The Oryol Prison has been a prison in Oryol since the 19th century. It was a notable place of incarceration for political prisoners and war prisoners of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The building of prison, built in 1840, is one of the oldest buildings in the city of Oryol. In 1941, the Oryol isolation prison contained some five thousand political prisoners. On 11 September 1941, just weeks before the occupation by German troops, by personal order of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, 157 political prisoners incarcerated here were executed just outside Oryol, in the

Medvedev Forest massacre The Medvedev Forest massacre (russian: Медведевский расстрел) or Orel massacre (Орловский расстрел) was a mass execution in the Soviet Union carried out by the Soviet secret police NKVD on 11 September 1941. Tak ...

. During the occupation by the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

(since October 1941 to June 1943) here was established a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

. After the Second World War, the Soviet authorities used it as a concentration camp for prisoners of war, among them being

Dietrich von Saucken Dietrich Friedrich Eduard Kasimir von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 2nd Army and the Army East Prussia. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered to the Re ...

. Prisoners of war (from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

) were exterminated by starvation, shooting, exposure, and poisoning. A former prisoner, Latkovska-Wojtuskiewicz, described the scene at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

in 1951 as "a veritable hell: the room was full of people, half-naked women languished and we, the new arrivals, wallowed on filthy straw, from which rose a stinking dust which choked one's breath. We were so hoarse we could neither breathe nor speak."Helena Latkovska Wojtuskiewicz, ''I Lived Through Hell on Earth: Sixteen Years in Siberia'' (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1998), p. 123. At present, in the buildings of the former prison there is an investigatory isolation ward No. 1 (russian: СИЗО-57/1) of the Penitentiary Service under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation and a

prison hospital A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

patients.

Notable inmates

Aleksander Prystor Aleksander Błażej Prystor (; 2 January 1874 – 1941) was a Polish politician, activist, soldier and freemason, who served as 23rd Prime Minister of Poland from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist ...

(1914-1917) * Felix Dzerzhinsky (1915–16) * Olga Kameneva * Michael Kitzelmann *

Grigory Kotovsky Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Кото́вский, ro, Grigore Kotovski; – August 6, 1925) was a Soviet military and political activist, and participant in the Russian Civil War. He made a career ...

(1910) * Jan Kwapiński * AA Litkens (1908–09) * GI Matiashvili (1915–16) * Christian Rakovsky *

Maria Spiridonova Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova (russian: Мари́я Алекса́ндровна Спиридо́нова; 16 October 1884 – 11 September 1941) was a Narodnik-inspired Russian revolutionary. In 1906, as a novice member of a local combat group ...

Varvara Yakovleva Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva (russian: Варвара Алексеевна Яковлева; c. 1880 - July 18, 1918), called Nun Barbara (russian: Инокиня Варвара), was a Russian Orthodox nun in the convent of Grand Duchess Eliza ...

* BP Zhadanovsky (1912–14) *

Aron Baron Aron Davydovych Baron ( uk, Аро́н Дави́дович Ба́рон; 1891–1937) was a Ukrainian Jewish anarchist revolutionary. Following the suppression of the 1905 Revolution, he fled to the United States, where he met his wife Fanya ...

(1921)

References

Dennis Christensen 2017–present https://www.jw-russia.org/en/infographic/506.html

Bibliography

{{Commons cat, Oryol Prison * Гернет М. Н., История царской тюрьмы, 3 изд., т. 15, М., 1960-63 г. * Дворянов В. Н., В сибирской дальней стороне (Очерки истории царской каторги и ссылки, 60-е годы XVIII в. — 1917 г.), Минск, 1971 г. * Максимов С. В., Сибирь и каторга, 2 изд., ч. 1-3, СПБ, 1891 г. Prisons in the Soviet Union Camps of the Gulag Nazi concentration camps History of Oryol Prisons in Russia Tourist attractions in Oryol Oblast Government buildings completed in 1840 Infrastructure completed in 1840 Buildings and structures in Oryol Oblast Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of regional significance Cultural heritage monuments in Oryol Oblast