Solovki was also referred to under the Russian Empire (this practice was introduced by Ivan the Terrible), and during the Soviet Union. The labor camp in the Solovetsky Islands has a very long and terrifying history. The history of the USSR’s largest penal camp on the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago, famous prisoners and prison conditions will be discussed later.
Monastery prison
Prisons at Orthodox monasteries are a very unusual (and probably even unique) phenomenon in the history of the Russian Empire. At different times, Nikolo-Karelsky (Arkhangelsk), Troitsky (in Siberia), Kirillo-Belozersky (on the Severnaya Dvina River), Novodevichy (in Moscow) and many other large monasteries were used as places of detention. The most striking example of such a prison should be recognized Solovetsky.
A monastic political and church prison existed in the Solovetsky Monastery from the sixteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century. Ecclesiastical and secular authorities considered this place a reliable place of detention due to the remoteness of the Solovetsky Islands archipelago from the mainland and extremely unfavorable climatic conditions, which greatly impeded the escape of prisoners.
The monastery itself on Solovki was a unique military engineering structure. The harsh northern climate (the archipelago consists of six large and several dozen rocky small islands near the Arctic Circle) opposed the intentions of the masters.
Work was carried out only in the summer - in winter the soil froze so much that it was impossible to dig a grave. The graves, by the way, were subsequently prepared from the summer, roughly counting how many prisoners would not survive the next winter. The monastery was built of huge stones, the gaps between which were filled with brickwork.
Escaping from the Solovetsky Monastery was almost impossible. Even if successful, the prisoner could hardly have overcome the cold strait alone. In winter, the White Sea froze, but it was also difficult to walk several kilometers on cracked ice due to undercurrents. The coast for 1000 km from the monastery was sparsely populated.
Prisoners of the Solovetsky Monastery
The first prisoner on Solovki was the abbot of the Trinity Monastery Artemy - a supporter of extensive Orthodox reform who denied the essence of Jesus Christ, advocated refusing to venerate icons, and sought out Protestant books. They kept it not very strictly, for example, Artemy could freely move around the monastery. The abbot, taking advantage of the lack of rules for the maintenance of prisoners, escaped. It is likely that help him in this. The fugitive crossed the White Sea on a ship, successfully reached Lithuania, and subsequently wrote several theological books.
The first real criminal (killer) appeared on Solovki during the Time of Troubles. This was the destroyer of churches Peter Otyaev, known throughout the Moscow kingdom. He died in a monastery, the place of his burial is unknown.
By the twenties of the 17th century, violators of the law were systematically sent to the Solovetsky Monastery. Solovki was exiled for rather atypical crimes. In 1623, the boyar’s son found himself here for forced tonsure of his wife’s monasticism, in 1628 - clerk Vasily Markov for molesting his daughter, in 1648 - pop Nectarius because he was urinated in the church when he was intoxicated. The latter stayed in the Solovetsky Monastery for almost a year.
In total, from the time of Ivan the Terrible to 1883, from 500 to 550 prisoners were in the Solovetsky prison. The prison officially existed until 1883, when the last prisoners were withdrawn from it. Guard soldiers remained there until 1886. Subsequently, the Solovetsky Monastery continued to serve as a place of exile for ministers of the church, who were guilty of something.
Northern labor camps
In 1919 (four years before the creation of the ELEPHAN - special purpose camps), an emergency commission to combat sabotage established several labor camps in the Arkhangelsk province. During the Civil War, those who passed the fate of execution, or those whom the authorities planned to exchange for their supporters, got there.
Counterrevolutionaries, profiteers, spies, prostitutes, fortune-tellers, White Guards, deserters, hostages and prisoners of war should have been placed in such places. In fact, the main groups of people who lived in remote camps were workers, urban dwellers, the peasantry, and the small intelligentsia.
The first political concentration camps were the Northern Special Purpose Camps, which were later renamed the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camps. ELEPHANES were "famous" for the brutal attitude of local authorities towards subordinates and firmly entered the repressive system of totalitarianism.
Creation of the Solovetsky camp
The decision that preceded the creation of the special purpose camp dates back to 1923. The government planned to increase the number of camps by building a new one on the Solovetsky archipelago. Already in July 1923, the first prisoners from Arkhangelsk were redirected to the Solovetsky Islands.
A sawmill was built on Revolution Island in the Kem Bay, and it was decided to create a transit point between the Kem railway station and the new camp. ELEPHAN was intended for political and criminal prisoners. Such persons could be sentenced as ordinary courts (with the permission of the GPU), so the judicial bodies of the former Cheka.
Already in October of that year, the management of the Northern Camps was reorganized into the Administration of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (ELEP). The prison was transferred to use all the property of the Solovetsky Monastery, which was closed three years earlier.
Ten years of existence
The camp (ELEPHANT) began to grow very quickly. The scope of the Office's activities was initially limited only to the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago, but then expanded to Kem, the territories of the Autonomous Karelia (coastal areas), the Northern Urals, and the Kola Peninsula. Such territorial expansion was accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of prisoners. By 1927, almost 13 thousand people were held in the camp.
The history of the elephant camp totals only 10 years (1923-1933). During this time, according to official figures, 7.5 thousand people died in the hold, of which about half were in the hungry 1933. One of the prisoners, collaborationist Semyon Pidgayny, recalled that only when laying the railway track to the Filimonovsky peat mining in 1928, ten thousand prisoners (mainly Don Cossacks and Ukrainians) died at 8 kilometers.
Prisoners of the Solovetsky camp
Lists of prisoners of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (ELEPHANT) have been preserved. The official number of prisoners in 1923 was 2.5 thousand people, in 1924 - 5 thousand, in 1925 - 7.7 thousand, in 1926 - 10.6 thousand, in 1927 - 14.8 thousand, in 1928 21.9 thousand, 1929 - 65 thousand, in 1930 - 65 thousand, in 1931 - 15.1 thousand, in 1933 - 19.2 thousand. Among the prisoners, the following outstanding personalities can be listed:
- Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev (pictured below) is a Soviet academician. He was exiled to Solovki for a five-year term for counter-revolutionary activities.
- Boris Shryaev is a famous Russian writer. The death penalty for him was replaced by ten years of imprisonment in the Solovetsky camp. At the camp, Shiryaev participated in a theater and a magazine, published 1237 lines (a story) and several poetic works.
- Pavel Florensky - philosopher and scientist, poet, theologian. In 1934, a special convoy was sent to the Solovetsky special purpose camp. In conclusion, he worked at the iodine industry plant.
- Les Kurbas is a film director, Ukrainian and Soviet actor. He was sent to Solovki after the reform of the camp, in 1935. He staged performances at the camp theater.
- Julia Danzas - historian of religion, religious leader. Since 1928 she was kept in the Solovetsky camp (ELEPHANT). There is evidence that she saw Maxim Gorky on Solovki.
- Nikolai Antsiferov is a culturologist, historian and local historian. He was arrested and sent to the elephant camp as a member of the counter-revolutionary organization Sunday.
Camp reform
Solovetsky Camp (ELEPHANT) Main Directorate of State. Security disbanded in December 1933. The property of the prison was transferred to the White Sea-Baltic camp. One of the BelBaltLag units was left on Solovki, and in 1937-1939 the Solovetsky Special Purpose Prison (STON) was located here. In 1937, 1111 prisoners of the camp were shot in the tract Sandormokh.
Camp leaders
The ten-year history of the Elephant camp includes many shocking events. The first prisoners were delivered on the Pechora parachute from Arkhangelsk and Pertominsk, in 1923 a decree was issued on the creation of a camp, which was supposed to accommodate 8 thousand people.
On December 19, 1923, five were shot dead and three prisoners were wounded while walking. This execution received publicity in the world media. In 1923 and 1925, several decrees were adopted concerning the tightening of the prison regime.
The camp leaders at various times were the organizers of the Stalinist repressions, employees of the Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, Nogtev, Eichmans, Bukhband, A. A. Invanchenko. There is little information about these individuals.
The former prisoner of the Solovetsky camp, I.M. Andrievsky (Andreev), published his memoirs, which indicate that during his stay in the ELEPHANT as a psychiatrist, he participated in medical commissions that occasionally examined voluntary employees and prisoners. The psychiatrist wrote that among 600 people, severe mental disorders were detected in 40% of the examined. Ivan Mikhailovich noted that among bosses, the percentage of individuals with mental disabilities was higher than even among killers.
Camp conditions
The living conditions in the elephant camp are terrifying. Although Maxim Gorky, who visited the Solovetsky Islands in 1929, cites the following evidence of prisoners about the regime of labor re-education:
- it was necessary to work no more than 8 hours a day;
- elderly prisoners were not subject to appointment for too heavy correctional labor;
- all prisoners were taught writing and reading;
- for hard work they gave out an increased ration.
The researcher of the history of the camps, Yuri Brodsky, pointed out in his works that various tortures and humiliations were applied to prisoners. The prisoners dragged heavy stones and logs, they were forced to scream the proletarian anthem for many hours in a row, and those who stopped were killed, or forced to count the gulls.
The memories of the elephant camp overseer fully confirm these words of the historian. Also referred to as a favorite method of punishment - "stand on mosquitoes." The prisoner was stripped and left for several hours tied to a tree. Mosquitoes stuck around him in a thick layer. The prisoner fainted. Then the guards forced other prisoners to pour cold water on him or simply did not pay attention to him until the end of the sentence.
Security level
The camp was one of the most reliable. In 1925, six prisoners made the only successful escape in history. They killed the sentry and crossed the strait in a boat. Several times the escaped prisoners tried to land on the beach, but nothing came of it. The fugitives were discovered by the Red Army men who simply threw a grenade into the fire so as not to delay and send the prisoners back. The four escaped died, one was interrupted by both legs and a hand was torn off, the second survivor received even more terrible wounds. The prisoners were taken to the infirmary, and then shot.
The fate of the founders of the camp
Many who were involved in the organization of the Solovetsky camp were shot:
- I.V. Bogovoi. He proposed the idea of ​​creating a camp on Solovki. Shot.
- The man who hoisted the flag over the camp. Hit the elephant as a prisoner.
- Apeter. The head of the prison. Shot.
- Nail The first head of the camp. He received 15 years in prison, was granted amnesty, but died almost immediately afterwards.
- Eichmans. Head of the elephant. Shot on suspicion of espionage.
It is interesting that one of the prisoners, Naftaly Frenkel, who proposed innovative ideas for the development of the camp, moved up the career ladder. He retired in 1947 from the post of head of the railway construction camps as lieutenant general of the NKVD.
In memory of the Solovetsky camp
The thirtieth of October 1990 was declared in the USSR as Political Prisoner Day. The Solovetsky stone brought from the islands was installed on the same day in Moscow. There is an elephant museum on the archipelago, memorial stones are also installed in St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, on the Big Solovetsky Island, in the city of Jordanville (USA).
Whatever the story, but it gave birth to us.
This phrase was said by Georgy Alexandrov - Soviet statesman, academician. So, no matter how terrible individual pages of the history of the USSR were, but it was these events that led to today. Currently, the word “elephant” has long been not associated with the totalitarian regime (for example, there is the mathematical camp “Elephant”), but you should know and remember the story in order to avoid its repetition.