In 1942-1944 camp outpost No. 1 of the Gulag’s Main Directorate for Road Construction (Gushosdor) was based in Podgornoe village. The prisoners were building the Nizhny Lomov-Penza stretch of the Penza to Kuibyshev (Samara) Highway. Those who died were buried in the village graveyard; their number is not known.
In 2009, following the testimony of old villagers, a mass grave was found. The exploratory work was entrusted to schoolchildren from Plyoss village under the direction of their history teacher T.V. Merkushina. In 2010 the villagers and schoolchildren raised a wooden commemorative cross in the graveyard.
Information about some deceased Gulag inmates can be found in Memorial’s Victims of Political Terror database with its 3 million entries, or in the Open List database (“Victims of Political Repression in the USSR, 1917-1991”).
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
nk
|
Commemorative Services
|
nk
|
nk
|
From time to time
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
have not survived
|
not determined
|
not delineated
|
[ Original texts & hyperlinks ]
Communication from T.V. Merkushina, Saint Petersburg, 2013 – RIC Memorial archive (St Petersburg)
Reply from the Penza Region Administration, № 2-23-1582 (15 April 2014), to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
