The White Sea Canal, writes Gulag historian Oleg Khlevnyuk, clearly influenced the decision to assign two more major projects to the OGPU: the Dmitrovsky canal, linking up the Moskva River and the Volga; and the Baikal-Amur Railway.
White Sea Canal
The canal and subsequent activities of the associated Belbaltlag camp system are described elsewhere on this website.
Two of the five sites, all in Karelia, did not possess memorials in 2016 but four were then formally protected at the Republican level. (and see The Gulag in Northwest Russia, 1931-1960.)
Volga Canal
Construction of the Dmitrovsky canal was in the hands of Dmitlag (1932-1938) and by 1935 involved 188,792 prisoners.
Russia’s Necropolis does not include a site linked to the canal’s construction but several later burial grounds of Volgolag (1935-1942) prisoners, who constructed hydroelectric schemes (Rybinsk, Uglich, B. Shekninsky), the Uglich-Kalyazin railroad (with a bridge across the Volga), and other construction work including a bomb shelter in Yaroslavl.
There are memorials on all four sites but none of them enjoyed local or Regional protection. Three are in central Russia’s Yaroslavl Region; the fourth, Shishkovo-Dubrovo village, is in the Tver Region.
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Vereteya village (c)* Burials of Volgolag prisoners, 1935-1941
Shishkovo-Dubrovo village* Burials of Volgolag prisoners, 1930s-1940s
RYBINSK Volgolag burials [C] in Volzhsky settlement, 1935-1941
RYBINSK Sterlyadovo village (c)* Volgolag hospital cemetery, 1935-1953
Baikal-Amur Railroad
By the beginning of 1933 Bamlag, the Baikal-Amur camp complex (1932-1938), held 31,000 prisoners; on 1 January 1938 the total number of inmates reached 201,000. (See The Gulag in the Soviet Far East, 1929-1958.)
There is a memorial on only one of these sites (Golden Hill in the Kvitok settlement, Irkutsk Region), but none of them enjoyed local or Regional protection. Three are in the Irkutsk Region of east Siberia; the fourth, SVOBODNY, is in the Far Eastern Amur Region.
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Nevelsky ss* Forced settlers & Taishetlag prisoners, 1932-1958
Taishet graveyard* Bamlag prisoners & forced settlers, 1930s-1940s
SVOBODNY* Burials of executed Bamlag prisoners, 1937-1938
“Golden Hill”** Taishetlag & deportees graves, 1937-1950s
[JC, January 2025]