The Vokvad special settlement, run by the Sysolsk Forestry Concern, was set up in the early 1930s by dekulakized 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.
Repentance: the Komi Republic Martyrology of the Victims of Mass Political Repression (11 vols. 1998-2016), includes biographical entries on over 57,000 who were deported to special settlements in Komi.
Тhe Memorial online database (2021) lists 1,521 individuals who were sent there as forced settlers (919 in 1930, many of them German) or who were subsequently born there. It names 94 Polish Jews deported there in 1940.
| 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
