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Necropolis /Cemetery of the Kotlas division of the NKVD Chief administration of railway construction camps [GULZhDS NKVD]
The camp cemetery on the left bank of the Small Northern Dvina was situated on the land adjoining the railway bridge, on the side of Velikii Ustiug. In 1941-1943 the prisoners of SevdvinLag, brought in to build the Kotlas railway bridge (Object No.10), were buried in mass graves on this site. Around 5,000 people are believed to be buried here. The names of the dead and the exact numbers buried are unknown. The territory of burials is not marked. In 2008 an initiative group for the restoration of the Vondakurskii church, situated nearby, had a memorial cross erected at the site of the cemetery. (Photograph 4 April 2009). | Name of necropolis | Cemetery of the Kotlas division of the NKVD Chief administration of railway construction camps [GULZhDS NKVD] |
| environs of the town of Kotlas |
| Left bank of the Small North Dvina, on the land adjoining the railway bridge, on the side of Velikii Ustiug |
| Landscape | river marsh, flood plain |
| Years of the burials | 1941-1943 |
| Exact year the burials began | 1941 |
| Exact year the burials ended | 1943 |
| Who is buried here | Prisoners of the Kotlas division of the NKVD Chief administration of railway construction camps [GULZhDS NKVD], i.e. the builders of the railway bridge across the Small Northern Dvina, who were held in the labour colonies on the left river bank. |
| Availability of information on those buried here | names unknown |
| Type of burial | common pits |
| State of preservation | not preserved |
| Quantity | around 5,000 people |
| Excavations | not carried out |
| Expert assessment | not carried out |
| Development | not carried out |
| Memorial signs | Memorial cross (2008) |
| Detailed annotation | The camp cemetery on the left bank of the Small North Dvina was situated on the land adjoining the railway bridge, on the side of Velikii Ustiug. In 1941-1943 the prisoners of SevdvinLag, brought in to build the Kotlas railway bridge (Object No.10), were buried here. The Kotlas division of the NKVD Chief administration of railway construction camps camps [GULZhDS NKVD] was formed in January 1940 as a result of the merging of the camp subdivisions of KotlasLag, SebzheldorogLag (situated on the right bank) and SevdvinLag (on the left) and labour army colonies. There were 50 colonies overall. According to I.A. Dubrovina, chairwoman of the Kotlas-based society “Sovest’” [“Conscience”], 24,946 people died here. The majority of them were buried on the right bank, in Zaovrazh’e; an estimated 5,000 people were buried on the left bank. The dead were buried in mass graves. Their names are unknown, as are the numbers of those buried in this cemetery. Once the bridge was completed (the bridge opened in June 1942, the construction was completed in 1943), this territory on the left bank was no longer used. In 2008 an initiative group for the restoration of the Vondakurskii church, situated nearby (chairman V.P. Zubakhin), had a memorial cross erected at the site of the cemetery, bearing the inscription “Zhertvam Stalinskikh repressii. 25 000 zakliuchennykh, pogibshikh pri stroitel’stve zheleznodorozhnogo mosta na Severnoi Dvine. 1941-1943 g.” [“To the victims of Stalin’s repressions. 25,000 prisoners who died during the building of the railway bridge on the Northern Dvina. 1941-1943.”] The cross was unveiled an consecrated on 30 October 2008. (Photograph 4 June 2009). |
| Ceremonies | requiem masses by the meorial cross (parish of the Vondakur'evskii church) |
| Opening times | open at all times, the site is hard to reach (there are no roads, site is a flood plain) |
| Link to subject index | access denied |
Necropolis /Cemetery of the Kotlas division of the NKVD Chief administration of railway construction camps [GULZhDS NKVD]
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