Early in the 1990s memoirs about the Norillag and its prisoners published in the local press inspired a young man, K.K. Sychev, resident of Norilsk, to search for traces of former camp life in the vicinity of the town. And he found them along the river Norilka and in the area of the copper factory. K.K. Sychev took his photos to the municipal museum.
This watchtower not far from the copper factory survived the Norillag and
is still standing straight in town….
Remains of the camp sub-sector of „Valyok“ can still be seen in the district
of Valka
not far from the bridge leading across the Norilka
How many fence posts with barbed wire are still being preserved in
Norilsk Industrial Area? There are many of them…
Once there was bustling life all over the mining camp: Fathers were doing shift-work for the „Medvezhniy Ruchei“ mine („Bears’ Creek; translator’s note.), the women did the house-keeping, the children were playing… Each of these houses was built by prisoners. The remains of the settlement which have been preserved till this day, are evidence of the culture of the architecture and sophisticated construction methods of that time; and the people living in the Far North wished to be able to enjoy beauty and a certain amount of comfort in life. The houses had two or three floors and disposed of high arched windows, broad staircases, high ceilings … It was so difficult and challenging to create housing space in the polar region, but it was obviously easy to later degenerate it into a slum…
The ruined settlement near the „Medvezhniy Ruchei“ mine
Photos: 1991
These pictures were taken by Vladimir Kamyshev, correspondent of the „Zapolarnaya Pravda“ newspaper agency.