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Dalstroy (russian: Дальстро́й, ), also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Russian Far East, including the
Magadan Region Magadan Oblast ( rus, Магаданская область, r=Magadanskaya oblast, p=məgɐˈdanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country, and is adminis ...
, Chukotka, parts of Yakutia and parts of present-day
Kamchatka Krai Kamchatka Krai ( rus, Камча́тский край, r=Kamchatsky kray, p=kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), situated in the Russian Far East, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Its ...
. Initially it was established as ''General Directorate of Construction in the Far North'' (Главное Управление строительства Дальнего Севера) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union. In 1938 it was placed under the NKVD and in 1945 it was reorganized and renamed. After the 1952 reorganization it was known as ''Main Directorate of Camps and Construction of the Far North''. Dalstroy oversaw the development and mining of the area. Over the years, Dalstroy created some 80 Gulag camps across the Kolyma region. As a result of a number of decisions, the total area covered by Dalstroy grew to three million square kilometers by 1951. The town of
Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay (within Taui Bay) and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. History Maga ...
was the base for these activities.


History


Background and scope of activities

The main purpose of Dalstroy as an organization was to obtain benefits for the state from little-known and little-explored territories of Northeast Siberia. Expeditions were financed by the USSR in order to explore the region as early as 1928. the First Kolyma Expedition in 1928 led by geologist Yuri Bilibin and the Second Kolyma Expedition in 1931-1932, organized by Bilibin and led by
Valentin Tsaregradsky Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...
resulted in the discovery of gold deposits in Northeast Siberia. From then onward, emphasis was laid in ambitious mining operations to obtain the maximum amount of gold and other strategically important minerals. Dalstroy authorities chose civilians employed as labor force, but faced with the harsh climate, with long winters and extremely low temperatures, working conditions were brutal from the onset. After the organization was placed under the NKVD in 1938, prisoners from various
forced labor camps ''Forced'' is a single-player and co-op action role-playing game developed by BetaDwarf, released in October 2013 for Windows, OS X and Linux through the Steam platform as well as Wii U. It is about gladiators fighting for their freedom in a fan ...
(ITL - Исправительно-трудовой лагерь) of the USSR were used as miners, as well as for the building of the infrastructure that the region lacked. Development of the area included industrial, railway, airfield, harbor and road construction, as well as providing the administrative and urban structure for a territory which previously had had no roads and no cities. The Okhotsk Sea shore of the
Kolyma Kolyma (russian: Колыма́, ) is a region located in the Russian Far East. It is bounded to the north by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and by the Sea of Okhotsk to the south. The region gets its name from the Kolyma River an ...
region was sparsely inhabited by Evens. Since the area was chosen as a harbor for future operations, a plan for the establishment of an East Even Cultural Base (Восточно-Эвенская культбаза) was carried out. After surveying the area in 1928, the spot of the base was chosen by
Karl Luks Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austr ...
at a certain location in
Nagaev Bay Nagaev Bay or Nagayev Bay (russian: Бухта Нагаева, Нагаевская бухта), also known as Nagayeva Bay, is a bay within Taui Bay in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, Magadan Oblast, Russia. Geography It is 6.4 km (4 mi ...
. Construction began in 1929 in order to settle and re-educate the local population and to educate the younger generation in line with the
Soviet Cultural Revolution The cultural revolution was a set of activities carried out in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union, aimed at a radical restructuring of the cultural and ideological life of society. The goal was to form ...
. Among the structures built, there were three residential buildings, a school, a veterinary station, a hospital, a bathhouse and a boarding school. By the end of the year there were 75 residents. However, there was resistance from the part of the native population to the system of cooperatives, district committees and to have their children educated at the school of the cultural base. In the first academic year 1929/1930, only 17 students enrolled at the school and even though the number of students rose to 44 in the following year, the base was wrapped up owing to low efficiency. However, the village of Nagaevo grew around the base and the
Kamchatka Joint-Stock Company The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...
(AKO) erected a building. More ships entered the harbor and the area continued developing, paving the way for modern Magadan. Some of the East Even Cultural Base buildings survived well into the 1980s. The administration of Dalstroy grew increasingly complex over the years, not only as a result of various geographical centers but also with the establishment of separate units to provide geological surveying, motorized transport, management of secondary economies, road administration, steamship navigation on the River Koyma, and port and terminal management. In his book ''Red Arctic'', John McCannon explains how Dalstroy initially relied on
Glavsevmorput The Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (russian: Главное Управление Северного Морского Пути , translit=Glavnoe upravlenie Severnogo morskogo puti), also known as Glavsevmorput or GUSMP (russian: ГУ ...
or GUSMP (Russian acronym for Main Administration of the Northern Sea Route, a Soviet agency for exploiting resources across the far north) for coordination of supplies and transport. Glavsevmorput managed railway traffic to Vladivostok and shipping from there to Magadan. Over the years, however, as Dalstroy grew more powerful, its director Eduard Berzin obtained ships of his own so as to have more freedom of action. By 1938 Glavsevmorput had lost much of its political support, leaving Dalstroy firmly in control.


Transport


Ships of Dalstroy

An account of the many ships used over the years to transport prisoners across the
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
to
Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay (within Taui Bay) and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. History Maga ...
as well as to the Arctic port of
Ambarchik Ambarchik (russian: Амба́рчик) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and a port in Pokhodsky Rural Okrug of Nizhnekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located from Chersky, the administrative center of the district and from ...
is given by Martin Bollinger in his book ''Stalin's Slave Ships''. Among the Dalstroy fleet were the following ships:Bollinger, Martin J., ''Stalin’s slave ships: Kolyma, the Gulag fleet, and the role of the West'', Praeger, 2003, * SS ''Yagoda'', which later was renamed * * * * * In addition, several ships of the Far East State Sea Shipping Company were used at times to transport prisoners to various locations operated by Dalstroy. Examples include SS ''Nevastroi'', SS ''Dneprostroi'', SS ''Shaturstroi'', SS ''Syasstroi'', SS ''KIM'', and SS ''Kiev''.


Dalstroy Aviation

Air service in Dalstroy administered territories began in 1932. By 1946 Dalstroy had an air transport branch, Dalstroy Aviation (1946-1957), under the Dalstroy Air Transport Directorate. The aircraft flown by the airline included Polikarpov Po-2, Lisunov Li-2, Douglas C-47,
Polikarpov P-5 The Polikarpov R-5 (russian: Р-5) was a Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian ...
,
Yakovlev Yak-12 The Yakovlev Yak-12 (russian: Яковлев Як-12, also transcribed as Jak-12, NATO reporting name: "Creek") is a light multirole STOL aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force, Soviet civilian aviation and other countries from 1947 onwards. ...
, Kawasaki Ki-56ASN - Dalstroi Aviation
/ref> and
Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 ("kukuruznik"—corn crop duster; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bure ...
, as well as Beriev MP-1 flying boats.


Dalstroy leaders

In the words of prisoner Ayyub Baghirov, "The entire administration of the Dalstroy – economic, administrative, physical and political – was in the hands of one person who was invested with many rights and privileges." The officials in charge of Dalstroy were: * Eduard Petrovich Berzin, 1932–1937. * Karp Aleksandrovich Pavlov, 1937–1939. * Ivan Fedorovich Nikishov, 1940–1948. * Ivan Grigorevich Petrenko, 1948–1950. * I.L. Mitrakov, 1951–1956. История Дальстроя (History of Dalstroy) from the kolyma.ru website
. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
* Iu. V. Chuguev, 1956–1957.


Disbanding

After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, the reorganization of the Dalstroy basically split its functions into three parts. The administration of labor camps was reorganized into
USVITL Sevvostlag (russian: Северо-восточные исправительно-трудовые лагеря, Севвостлаг, СВИТЛ, North-Eastern Corrective Labor Camps) was a system of forced labor camps set up to satisfy the work ...
(North-East Corrective Labor-Force Administration) of Gulag. The administration of the territory and local
Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...
apparatus were subordinated to the newly created
Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast ( rus, Магаданская область, r=Magadanskaya oblast, p=məgɐˈdanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country, and is adminis ...
and other adjacent territorial subdivisions. Dalstroy remained a purely economic enterprise.


See also

*
Butugychag Butugychag (russian: Бутугычаг) was a tin, gold and uranium mine and a former forced labour camp in the Kolyma region of North-Eastern Russia, present-day Magadan Oblast. Forced Labor Camp The Butugychag Corrective Labor Camp (russian: ...
* Sevvostlag * Vaninsky port


Footnotes


References

* Ludwik Kowalski, "Hell on Earth: Brutality and Violence Under the Stalinist Regime," published by Wasteland Press (July 2008; ). It focuses on Dalstroy in Kolyma, on various aspects of organized brutality, and on the ideology proletarian dictatorship. The book is available at www.amazon.com .
Kolyma – Off to the Unknown – Stalin's Notorious Prison Camps in Siberia by Ayyub Baghirov (1906–1973)
*Bollinger, Martin J., ''Stalin's slave ships: Kolyma, the Gulag fleet, and the role of the West'', Praeger, 2003, 217 p., *McCannon, John: Red Arctic: polar exploration and the myth of the north in the Soviet Union, 1932–1939, Oxford University Press, 1998, 234p,
David Nordlander: Magadan and the Economic History of Dalstroi in the 1930s. Hoover Press: Gregory/Gulag DP0 HGRESG0600 rev1 p. 105.
* Documentary ''*** GOLD*** - lost in Siberia'

by Gerard Jacobs and
Theo Uittenbogaard Theo Uittenbogaard (born Amstelveen, Nieuwer-Amstel, Netherlands, 1946 – 2022) was a Dutch radio & TV-producer, who worked for almost all nationwide public networks in The Netherlands since 1965. His training was on-the-job, since no school or a ...
(VPRO/The Netherlands/1994) was filmed in the summer of 1993 in Magadan, along the ''Road of Bones'', through Ust-Umshug and Susuman and at the Sverovostok Zoloto gold mine, Siberia, by the first foreign film crew ever, visiting the Kolyma District -which had been under control of the Soviet secret service, under the company name Dalstroj, for over 60 years. * Along Russia's "Road of Bones", Relics of Suffering and Despair. Andrew Higgins, Photographs and Video by Emile Ducke. ''The New York Times''. Nov. 22, 2020

{{Authority control Gulag industry Gold mining companies of the Soviet Union Shipping companies of the Soviet Union Russian Far East NKVD