The cemetery near the Zaovrazhe rail station on the right bank of the little Severnaya Dvina River arose in 1939, to serve the infirmary of one of the sub-divisions of Kotlaslag. In 1941-1943, prisoners, forced settled and labour army workers who died while building the Kotlas railway bridge [29-28] were buried here in common graves. It is estimated that up to 20,000 were buried here. Exact numbers have not been established; no name lists are available.

From the late 1940s inhabitants of the Bor village were also buried here. At the end of the 1950s part of the cemetery was given up for industrial construction.

In 1995, thanks to the efforts of the Polish Consulate in St Petersburg and the Kotlas Sovest society, a Catholic cross was erected here in memory of those who died or were killed in the Kotlas camps. In 2005 the remains of prisoners uncovered during roadworks were reburied in the cemetery. In 2006, on the initiative of the Sovest society a memorial was installed to those who died building the railway bridge.