Dalstroy

Dalstroy^[1] (Russian: Дальстро́й, IPA: [dɐlʲˈstroj]), also known as Far North Construction Trust,^[2] was an organization set up in 1931 by the Soviet NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB) in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East, now known as Kolyma. Initially it was established as State Trust for Road and Industrial Construction in the Upper Kolyma Area.^[3] After the 1952 reorganization it was known as Main Directorate of Camps and Construction of the Far North.^[4]

Dalstroy oversaw the development and mining of the area using forced labor (slave labor). Over the years, Dalstroy created some 80 Gulag camps across the Kolyma region. As a result of a number of decisions, the total area covered by Dalstroy grew to three million square kilometers by 1951. The town of Magadan was the base for these activities.

Scope of activities

Prisoners at the Dalstroy[5]
Year	Number	Year	Number
1932	11,100	1944	84,716
1934	29,659	1945	93,542
1935	36,313	1946	73,060
1936	48,740	1947	93,322
1937	70,414	1948	106,893
1938	90,741	1949	108,685
1939	138,170	1950	153,317
1940	190,309	1951	182,958
1941	187,976	1952	199,726
1942	177,775	1953	175,078
1943	107,775
Figures for 1 January for each year. Figure for 1932 for December

The Dalstroy region is often referred to as Kolyma as it was centered largely on gold-mining in the upper reaches of the Kolyma River.

Dalstroy administered basically all aspects of the region: territorial administration, economic activities, and labor camps.

The administration of Dalstroy grew increasingly complex over the years, not only as a result of various geographical centers but also as units were created to manage geological surveying, motorized transport, management of secondary economies, road administration, steamship navigation on the River Kolma, and port and terminal management.^[6]

In his book Red Arctic, John McCannon explains how Dalstroy initially relied on Glavsevmorput or GUSMP, Russian acronym for Main Administration of the Northern Sea Route, a Soviet agency for exploiting resources across the far north, for coordination of supplies and transport. Glavsevmorput managed railway traffic to Vladivostok and shipping from there to Magadan. Over the years, however, as Dalstroy grew more powerful, its director Eduard Berzin obtained ships of his own so as to have more freedom of action. By 1938, when Glavsevmorput lost much of its political support, Dalstroy was firmly in control.

Ships of the Dalstroy

An account of the many ships used over the years to transport prisoners across the Sea of Okhotsk to Magadan as well as to the Arctic port of Ambarchik is given by Martin Bollinger in his book Stalin's Slave Ships.^[7] Among the Dalstroy fleet were the following ships:^[7]

• SS Dalstroi
• SS Dzhurma
• SS Kulu
• SS Felix Dzherzhinsky
• SS Indigirka
• MV Sovetskaya Latviya

In addition, several ships of the Far East State Sea Shipping Company were used at times to transport prisoners to various locations operated by Dalstroy. Examples include SS Nevastroi, SS Dneprostroi, SS Shaturstroi, SS Syasstroi, SS KIM, and SS Kiev.

Dalstroy leaders

In the words of prisoner Ayyub Baghirov, "The entire administration of the Dalstroy - economic, administrative, physical and political - was in the hands of one person who was invested with many rights and privileges."^[8]

The officials in charge of Dalstroy were:

• Eduard Petrovich Berzin, 1932-1937.
• Karp Aleksandrovich Pavlov, 1937-1939.
• Ivan Fedorovich Nikishov, 1940-1948.
• Ivan Grigorevich Petrenko, 1948-1950.^[9]
• I.L. Mitrakov, 1951-1956.^[10]
• Iu. V. Chuguev, 1956-1957.

Disbanding

After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, the reorganization of the Dalstroy basically split its functions into three parts. The administration of labor camps was reorganized into USVITL (North-East Corrective Labor-Force Administration) of Gulag. The administration of the territory and local Communist Party of the Soviet Union apparatus were subordinated to the newly created Magadan Oblast and other adjacent territorial subdivisions. Dalstroy remained a purely economic enterprise.

See also

• Sevvostlag
• Vaninsky port

Footnotes

1. Also romanized Dalstroi.
2. Russian: Гла́вное управле́ние строи́тельства Да́льнего Се́вера; acronym: ГУСДС.
3. Russian: Государственный трест по дорожному и промышленному строительству в районе Верхней Колымы — Дальстрой
4. Russian: ГУ лагерей и строительства Дальнего Севера.
5. (Russian) Dalstroy prisoners
6. (Russian) Историческая хроника Магаданской области: События и факты, (Historical Chronicle of the Magadan Region) 1917–1972, Magadan, 1975
7. Bollinger, Martin J., Stalin’s slave ships: Kolyma, the Gulag fleet, and the role of the West, Praeger, 2003, ISBN 0-275-98100-2
8. Ayyub Baghirov - The Bitter Days of Kolyma from Azerbaijan International, Spring 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2007
9. Petrenko Ivan Grigorevich, Major-General, (1904 – 1950) (NKVD), Biography from the General.dk site. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
10. (Russian) История Дальстроя (History of Dalstroy) from the kolyma.ru website. Retrieved 14 February 2007.

References

• Ludwik Kowalski, "Hell on Earth: Brutality and Violence Under the Stalinist Regime," published by Wasteland Press (July 2008; ISBN 978-1-60047-232-9). It focuses on Dalstroy in Kolyma, on various aspects of organized brutality, and on the ideology proletarian dictatorship. The book is available at www.amazon.com .
• Kolyma - Off to the Unknown - Stalin's Notorious Prison Camps in Siberia by Ayyub Baghirov (1906-1973)
• Bollinger, Martin J., Stalin’s slave ships: Kolyma, the Gulag fleet, and the role of the West, Praeger, 2003, 217 p., ISBN 0-275-98100-2
• McCannon, John: Red Arctic: polar exploration and the myth of the north in the Soviet Union, 1932-1939, Oxford University Press, 1998, 234p, ISBN 0-19-511436-1
• David Nordlander: Magadan and the Economic History of Dalstroi in the 1930s. Hoover Press: Gregory/Gulag DP0 HGRESG0600 rev1 p. 105.