KOTLAS [C]* Railroad builders burial ground | Russia's Necropolis of Terror and the Gulag

KOTLAS [C]* Railroad builders burial ground

Card

№29-28

Date of burial
1941-1943
Show Map
Address
Arkhangelsk Region, Kotlas district, Kotlas (outskirts)
Access outside a populated area
Private or specialised transport
On foot
Comments
On the left bank of the Severnaya Dvina River, next to railway bridge from Veliky Ustyug
Visiting Hours or Restrictions
Unrestricted
Type of burial
Camp (prison) burial ground
Current use
Excursions
Ceremonial events
Presence of memorials, etc.
Yes
Protected status
Not protected
Фотография 2009 года. Источник: Архив НИЦ «Мемориал»
Фотография 2009 года. Источник: Архив НИЦ «Мемориал»
Background

A burial ground of the Gulag’s Main Railroad-Building Directorate (Kotlas division) was located on the west bank of the little Severnaya Dvina River. In 1941-1943 prisoners who built the Kotlas railway bridge were buried here in common graves. It is estimated that up to 5,000 were buried there. The exact numbers are not known; lists of names are unavailable.

After the bridge opened in June 1942 and construction ended in 1943 this area was no longer used. In 2008, the voluntary group for the rebuilding of the Holy Trinity church in Vondakurye village, led by V.P. Zubakhin, put up a commemorative cross next to the cemetery. The plaque reads [29-27]: “To the victims of Stalinist repression, 25,000 prisoners who died during the construction of the railway bridge over the Severnaya Dvina River, 1941-1943”. The memorial was inaugurated and consecrated on 30 October 2008.

Ceremonies
DateNature of ceremoniesOrganiser or responsible personParticipantsFrequency
Summer
Commemorative Services
nk
nk
Annual event since 2008
30 October
Remembrance Day for the Victims of Political Repression
The Sovest (conscience0 society in Kotlas
Descendants of the victims, members of the Sovest society, school teachers and schoolchildren
From time to time
Nature of area requiring preservation
State of burialsAreaBoundaries
have not survived
not determined
not delineated
Administrative responsibility and ownership, informal responsibility for the site
On land under the control of the Kotlas City Administration. The cemetery and memorial are looked after by the congregation of the Holy Trinity church in Vondokurye village
Sources and bibliography

[ original texts and hyperlinks ]

I. Dubrovina, M. Klapiyuk and A. Dembovska (eds), We always remember: A book about the victims of political repression in Kotlas, 2009

Archive of the Kotlas historical and educational movement Sovest (conscience)

29-28