Dalstroy

Dalstroy

Дальстро́й
Emblem of Dalstroy
Agency overview
Formed	13 November 1931(1931-11-13)
Dissolved	29 May 1957(1957-05-29)
Type	Special type (комбинат особого типа)
Headquarters	Dalstroy General Directorate Magadan,U.S.S.R.
Agency executives	Eduard Berzin(1931–1937), Director Karp Pavlov(1937–1939), Head director Ivan Nikishov(1939–1948), Chief Ivan Petrenko(1948–1950), Chief Ivan Mitrakov(1950–1956), Chief Yuri Chuguyev(1956–1957), Chief

Dalstroy(Russian:Дальстро́й,IPA:[dɐlʲˈstroj]), also known asFar North Construction Trust,was an organization set up in 1931 in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in theRussian Far East,including theMagadan Region,Chukotka,parts ofYakutiaand parts of present-dayKamchatka Krai.

Initially it was established asGeneral Directorate of Construction in the Far North(Главное Управление строительства Дальнего Севера) under theMinistry of Internal Affairsof the Soviet Union.In 1938 it was placed under theNKVDand in 1945 it was reorganized and renamed. After the 1952 reorganization it was known asMain Directorate of Camps and Construction of theFar North.

Dalstroy oversaw the development and mining of the area. Over the years, Dalstroy created some 80Gulagcamps 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 ofMagadanwas the base for these activities.

History

Background and scope of activities

Prisoners at Dalstroy facilities
Year	Number	Year	Number
1932	11,100	1944	84,716
1934	29,659	1945	93,542
1935	36,313	1946	73,060
1936	48,740	1947	93,322
1937	70,414	1948	106,893
1938	90,741	1949	108,685
1939	138,170	1950	153,317
1940	190,309	1951	182,958
1941	187,976	1952	199,726
1942	177,775	1953	175,078
1943	107,775
Figures for 1 January for each year. Figure for 1932 for December

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 geologistYuri Bilibinand the Second Kolyma Expedition in 1931–1932, organized by Bilibin and led byValentin Tsaregradskyresulted 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 theNKVDin 1938, prisoners from variousforced labor camps(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.

TheOkhotsk Seashore of theKolymaregion was sparsely inhabited byEvens.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 byKarl Luksat a certain location inNagaev Bay.Construction began in 1929 in order to settle and re-educate the local population and to educate the younger generation in line with theSoviet Cultural Revolution.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, thevillage of Nagaevogrew around the base and theKamchatka Joint-Stock Company(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 bookRed Arctic,John McCannonexplains how Dalstroy initially relied onGlavsevmorputor GUSMP (Russianacronymfor Main Administration of theNorthern Sea Route,a Soviet agency for exploiting resources across thefar north) for coordination of supplies and transport. Glavsevmorput managed railway traffic toVladivostokand shipping from there to Magadan. Over the years, however, as Dalstroy grew more powerful, its directorEduard Berzinobtained ships of his own so asto have more freedom of action. By 1938 Glavsevmorput had lost much of its political support, leaving Dalstroy firmly in control.

Transport

Shipping

Dalstroy Fleet flag.

An account of the many ships used over the years to transport prisoners across theSea of OkhotsktoMagadanas well as to the Arctic port ofAmbarchikis given by Martin Bollinger in his bookStalin's Slave Ships.Among the Dalstroy fleet were the following ships:

• SSYagoda,which later was renamedSSDalstroi
• SSDzhurma
• SSKulu
• SSFelix Dzherzhinsky
• SSIndigirka
• MVSovetskaya Latviya

In addition, several ships of theFar East State Sea Shipping Companywere used at times to transport prisoners to various locations operated by Dalstroy. Examples includeSSNevastroi,SSDneprostroi,SSShaturstroi,SSSyasstroi,SSKIM,andSSKiev.

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 includedPolikarpov Po-2,Lisunov Li-2,Douglas C-47,Polikarpov P-5,Yakovlev Yak-12,Kawasaki Ki-56andAntonov An-2,as well asBeriev MP-1flying boats.

Leadership

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
• Yuri Chuguev,1956–1957

Disbanding

AfterJoseph Stalin's death in 1953, the reorganization of the Dalstroy basically split its functions into three parts. The administration of labor camps was reorganized intoUSVITL(North-East Corrective Labor-Force Administration) ofGulag.The administration of the territory and localCommunist Party of the Soviet Unionapparatus were subordinated to the newly createdMagadan Oblastand other adjacent territorial subdivisions. Dalstroy remained a purely economic enterprise.

See also

• Butugychag
• Sevvostlag
• Vaninsky port

References

• Ludwik Kowalski, "Hell on Earth: Brutality and Violence Under the Stalinist Regime," published by Wasteland Press (July 2008;ISBN978-1-60047-232-9). It focuses on Dalstroy in Kolyma, on various aspects of organized brutality, and on the ideology proletarian dictatorship. The book is available at amazon.
• 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.,ISBN0-275-98100-2
• McCannon, John: Red Arctic: polar exploration and the myth of the north in the Soviet Union, 1932–1939, Oxford University Press, 1998, 234p,ISBN0-19-511436-1
• 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[1]byGerard JacobsandTheo Uittenbogaard(VPRO/The Netherlands/1994) was filmed in the summer of 1993 in Magadan, along theRoad 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.[2]