Addressed to Vladimir Georgievich:
Dear Sir!
I received your letter. However, I cannot say with any certainty, whether I will be able to answer your questions. It is a difficult story to tell, but I will try to give you some more details about it, in spite of my being an almost entirely illiterate person. Let me start with the end.
The settlement of Uyar is situated at the small river Kova, 24 kms away from its mouth; next to it, 13 kms upstream from Uyar, the village of Sidova; then Prokopyeva (27 kms), the village of Kostina (37 kms) and finally, in a 60 kms distance from Kostina, the little village of Karamyshevo, which consists of 13 houses. And this is how the strips of land along the little river Kova are populated.
Second question. The Chaiyurya mine is about 600 kms away from Magadan on the Kolyma road. Its administration was located in the settlement of Neksikan. 12 kms away from Neksikan there was a mine called Bolshevik, 3 kms further - Chkalkov; another 3 kms further - Chaiyurya, then Komsomolets and the last Frolych. These mines along the little river Chaiyurya were called Death Valley. There were 5 forced labour camp sub-sectors. Upon my arrival I got to the 1st sub-sector. The prisoners marched to the coal face of the 4th sector without escort. The 5th camp sector was a forced labour camp punishment subunit, where the prisoners were kept closely guarded. Well, I was also sent to this 5th subunit, since I had not fulfilled the fixed work norm.
Behind this camp unit there was a mortuary, where they used to gather the dead bodies. According to the camp law they took their fingerprints, fastened an inscribed plate to one of their feet, carried them over to the hill and dug graves. There they were buried completely naked. And once again they took their fingerprints to make sure that it was not Ivan, who - by mistake - was buried instead of Stepan. Fingerprints were also available from any prisoner yet alive.
At the punishment unit fortune smiled upon me. We entered the pithead under escort. After the sirens had indicated the close of work, the soldiers did not hold us back a single minute. Only those, who had already been released from escort, where chased away to collect firewood for the kitchen. The others, who were kept a close watch on, were immediately driven back to the camp - and with that the day was over ...
Towards autumn stoves made of old drums were put up in the tents, and we tried to make the tents draft- and waterproof from below. I was able to do plumbing quite well and therefore started to lay pipes in the camp by the kitchen. I built myself an appropriate workbench, got myself plate shears and a pipe wrench and set to work.
We slept in these tents, on plank beds made of poles, as the planks were needed in the coal-face to move the wheel-barrows forward, which were loaded with rocks. I got accustomed to sleep on the kitchen floor, where it was much warmer. Apart from this the cook would always fill up my bowl with an additional ladle of balanda (very thin, watery camp soup; translator's note), although this was above the fixed food norm. Once one of the guards asked me: "Are you by any chance able to repair an accordion?" (At home I had been engaged in doing such things). And so I replied: "Yes, I am, but I need tooles". And then he brought me everything I needed: a file and various materials, so that after the repair the instrument would produce correct sounds again. And within short they called me "the master of harmony". The guard gave instructions to feed me in the kitchen until I had developed a big belly. And thus I was able to eat my fill at least of plain dumplings. Later the chief brought along his phonograph, which I repaired, as well. In the bath-house, in the disinfection chamber, someone had burnt the hands of the clock. I repaired them, too. I burnt the dial, smeared it with glue, piled up a little soot and pasted the face with it. I made the figures from straw and fixed them on the face. And finally I made the inscription "Chaiyurya - 5th camp sub-sector", for which I also used straw.
In the winter they sent the chief of our camp sector away. He was supposed to build a separate camp for invalids. He sent for 36 men from our penalty camp unit to work in the 1st brigade. He new them all from work. Having reached our destination 3 kms away from Neksikan, we immediately set about erecting baracks for the invalids. Later they built an industrial collective combine by this camp base. I was to construct and fit the stoves, lay the pipes, install the washing troughs and wash bowls. Sometime or other there had been a timber industry enterprise in this place; a couple of buildings were still left. There were no armed guards accompanying the prisoners. The chief was a good man, indeed. He provided us with new clothes and said to me: "You will serve your term in this place". And I replied: "My term is a long one".
They transferred "goners" (individuals who would be or were on their last legs; translator's note) from the small infirmary to our camp unit. They organized a carpenter's workshop and made washing troughs for the mines. I choose a couple of prisoners from among the "goners", and then we started to produce bowls and pitchers for the mine. In the shoemaker's workshop they made boots, in the tailor's shop - trousers, shirts and quilted jackets. Our collective combine supplied these goods to all mines supervised by the Chaiyurinsk camp administration. Ths we were working ... and then then the dirty war broke out.
Our ration consisted of 430 grs of bread and a warm meal once a day - watery balanda. One by one our "goners" wasted away. Three months later they put all remaining prisoners together in one barack (initially four had been occupied by us), and three were then empty. For a long time the cook, his family name was Okhrovskiy, continued to feed me with additional meals. I had repaired a Kirov watch for him, and he was so greatful to me that any time he received foodstuffs from the troops, he either brought me a loaf of bread or 300 grs of butter or sugar.
Later I was in charge of the engineering workshop, where we had three turning lathes. Our task was to provide the motor depot with materials to secure building sites and with pit-props. In the meantime I had become the head of the workshop. At that time they used to organize good workshops. I had 60 workers under me. The brought more and more people - right behind the river Krik there was the little infirmary, the camp hospital, where they took all the entirely exhausted prisoners, the "goners", from the mines. There they received some kind of treatment and medication and were then sent away to us, to the camp for invalids. They ran about freely, without guards. The little river Berelekh passed close by the camp, which was rich in fish. In the woods one could gather mushrooms and berries. The "goners" lived here for about 5-6 months, but as soon as they were back to their feet and fit for pushing a wheelbarrow again, they were immediately chased away to the mines. A year later, when this miner was on his last legs once more, they took him to the hospital again, from where he would soon be transferred to the invalid camp.
In winter it was very, very cold. This place was not so far away from Verkhoyansk, after all, which was considered as the coldest area of the world at that time. We put on jersey sweaters and pea-jackets, and in order to keep our feet warm, we sewed ourselves some kind of felt boots from sacks, old padded jackets and trousers. The soles of our boots were made of rubber stripes, which we had cut or pulled out of waste tubes. Lots of things were completely frozen, as the temperatures reached, in fact, -60 to -65°C. There were no free days, nor holidays, and the prisoners had to work 12 hours, i.e. a day and a night were exactly divided into two shifts.
Well, when they transported me away from the 5th camp sub-sector, only 6 people out of 50 had stayed alive upon our return from Magadan. The remaining had gone away to the hill (died; translator's note), most of them had been so-called blatary (criminals, people belonging to the criminal world; translator's note), "enemies of the people" and prisoners sentenced on section 58. With me, in the engineering workshop, two engineers were working as mechanics. One of them, who's family name I just recalled, was Varchenko. He was from the Ukraine and had earlier worked in the "Takmak" factory. In the collective combine there also were two ship's captains, who, in former times, had gone to sea and travelled to many far-away countries. They were Lenov and Bezrodny; the last-named was a friend of Papanin, who, however, was not able to help him at all.
Well, at that time those "enemies of the people", who knew how to correctly read and write, said that the time would come when they would write about us in newspapers and books. And it was, in fact, bound to come this way. How could they have anticipated that? In case you should trace out the magazine "New World", No. 6, 1988, you will find the "Kolyma tales" in there, written by Varlam Shalamov. All sorts of things described therein I experienced myself.
He also writes about a certain young engineer named Arm, who reported that the brigade leader did not fulfill his tasks as he should: the brigade leader was executed soonafter - and Arm became the head of the Chaiyurinsk administration. More than once I saw him in our engineering workshop. Apart from this there is another tale by Shalamov in the same magazine. It's title "Major Pugachov's last fight". This story is very well known to me -
how he managed to safe 11 people from working in the mine. He provided them with arms, and they shot many guards. However, most of them were killed, too. Only one of them was seized severely wounded. They treated him, until he had completely recovered and then - they executed him. I recommend to get this magazine, there are lots of interesting things to read.
A lot of situations are described therein and, of course, not all of them will be that interesting for you to read. In the holding cell of the prison in Kezhma there Zakhryagin from the village of Mozgova was detained. He had been sentenced on section 58 for unintentionally having dropped a Stalin bust, which had then broken to pieces. They condemned him to 8 years.
I also remeber S.S. Stupin from the little village of Kraynaya Kovinskaya. He was also sentenced to 8 years on section 58. F.I. Verkhoturov became the head of the Kosobyksk kolkhoz after his release. He died all of a sudden and unexpectedly in 1953. I had to take part in his burial. I.M. Shestakov is till alive; 10 years ago they carried his wife to the grave, and he is now living with his married daughter in the settlement of Nedokura, Kezhma district.
As far as the flooded barges are concerned, I would like to mention the following: I met someone at the Strelka; we talked for a while and he told me that he was from the village of Ust-Kova and that he ws the cousin of Vaska Simulyant. With us in Uyar there had lived a certain Vassiliy Viktorov, whose nickname had been Simulyant. He was arrested in 1938, togteher with many other inhabitants of Kezhma. I asked the man about what he knew about his cousin. He told me that the arrestees from Kezhma had not been transported away by barge, but by an Ilim boat, as these little boats were called. And they had flooded the Ilim boat, so that all people foundered. I was not interested to learn where this exactly happened, I did not even ask and maybe I even forgot his family name. All I know is that Viktorov got married to a widow and is reported to live in the Strelka. I even do know their house, but it is too far away from the house were I live, in the Koschewy Street.
In the course of one year I met a lot of people in the Yenisseysk prison. They were from Sovrudnik. They brought a young lad who worked for the pit at the hauling plant. His name was Derikachin. He inadvertently dropped a wheelbarrow filled with ore: they pinned section 58-7 on him and sentenced him to 25 years. There also were two young engineers from Sovrudnik, who had just graduated from university, and with them the manager of the pit. Till the end of my life I will never forget his surname - Kinko. They fabricated a false charge on them, sabotage, and sentenced them all. Kinko was sentenced to the maximum penalty, the two engineers to a 20 years' camp detention. I do not remember their surnames. Those, who had been sentenced on section 58-7, were not allowed to appeal against this sentence; one could only write a petition for mercy, but Kinko did not avail himself of this possibility. He had the Czech citizenship. Moscow did not confirm his case, but forwarded it for reinvestigation. One of the engineers was already in Kolyma, the second one had stayed in prison due to illness. And then, suddenly, the brought back the one from Kolyma and carried out a new investigation of all three cases. After the examinations had been finished they pronounced the following judgement: 3 years' of detention for Kinko for having offended against technical safety regulations (he had already spent 100 days in the solitary death cell!); the two engineers were acquitted of their charge. And I remember how we went out for a stroll, while Kinko was working - he was painting the prison walls and smiled.
Oh dear, although I would like to say a lot more, it is not possible to describe every single situation. There is not enough paper, too, not enough time, and my nerves are worn to a frazzle. This will be all for the moment. Please accept my apologies for my scribblings. Everything that does not appear to be interesting for you - well, just take it as a fairy tale.
Good-bye!
Sincerely yours,
P.B. Lyakhovsky
7th of June 1989