working prisoners and punished their opposites. Typically, a reward for hard work would come in the form of early release, while punishment was usually execution.
The growth of coal production in Vorkuta during Maltsev's tenure from 1943 to 1947 was tremendous. Over this five-year period yearly coal output more than doubled. From 1940 to 1948, the year after Maltsev left Vorkuta, yearly coal production increased eighteen-fold. This was due not only to Maltsev's administration, but also to the large investment by the Soviet government in the camp.
Importance to Leningrad
The city of Leningrad, during the siege of Leningrad – the longest siege of the Second World War – was a major consumer of Vorkutlag coal. Following the collapse of the Don and Moscow coal basins in Ukraine, Vorkuta became the nearest coal source to Leningrad, which experienced an almost total blockade from September 1941 to January 1944. The widespread coal scarcity across the Soviet Union, and specifically the dire requirement in Leningrad, instilled a pressing need to expedite the expansion of the Vorkuta coal mining infrastructure. Vorkutlag's coal was a vital source of energy for the encircled Leningrad.Lesoreid uprising, 1942
The armed Lesoreid uprising began on January 24 in the Lesoreid lagpunkt of Vorkutlag, a remote logging camp. The uprising involved over 100 prisoners and non-prisoners. Led by the non-prisoner chief of Lesoreid,, the rebels aimed to capture the nearby small town of, though their ultimate goal remains unclear. Retyunin and his group overpowered and disarmed the camp guards, then invited other prisoners to join the uprising. They acquired food, equipment, and clothing from the camp storehouses before heading towards Ust-Usa.The rebels successfully attacked the town's communication office, state bank, NKVD office, and jail, freeing prisoners in the process. However, they were repelled at the airfield and faced a fierce battle at the local militia office. Reinforcements, including militarized guards from the nearby Polia-Kur'ia camp section, forced the rebels to retreat from Ust-Usa.
Forty-one rebels fled on sleds, attempting to reach Kozhva, the nearest station on the Northern Pechora Mainline railway. Along their journey, they acquired more supplies and weapons from various sources, including an arms convoy. Despite their efforts, the rebels realized they were being pursued and changed their course to head west down the.
Government forces, led by Deputy Narkom and Obkom Second Secretary Vazhnov, engaged in several encounters with the rebels, with casualties on both sides. The main group of rebels, led by Retyunin, was defeated on February 2, and several rebels chose to take their own lives instead of being captured. The last group of rebels was captured on March 4. In total, 48 rebels were killed, and eight were captured.