The Vokvad special settlement, run by the Sysolsk Forestry Concern, was set up in the early 1930s by dekulakised peasant families deported from the Northern Region and the Soviet German Republic on the Volga.
In June 1940 a group of 300 Polish citizens, Jewish “refugees”, were sent there. Inhabitants of the special settlement recall that “in 1940-1942 all the refugees died”. Their bodies were interred in a separate burial ground in the forest, 1.5 kms from the settlement. The exact numbers buried there is not known.
In the 1950s the area was ploughed up and is today covered by young trees. The settlement was officially closed on 17 September 1974.
The Memorial online database (2025) lists 129,473 victims in the Komi Republic. (See Nizhny Chov.)
They include a vast number of families and individuals (total 64,165) deported to the Republic: 20,366 during collectivisation (1929-35), a massive influx in 1940 from occupied Polish territory (19,367) and more in the 1940s and 1950s (6,699). 597 are listed as dying in Komi (but cf. Tomsk Region police figures).
The database (2025) lists families and individuals (total 1,308) sent to Vokvad as forced settlers (920 in 1930, many of them German) and 213 subsequently born there. It names families and individuals (total 257) deported there in 1940, identifying 94 heads of families as Jews from Polish territory.
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
July
|
Commemorative visit by descendants of those who lived in Vokvad
|
descendants of those who lived in Vokvad
|
descendants of those who lived in Vokvad
|
Annual event
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
have not survived
|
not determined
|
not delineated
|
[ Original texts & hyperlinks ]
T. Chugayeva, “A candle floats on the water”, Respublika (Syktyvkar), 31 July 2010
“Kiselyov’s list: about the Polish Jews in Vokvad”, Blog.ru, 24 December 2008
