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Labor & POW camps of USSR

Article about: by conrado Thank you very much, Valerii. It is pretty strange that Jan Dobrzański's data is not in the register of Polish IPN as a victim of a soviet repression. He joined the Anders Army q

  1. #1

    Default Labor & POW camps of USSR

    Quote by conrado

    Thank you very much, Valerii.

    It is pretty strange that Jan Dobrzański's data is not in the register of Polish IPN as a victim of a soviet repression. He joined the Anders Army quite late in 30th May 1942 in Jangi Jul in Uzbekistan. Maybe that is the reason...

    From what I found out there are suspicions that he was somewhere in Murmańsk but don't know either it was a labour camp or POW camp. He supposedly had a tattoo with a number, perhaps it was a prison number.

    My question to you is are there any index lists of prisoners of soviet labour camps of POW camps on russian websites regardless of the Polish IPN?

    Regards
    Konrad
    Hello there Konrad!

    I have found some additional information for you.
    Think that it can be interesting.
    Some days ago I remembered about one more Russian resource, which have been posted on the Kresy Siberia website.

    Memorial Society
    International Historical Educational Charitable and Human Rights Society «Memorial» (International Memorial) is a non-commercial organisation studying political repressions in the USSR and in present-day Russia and promoting moral and legal rehabilitation of persons subjected to political repressions.

    Списки жертв
    For a quarter of a century, in different regions of the former Soviet Union, books have been prepared and published in memory of victims of political repression, containing brief biographical information about those executed, sent to camps, exiled and deported, dispossessed and deported, sent to a special settlement ... This work is still very far from completion
    Despite the impressive figure - three million - the current version contains, according to our estimates, no more than a quarter of the total number of victims of political terror (even if we consider as such only persons falling under the RF Law of 18.10.1991 "On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression" and directly subjected to reprisals in the form of the death penalty, imprisonment, exile or expulsion).

    Here are some of the main obstacles to building a complete database.

    An equally problematic issue is that Russia still does not have a state program to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression, despite the concept of state policy in this area approved in 2015.



    I have checked information for DOBRZAŃSKI Jan there, but couldn't find any records.
    As you can see on those websites there aren't to much information about polish soldiers, who were captured to the Soviet labor or POW camps.

    But when I continue my research I have found two very interesting books, which include information about
    all Soviet labor & POW camps including information about official NKVD orders, camps description,
    information about the number of prisoners & etc. (post download links here for your observe):

    Katyn 1940 - 2000 Documents
    https://mega.nz/file/emAAlBAR#xPZBBd...s1UssEwzbd1YGg

    POW camps of the NKVD & the Ministry of Internal Affairs of USSR 1939-1956
    https://mega.nz/file/3mQwXZ5S#Qqmdb1..._-i53WdevQ9Vyk

    According to this materials looks like the DOBRZAŃSKI Jan was moved from the POW camp in Kozielsk or Juchnów in Smoleńska obl.
    to the Ponoj POW camp in Murmańska obl. (the only camp in this area for the polish soldiers)

    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR

    As I understood most of the POW camps, was a labour camps too. There were only two Polish Gulag labor camps - Sevzheldorlag in Komi region (used for construction of the North-Pechora railway trunk. When the Great Patriotic War began, 7759 polish soldiers moved to the Juza POW camp in Iwanowska obl. Looks like 221 soldiers died in this camp) and
    Norillag (Norilstroy) in Krasnoyarsk region (used for construction and operation of the Norilsk Copper and Nickel
    plant and mastering the location of construction area. Only 180 polish soldiers, most likely specialists in the metallurgical industry)

    Concerning to the Ponoj POW camp in Murmańska obl. it was a temporary POW Camp (from 15.05.41 till 07(10).07.1941) & used for for the construction of an alternate airfield in the village Ponoj (attached some pictures of the airfield & the nearest village).

    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR


    When the Great Patriotic War began(22.06.1941) all soldiers were sent from port near village Karabel'noe, near Ponoj river to Arkhangelsk & when departured to the Suzdal POW camp or Juża POW camp, both in Iwanowska obl. According information from those two book all polish soldiers joined Anders' army on September of 1941 (attached the full list of polish soldiers by the army rank & military unit, who were departured from Kozielsk & Juchnów POW camps in Smoleńska obl. to the Ponoj POW camp in Murmańska obl.)

    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR

    "Soon after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, communication with the Ponoy camp was interrupted. It was only in early July that it became known that the units of the 19th convoy division, which had evacuated 13,000 prisoners and 63,000 prisoners from the GULAG camps, were also withdrawing the interned Poles from the Ponoy camp on foot from the danger zone. On July 7, the head of the NKVD Office for the Murmansk Region announced that the internees were being taken by water to Arkhangelsk. They arrived there on July 10; 2000 of them were taken to the Suzdal camp, the rest to the Yuzhsky camp. In September 1941, the internees of Poles joined the Anders Army"



    According to the IPN information all polish soldiers who goes through Ponoj camp joined Anders' army in Tatiszczewo in Saratowska obl.
    (attached some examples for your observe):

    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR
    Labor & POW camps of USSR

    On the IPN website I have found just one route for the soldier(Szlamka Piotr), who goes through Ponoj camp & died in Jangi Jul in Uzbekistan.

    Labor & POW camps of USSR

    For my opinion DOBRZAŃSKI Jan also joined Anders' army in Tatiszczewo, but something happened (maybe he got sick). Think that it can be the reason why he came in only on May of 1942 in Jangi Jul.

    Regards, Valerii

  2. #2

    Default

    Thx for your post.

    In the IPN index database of soldiers who joined the Anders Army there are only those who joined it in September 1941 in three basics assembly places: Buzułuk, Tatiszczewo and Tockoje. I have never seen other dates or places regarding the Anders Army.

    It simply seems that the soldiers who for some reason reached the Anders Army assembly points much later are not registered at all in this database...

    The late arrival of soldiers to the points where the Anders Army was formed was associated primarily with the deteriorating relations between the soviets and the Polish Government in London. Soviets began to impede Poles' access to the area of concentration of Polish troops. So a large part of Polish soldiers who joined the Anders Army are not included in the IPN database at all.

    Probably the exact lists of the Polish prisoners of the soviet forced labor camps are kept in the Russian archives and have not been disclosed so far.

    Regards
    Konrad

  3. #3

    Default

    Some additional info

    For my opinion most possible route for the DOBRZAŃSKI Jan (if he was an ordinary soldier) was Juchnów - Ponoj - Juża - Tatiszczewo - Jangi Jul or Kozielsk - Juchnów - Ponoj - Juża - Tatiszczewo - Jangi Jul.

    According information from the books, posted above - Kozielsk POW camp created most for the officers of the Polish army:

    "Kozelsky camp,
    Smolensk region, RSFSR
    - Placed in good houses, on separate
    territory isolated from the Poles. Were attracted
    to self-service work.Everyone had
    bed, bedding, everyone was dressed and shod. By permission of the Deputy People's Commissar of the NKVD of the USSR V.V. Chernyshov, they were transferred from the rations of prisoners of war to
    the ration set for interned Czechs, which greatly improved their nutrition. Correspondence was not allowe
    d"

    "Minutes No. 7 dated 04.09-03.10.1939 (D. 1014):
    p. 260. About prisoners of war - OP:
    - prisoners of war by nationality Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc., if they live on the territory
    of the USSR, - to let go;
    - for the construction of the Novgorod road
    Volynsky-Korets-Lvov leave 25 thousand prisoners of war;
    - prisoners of war whose homeland is on the territory of the German part of Poland, leave until re-
    dialects with the Germans (until further notice);
    - create separate camps for officers:
    Starobelsky, Ostashkovsky, Kozelsky."


    "In the Regulations for the POW camp
    nothing was said about the status of the camps, but in
    1939, the so-called special camps were allocated: Kozelsky (Smolensk region),
    Ostashkovsky (Kalinin region) and Starobel-
    sky (Voroshilovgrad region). In them, the NKVD sent such categories of prisoners of war and internees from among Polish citizens as officers, major military and government officials, intelligence officers, counterintelligence officers, gendarmes, jailers and polic
    e"

    If we go through the list of polish soldiers who were departured from Kozielsk & Juchnów POW camps in Smoleńska obl. to the Ponoj POW camp in Murmańska obl., find that the ordinary soldiers of the regular army came from the Juchnów POW camp.

    On the IPN website I coudn't find the examples when the soldier who came in to the Kozielsk POW camp continued his route to the Juża POW camp. I could find only the examples when the soldiers came in to the Kozielsk and immediately transfered to the Juchnów POW camp & only after that transferred to Juża.

    Labor & POW camps of USSR

    Look like the Suzdal POW camp also used mostly for the officers of the Polish army

    Is it possible from your side to provide the photo of the tattoo with a number, which you mentioned earlier?
    In which military rank DOBRZAŃSKI Jan joined to the Anders' Army?
    May be I can find some additional information for you Konrad.

    Regards, Valerii
    Last edited by ValeriiGajewski; 01-07-2021 at 12:52 PM.

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