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In the mid-1930s, the whole world knew about the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Newspapers in Europe and America wrote about him. It was visited by world-famous journalists and writers - Marin Andersen Nekse, Maxim Gorky, Alexei Tolstoy and others.
However, the endless series of military conflicts and wars, for which the 20th century was infamous in the memory of mankind, splashed out new sensations on the pages of newspapers. And they forgot about the channel. Already at the end of the 30s, when the tension in relations between the USSR and Finland turned into a war, the White Sea - Baltic Canal, the shipping route of which was laid less than a hundred kilometers from the Finnish border, was closed to the public. After the Soviet-Finnish war, the Second World War began, and people were already worried about completely different problems. However, the White Sea-Baltic waterway itself continued and continues to operate. Moreover, interest in its history only increases from year to year. Now LBC is increasingly referred to as "a monument to the era of Stalinism."
However, not everyone agrees with this definition. Some believe that monuments to Stalinism on Lubyanka Square in Moscow and on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island in the White Sea are enough. And the LBC should be recognized as a monument to Russian designers, engineers and workers. It was they who designed and in just 20 months cut through the rocks and in the rocky northern land an artificial shipping route with a length of 227 kilometers.
Whatever opinions now exist, the White Sea Canal remains a unique phenomenon in world history. Until now, he attracts historians who study the transformation of power in relation to their own people using his example. The BBK is unique in the engineering sense, like a hydraulic structure. Never before has wood been used on such a mass scale in the construction of the most important dams and waterworks. The White Sea Canal is of interest to specialists as a "visual aid" on the history of the punitive organs of the USSR at the beginning of the century. The "Gulag Archipelago" (according to the definition of the Nobel laureate A. I. Solzhenitsyn) began exactly here. All this gives grounds to speak of the White Sea-Baltic Canal as a phenomenon of the 20th century that has passed into history, the study of whose history continues and does not lose its relevance.
During the years of perestroika, when the archives of the NKVD were opened, the book "Canalarmists" by Lieutenant Colonel of militia I. I. Chukhin, who died early, was published, in which the author examines the materials of the history of the construction of the White Sea Canal in 1931-1933 on the territory of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by 126 thousand prisoners BelBaltLAG OGPU.
The role of the labor of prisoners in the economy of the USSR in the 30s. L. Rasskazov's article "The role of the Gulag in the pre-war five-year plans" is devoted to. The White Sea - Baltic Canal had a significant impact on the development of Karelia.
On the formation of the White Sea - Baltic Combine and its role in the development of the White Sea Canal and in the development of Karelia in 1933 - 1941. is described in the article by V. G. Makurov “LBC in Karelia. 1933 - 1941”.
Naturally, the great Russian writer A. I. Solzhenitsyn, the author of the famous Gulag Archipelago, could not ignore this page of Soviet history. In our work, we used his book “Two Hundred Years Together”. Working for half a century on the history of the Russian revolution, A. I. Solzhenitsyn many times came into contact with the issue of Russian-Jewish relations, which he explores in this book. Among other Jews who participated in the Russian revolution, there were also the leaders of the White Sea - Baltic Canal, about whom the author writes.
Karelian historians K. A. Morozov and S. G. Verigin write about the evacuation of LBC workers at the beginning of the war and their labor contribution to the country's economy, about the restoration of the canal after the liberation of Karelia from the enemy. Konstantin Gnetnev, a well-known Karelian journalist, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, a man who lived on the canal for the first 25 years of his life, devoted his books to the history of the White Sea - Baltic Canal.
In 1983, the Karelia publishing house published a book by this author, Stairway to the White Sea, dedicated to the canal. However, at that time the archives were closed, a lot of information was classified, all published literature was subjected to strict censorship. In 2003, a new book by Konstantin Gnetnev "Channel" was published, dedicated to his 70th birthday. This is not a continuation of the first edition, not a "remake" of a twenty-year-old book, this is a completely new look at the history of the greatest engineering structure of the Soviet era, built in record time - in just 20 months. The author of the book, based on his own life experience, on the new information that has been revealed, tells about the history of the canal itself, and not just about its legendary construction. After all, the LBC is, first of all, a huge unique enterprise, born of human thought and hands, it is 227 kilometers of water space, it is the most important object of the state's economy. And, of course, these are people, thousands of destinies associated with the channel. The history of the channel did not end with the advent of the new century. He continues to work for the country's economy.
There are many documentary and personal sources on the history of the White Sea - Baltic Canal. Access to those of them that tell about the construction of the canal, indicate that it was built on the blood of tens of thousands of prisoners, appeared during the years of perestroika, when the NKVD archives were declassified.
Many declassified documents can already be found on the Internet on the official website of the Federal Archival Agency (Rosarchive). Thus, in our work we used documents from this site: Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the use of the labor of criminal prisoners" dated July 11, 1929; Order for the construction of Belomoro - the Baltic waterway and Belomoro - the Baltic camp of the OGPU No. 111 of November 6, 1932, Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of August 4. 1933 “On the provision of benefits to participants in the construction of the Belomoro-Baltic Canal. comrade I. V. Stalin.
In the National Archives of the Republic of Karelia for the Soviet period in 1988-1991. Documents of no small importance for historical science from the fund "Office of the White Sea-Baltic Combine of the NKVD of the USSR" were declassified. These documents were published in various publications, including the collection The Gulag in Krelia.
Among the published documents are many memoirs of the builders of the canal. In our work, we used the memoirs of such an outstanding canal soldier as D.S. Likhachev, as well as an unknown "convict", even whose name we do not know.
Also used in this work:
Memories of residents of Belomorsk who worked at the LBC at various times: I.G. Sverchkov, who took part in the evacuation of the shipyard from Polenets in 1941, the story of T. Sokolova, who kept the memories of her grandmother T.N. Novikova about life on the LBC at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and about evacuation on the "ice caravan".
An important source is the book “The White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Stalin. The history of construction" first saw the light of day 64 years ago - in 1934. And 61 years ago, in 1937, the entire print run of this book was withdrawn from circulation and destroyed. Only a few copies survived. Since then, the book "White Sea-Baltic Canal" has not been published.
One of the greats said that books, like people, have their own destinies. Today this expression is almost a cliche, but the fate of this book is really tragic. It was written by order (or rather, by order) of the OGPU and the Communist Party. By their own order, it was destroyed after the execution of G. Yagoda, one of the main "heroes" of the book. This book was written by talented people, the flower of the Soviet intelligentsia, they wrote with enthusiasm, and somehow I can’t believe that they did it “under duress”. It is symbolic that not only the characters of the book, but also many of its authors did not survive 1937-38.
This book tells about the construction of the first shipping canal in the USSR. But its main value is that it is a document of the era, that it describes the time through the eyes of the people who lived in it. You can have different attitudes towards that time, to that social system, to this book and its authors - this is the right of everyone. But in order to at least somehow relate to all this, you need to at least know something about all this.
The book "The White Sea - Baltic Canal named after Stalin. History of construction” was not published for 60 years. In our work, we used its 1998 reprint edition.
The chronological framework of our study covers the period from 1930 to 1964. These chronological frameworks are determined based on the purpose and objectives of our work. In 1930, a decision was made to build the White Sea - Baltic, and in June 1964, after restoration and reconstruction, the modern Volga-Baltic waterway was put into operation.
Construction of the White Sea - Baltic Canal. BBC in the 1930s
The route from the White Sea to the central regions of the country through the natural system of rivers and lakes has been known to merchants since the 16th century. In the XVI-XVII centuries, this path was used by pilgrims going to the shrines of the Solovetsky Monastery.
For the first time, the idea of building a navigable canal that would connect the White and Baltic Seas arose during the Northern War and belonged to Peter I.
The authorship of one of the first projects of the White Sea Canal belongs to the merchant from the Pomeranian city of Kem Fyodor Antonov F. Antonov, whose ashes now lie in the fence of the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Kem, was not only the first to accurately indicate the direction of the future shipping route. He rightly noted that the further development of the entire Russian North depends on the construction of the canal.
However, it was only in the 19th century that the development of the canal project was undertaken in detail. Then, by order of the government, four construction projects were developed: the first was the project of F. P. Devolan in 1800, the second was the project of Count A. Kh. world exhibition, - Professor V. E. Timonov. However, all construction options were rejected by the tsarist government due to their high cost.
In the 1930s, the Soviet government addressed the issue of canal construction. The initiator of the construction of the White Sea Canal was Joseph Stalin.
At the same time, reasons of both political and economic nature were of particular importance. The White Sea remained defenseless against any aggression. This was shown by the intervention of 1918-1920. From a strategic point of view, it was necessary to build a canal that would connect the White and Baltic Seas and would allow creating a reliable defense of the northern borders of the state. But in the 20s. it was not possible to find funds for the construction of the canal.
In the mid-20s, the population of the country experienced hunger. Peasant uprisings arose spontaneously in a number of central black earth regions of Russia. They were severely suppressed by parts of the regular army. However, this circumstance allowed the new Bolshevik government to formulate its policy towards the peasants, especially the prosperous, independent ones, as openly hostile. A new concept was introduced into the official lexicon - "fist". A massive propaganda campaign began in the press to "destroy the 'kulak' as a class."
As a result of such a policy, with the help of repression, the Bolsheviks got rid of real and imaginary enemies within the country. They filled prisons and concentration camps with them. But the life of ordinary citizens did not get better from this. If earlier this circumstance could still be propagandistically explained by the presence of many "enemies" - in the Kremlin, in ministries, at factories, factories and in agriculture, now a serious problem has arisen. Successes in the economy turned out to be vital for the Soviet government. Without real victories in the development of transport, metallurgy, without the economic development of new territories of the vast state, the Bolsheviks could not count on strengthening their authority in the world community.
Under these conditions, the idea of building the White Sea Canal turned out to be very useful. It was on the White Sea Canal that the Bolsheviks decided to show the world their ability to solve grandiose economic problems. Another major international goal was also set. It consisted in demonstrating the possibilities and advantages of the new socialist system.
The world economic crisis did not leave the Soviet Union aside either. The trade balance worsened, great difficulties arose with the payment of imported goods necessary for industrialization. At the same time, it was necessary to show the world that the Soviet Union could industrialize on its own without resorting to imports from the West. The country needed labor victories, global achievements, but without extra costs. Therefore, in order to save foreign exchange funds necessary for industrialization and defense, it was decided to use exclusively manual labor - the labor of prisoners - in the construction of the White Sea Canal.
LBC, in addition to being intended to symbolize the successes of the socialist system, was of great strategic and economic importance. It was supposed to ensure the country's access to the World Ocean, reliable communication with the West, direct maritime communication between the European part of the USSR and the Far East. The route from Leningrad to Arkhangelsk, thanks to the canal, was reduced by 4 times and became a river one. The canal was supposed to pass through a territory rich in minerals and forests and contribute to the economic development of the northern region.
On June 3, 1930, it was decided to start work on the construction of the canal; July 1, 1931 - the first draft construction projects were submitted for consideration.
In 1931, a group of engineers led by S.Ya. Zhuk, a project was developed for the first inter-basin connection - the White Sea - Baltic Canal, and for its implementation the construction organization Belomorstroy was created. Construction began in the same 31st year. All orders were carried out at the domestic factories Krasny Putilovets, Russian Diesel, etc.
Talent and creative search were shown in the design by Professor V.N. Maslov, who proposed the design of wooden gates and gates, K.M. Zubrik - the construction of the Shavan dam from inclined wooden laces, O.V. Vyazemsky - who performed the calculation of the entire route of the canal and proposed an unusual design of a high-pressure dam on the river. Vyg and others.
Although the final project was approved only in February 1932, construction began at the end of 1931. The White Sea Canal became the first great construction site for prisoners.
Back in 1929, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the use of the labor of criminal prisoners" was issued. However, the labor of not only criminals was used in the construction of the White Sea Canal. For its construction, the so-called Special Committee for the Construction of the Baltic-White Sea Waterway was established under the Council of Labor and Defense. On June 3, 1930, it was decided "when determining the cost of work ... to take into account the possibility of involving the labor of prisoners in the work." In this regard, "when designing the construction site, great attention was paid to reducing the cost of all structures and minimizing the consumption of scarce imported materials."
The OGPU was supposed to ensure the construction of the canal without unnecessary material costs. People didn't count. Echelons of prisoners continuously entered the great construction site.
In addition, since 1920, a forced labor camp was located on the Solovetsky Islands - the first corrective labor camp in post-revolutionary Russia.
By 1930, Solovki was turned into a huge industrial complex of 12 branches, which spread throughout the Russian North, in the territories of the present Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, as well as the Republic of Karelia.
“Solovki was an experimental testing ground where norms and methods were developed, which were later widely used in the Gulag. The organization of the work and life of prisoners, types of punishment, sophisticated methods of interrogation and psychological suppression, security regimes, how to shoot and hide corpses - all this machinery of evil was invented there. The scale of the polygon is impressive. From 1920 to 1939, before it was disbanded on the orders of Beria, almost a million people passed through the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp and the Karelian camps associated with it. Only a select few were lucky enough to return, and almost all of the survivors could not help but reminisce. Apparently, this burden turned out to be heavy for the memory ... ", writes A. Rappoport.
Academician Dmitry Likhachev served time in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON) as a counter-revolutionary.
D.S. Likhachev recalled his life in the Solovetsky camp: “... At first, on Solovki, I lived in the 13th company, the general works company. There I had a place under the bunk beds, because there were no more places on the bunk beds - The barracks were overcrowded.After general work with all its horrors, I began to work in the criminological office, where I began to study juvenile delinquents and select them for a labor colony.
The color of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia gathered in the criminological office of Solovkov. It was headed by the former tsarist prosecutor Alexander Nikolaevich Kolosov. Together with him worked the former revolutionary, philosopher Alexander Alexandrovich Meyer, who was arrested in the sensational case of the circle of philosophers "Resurrection", the teacher of the Herzen Pedagogical Institute Alexander Petrovich Sukhov, Ksenia Anatolyevna Polovtseva, the doctor of the Sorbonne University, Yulia Nikolaevna Danzas, in the past the maid of honor at the court of Alexandra Fedorovna and a lot of other very interesting people...
Among the prisoners there were many poets - Pankratov, Kazarnovsky, Evreinov. Some of them returned from the White Guard emigration to their homeland and, of course, were immediately arrested. Including the first-class poet Vladimir Kimensky. The poetic youth then lived with the verses of Baratynsky and the recently published collection of O. Mandelstam "Stone".
The intelligentsia did not give up under those conditions. She lived her spiritual life, often hidden from prying eyes, gathering and discussing various philosophical problems. I remember the speeches of A.A. Meyer, the memoirs of Yu.N. Danzas about the imperial family, later on the White Sea - Baltic Canal stories by A.F. Losev. These were very interesting people. The prisoners supported each other, helped. They were exceptional, wonderful people, and I consider it my duty to remember them and tell about them.
I saw Gorky in the Solovetsky camp and I know very well that he saw everything and knew what was going on there. One little boy told him about the torture, about the horror that is happening ... ".
The curators of the construction of the White Sea - Baltic Canal were the future Stalinist People's Commissar Heinrich Yagoda and the head of the Gulag Lazar Kogan. The construction of the canal was led by N. A. Frenkel, who owned the idea of turning hard labor into a huge enterprise that brings large incomes to the state, which Stalin liked so much. E. I. Senkevich, P. F. Alexandrov and S. G. Firin were also in the leadership of the BelBaltLag at the construction stage.
In the spring of 1932, Genrikh Yagoda, then deputy chairman of the OGPU, approved the "Regulations on the special rights of the head of the Gulag, comrade Kogan L.I., and the assistant to the head of the Gulag, comrade Yakov Rapoport, in the construction of the Belomoro - Baltic waterway, carried out by the forces of prisoners." In accordance with the Regulations, they were given the right to administratively increase the term of imprisonment in the camps for persons violating the established order and discipline. The list included 15 specific violations. At the same time, it was allowed to apply such a measure for other offenses. The decision to increase the term of imprisonment was not subject to appeal.
The White Sea Canal was built from beginning to end by the forces of Gulag prisoners. Each forced laborer was called a prisoner of the canal army, abbreviated as "z / k", from which the slang word "zek" came from. The Gulag division on the canal was called the White Sea-Baltic camp ("BelBaltLag"). Most of the prisoners were transferred to the new camp mainly from Solovki. Convicted designers created drawings, found extraordinary technical solutions (dictated by the lack of machines and materials). Those who did not have an education suitable for designing spent day and night digging a canal, waist-deep in liquid mud, driven not only by overseers, but also by members of their brigade: those who did not fulfill the norm were reduced to an already meager diet. This was one road: into concrete (the dead were not buried at the White Sea Canal, but simply fell asleep at random in pits, which were then filled with concrete and served as the bottom of the canal). The main tools of labor in the construction were a wheelbarrow, a sledgehammer, a shovel, an ax and a wooden crane for moving boulders.
By May 1, 1932, 100 thousand workers were employed in the construction of the canal, of which 60 thousand were housed in barracks. The rest lived in tents and other temporary buildings. Without modern technology, without sufficient material support, the management of the construction site has achieved "for many objects ... output standards that exceed the unified all-Union standards."
In general, for the entire period of construction, the canal army carried out earthworks in the amount of 21 million cubic meters, built 37 km of artificial tracks, moved the Murmansk railway, which interfered with earthworks.
The prisoners, unable to withstand the unbearable conditions of detention and overwork, died by the hundreds. At times, the death rate reached 700 people a day. Meanwhile, the newspapers printed editorials devoted to the "reforging by labor" of hardened recidivists and political criminals.
During the construction of the canal, the administration used various methods to improve the efficiency of the work performed. The main means of stimulating the prisoners was the so-called "Kotlovka" - unequal nutrition. The less the prisoner worked, the less food he received. Those prisoners who did not comply with the norms received a "penalty ration". Naturally, such measures led to instant exhaustion and death. And of course, the rations for the "drummers" who overfulfilled the norm did not cover the physical costs.
To increase the efficiency of the work of the Canal Army, competition between brigades, labor collectives, and gateways was also used. Universal days of records were announced. This was facilitated by a sophisticated propaganda campaign to praise the state penitentiary policy.
So, the most typical propaganda video was the feature film "Prisoners" about the rapid and miraculous transformation of criminals into advanced builders of a new society.
"To you, the builders of Belomorstroy, who have realized their crimes against the Soviet regime and atone for their guilt through generally useful work, this day should also be dear, like to every citizen of the USSR," the order for the construction of the White Sea-Baltic waterway and the White Sea-Baltic camp of the OGPU No. 111 of November 6, 1932
According to the memoirs of a prisoner, whose name remains unknown, at the construction of the White Sea Canal, early-released “leaders” often spoke, who read statements like the following “from a piece of paper”: “I stole all my life, I didn’t get out of prisons, and thanks to the Soviet government, thanks to a comrade Stalin, who taught me to work honestly and become a useful person... I decided to stay in my native brigade for another month to prove to all the bastards, enemies of the people, that none of their sabotage will prevent us, the working class, from successfully fulfilling the plan and completing the great construction of communism - our native White Sea Canal! I urge everyone not to lose vigilance and expose the pests who lurk here and want to disrupt our plans. Long live Comrade Stalin! Long live our construction manager, Comrade Rapoport!"
About 280 thousand prisoners took part in the construction of the canal, of which about 100 thousand died.
Brute physical strength alone could not lead to success in complex hydraulic engineering. An accurate design and engineering calculation was required. To do this, they searched all over the country, arrested and took to the camp for the construction of any specialists needed here. A third-generation travel engineer, a representative of the noble Russian Vyazemsky family, Orest Valeryanovich Vyazemsky, recalled how, after his arrest, during the investigation, he asked the investigator what exactly he was accused of. "You were not a Soviet person," the NKVD investigator replied. “Yes,” Vyazemsky agrees. - I don't like meetings, I don't read Soviet newspapers and I don't go to meetings. So I'm not a Soviet person." And this was enough for Vyazemsky to be sentenced to five years in a camp.
After completion of work on the construction of the White Sea Canal, O. V. Vyazemsky, like other designers and engineers, was awarded the Order and released from the camp.
Another engineer K. M. Zubrik, who also became an order bearer and became famous for his original design developments on the White Sea Canal, did not know his sentence and even the term that he was assigned to spend in the camp for a year and a half after his arrest (December 1930). They forgot to tell him. For the NKVD, this was unimportant. And only in June 1932, at the request of his wife, he found out for what and for how long he was convicted. K. M. Zubrik also received an order and was released from prison immediately after the completion of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal.
At the direction of I.V. Stalin, a 227 km long canal was to be built in twenty months - from September 1931 to April 1933 (for comparison: the Panama Canal 80 km long was built 28 years, the Suez Canal 160 km long - 10 years). In record time, more than 100 complex engineering structures were built, 2.5 thousand km of railway lines were laid. In the constructions of the canal, mainly local non-deficient building materials were used: wood, stone, soil, peat.
In May 1933, G. G. Yagoda reported to I. V. Stalin on the readiness of the White Sea Canal. The construction was completed on June 20, 1933, the canal was named "Stalin's canal". In July of the same year, I. V. Stalin, K. E. Voroshilov and S. M. Kirov take a boat trip along a new man-made waterway. Stalin was pleased. The heads of the OGPU in full force were awarded orders.
In connection with the completion of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic waterway, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to release a significant number of prisoners ahead of schedule and without any restrictions, "who have especially proved themselves as shock workers, who have special merits in this construction." Never before has such a practice of mass release of prisoners been used in the USSR.
The opening of the channel was accompanied by a powerful information campaign. Newspapers such as Pravda or Izvestia published feature articles, propaganda cartoons, and portraits of workers. Soviet propaganda presented the experience of building the LBC as "the world's first experience of reforging by labor the most inveterate repeat offenders and political enemies."
In the summer of 1933, shortly before the opening, a group of 120 writers and artists headed by Maxim Gorky visited the LBC (among them were such well-known writers as Alexei Tolstoy, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Viktor Shklovsky, Ilf and Petrov, Bruno Yasensky, Valentin Kataev , Vera Inber, D. P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky and others) to get acquainted with the miracle of the socialist economy. The writers traveled by steamboat along the unfinished canal, visited camps specially prepared for the visit, talked with the prisoners, who, of course, praised the party and the great leader for giving them the opportunity to atone for their guilt by shock work at the great construction site, with the leaders of the construction of the facility, took walks along channel.
The writer Alexander Ovdienko was so struck that he later recalled: “I was stunned by the abundance of drummers I saw - the Kanalstroy workers. Sturgeon fish lay on large dishes under the transparent thickness of the aspic. Pieces of tesha, salmon, and salmon were bathed in fat on narrow plates. A large number of plates were littered with rings of sausage, ham, cheese. Fresh radishes blazed…”.
As a result of this trip, 36 writers (including Maxim Gorky, V.P. Kataev, V.V. Ivanov, V.M. Inber, A.N. Tolstoy, M.M. Zoshchenko and others) published a 600-page book "The White Sea - Baltic Canal named after Stalin" about the heroic work of the creators of the White Sea Canal and dedicated it to the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b). The writers told the readers of the Soviet country about the unusually high growth rates of the socialist economy, about the shock work of production workers on the construction of the canal, about the inferiority of European-American capitalism, about the heroic efforts of the security officers to organize work and to "reforge" prisoners. Nothing was said about the cruelty of the order, about hunger, about the cold, about the death of thousands of people, the humiliation of their human dignity. “This is one of the most brilliant victories of the collectively organized energy of people over the elements of the harsh nature of the north. At the same time, this is an excellently successful experiment in the mass transformation of the former enemies of the proletariat-dictator and the Soviet public into qualified employees of the working class and even into enthusiasts of state-necessary labor. A quick victory over a nature hostile to people, accomplished by the unanimous onslaught of thousands of heterogeneous, multi-tribal units, is amazing, but even more amazing is the victory that people won over themselves, anarchized by the recent, bestial power of autocratic petty bourgeoisie” - such an assessment is given to the opening of the LBC in this edition.
A. I. Solzhenitsyn wrote about this whole propaganda bacchanalia: “The world-famous BelBaltlag absorbed hundreds of thousands of Russian, Ukrainian and Central Asian peasants in 1931-1932. Having opened the August newspaper of 1933, dedicated to the end of the channel, we read the list of those awarded. Lower orders are also received there by concrete workers, reinforcing workers, but the highest order, the Order of Lenin, is only eight people, with even larger photographs of each, and it was given only to two engineers themselves, but on the other hand, to all the top leadership of the channel (according to Stalin's understanding of the role of the individual). And who is in charge? Genrikh Yagoda, People's Commissar of the NKVD, Matvey Berman, head of the Gulag, Semyon Firin, head of the BelBaltlag (by the time of the award, he was already the head of Dmitlag, and the whole picture will be repeated there again), Lazar Kogan, head of construction (the same will go to the Volga Canal), Yakov Rapoport , Deputy Head of Construction, Naftaly Frenkel, Head of Belomorstroy (and the evil spirit of the entire Archipelago).
And all their portraits were again repeated in large scale in the solemnly shameful book "White Sea Canal" - in the format of the Church Gospel, as in the Millennium Kingdom ahead. And now, 40 years later, I repeated these six portraits of villains in the Archipelago - from their own exhibition I took, and not selectively, but all the rulers who were placed.
The White Sea-Baltic ITL operated from November 1931 to September 1941, its administration was initially located in the city of Medvezhyegorsk, from July 1933 to September 1935 - in the village of Nadvoitsy, and then again in Medvezhyegorsk. The number of prisoners in the camp reached 108,000 people who were initially employed in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and later in its operation, logging, transport, hydraulic and industrial construction. On August 17, 1933, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the White Sea - Baltic Combine" was adopted.
“In order to develop the White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Stalinai and adjacent areas "was formed by the White Sea-Baltic Combine (Belbaltkombinat), the direct management of which was entrusted to the OGPU. Belbaltkombinat was an independent economic unit.
Ivan Solonevich, who ended up at the plant in 1933 for an attempt to escape from the USSR, and who later nevertheless managed to carry out this attempt, wrote about the BBK: , with its own logging operations, quarries, factories, plants, railway lines, and even with its own shipyards and shipping companies. It has nine "departments": Murmansk, Tuloma, Kemskoe, Soroki, Segezha, Sosnovets, watershed, Povenets and Medgorskoe. In each such department - from five to twenty-seven camp points ("camp points") with a population of five hundred to twenty-five thousand people. Most of the camps also have their own "business trips" - all sorts of small enterprises scattered on the territory of the camp.
At st. Medvezhya Gora ("Medgora") is the control of the camp - it is also the actual government of the so-called "Karelian Republic" - the camp swallowed up the republic, seized its territory and - according to Stalin's well-known order to organize the Baltic - White Sea Combine - usurped all the economic and administrative functions of the government . This government is left with only a “representation”, running errands on orders from Medgora, and the role of decoration for the national autonomy of Karelia.”
The authors of the "History of Karelia from ancient times to the present day" note: "The sawmill and woodworking industries developed in the Belbaltkombinat system. In addition to the Medvezhyegorsk and Segezha sawmills, taken over from the trust "Karellesdrev" in 1934, LBC built the Pindushsky, Sunozero and Letnerechensky sawmills. In addition, the plant had two furniture factories in Medvezhyegorsk and Nadvoitsy, 10 single-frame mobile sawmills and 19 sledge cutters. Wood-chemical production was developed: tar, tar, and coal were harvested. The prisoners produced more than a third of the products of the sawmill industry in Karelia.
After the completion of construction in the Belomoro-Baltic Combine, 71 thousand prisoners were employed in the operation of the canal.
In 1948, with the beginning of the construction of the subsequent “great construction projects of communism” (Volga-Don Canal, Volga-Baltic waterway, Kuibyshev and Stalingrad hydroelectric power stations and other facilities), the authorities used an already proven method: they built large forced labor camps serving construction sites. And it was easy to find those who would fill the vacancies of the slaves. Only by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of June 4, 1947 “On criminal liability for theft of state and public property”, hundreds of thousands of people got into the zone. The labor of convicts was used in the most labor-intensive and "harmful" industries.
On March 23, 1939, by Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 321 "On the transfer of the White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Stalin to the People's Commissariat of Water Transport", the channel was withdrawn from the structure of the BelBaltCombinat of the OGPU of the USSR and became an independent enterprise.
The creation of the White Sea - Baltic Canal gave birth to Belomorsk, as well as other cities of Karelia from the White Sea to Lake Onega. After the start of the operation of the canal, industry began to develop in the republic. On the basis of the canal, a cascade of Vygsky hydroelectric power plants was built, providing cheap electricity, which made it possible, for example, to build aluminum and pulp and paper mills.
During the first navigation, 1,143 thousand tons of cargo and 27 thousand passengers were transported. In 1940, the volume of traffic amounted to about a million tons, which was 44% of the throughput.
From a strategic point of view, the canal provided an opportunity to link the White and Baltic Seas. Already in 1933, the White Sea Canal made it possible to create a reliable defense of the northern borders of the state. Until that time, the North Arctic coast was practically not guarded by anyone and was not protected from a possible invasion. The first ships to pass through the new water route were warships - one of the first Soviet submarines of the Dekabrist class.
Thus, the history of the construction and operation of the Belomoro-Baltic Canal in the Stalin period is the history of the suffering of a huge number of Soviet people.
The idea of using the mass labor of prisoners, proposed by N.A. Frenkel, and tested on the construction of the White Sea Canal, was repeatedly embodied by the authorities of the USSR in the future. After the White Sea Canal in Karelia, the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway, the Moscow-Volga navigable canal and dozens of other combines, factories and cities began.
BBK during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war period
On June 12, 1941, the last pre-war navigation was opened in the basin by Order No. 54 of the LBC, signed by the Deputy Head of the Department - Chief Engineer A.I. Vasilov.
And already on June 23, 1941, the day after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the head of the “MPVO facility”, - as the Office of the Belomoro - Baltic Canal began to be designated in the documents, - A. I. Vasilov issued order No. 1 “On the introduction of a threatened situation on the White Sea - Baltic Canal. Stalin." Round-the-clock duty at intercom and telephone sets, constant wearing of gas masks were introduced. Workers of hydroelectric facilities and residents of lock settlements dug cracks for 4 hours a day to protect themselves from raids.
Nevertheless, the canal team continued to do its job: it served the waterway and hydraulic structures, locked ships going from south to north, even under continuous enemy bombing.
At the beginning of the war, the NKVD of the USSR ordered the GULAG to evacuate all the timber enterprises of the LBC, and then the entire plant, into the depths of the country. However, on July 19, 1941, the Republican Evacuation Commission decided to prohibit the LBC Administration from dismantling and removing telephone lines, since both the front and Karelia needed them.
The backbone of the labor collective of the White Sea-Baltic Canal at that time was mainly made up of people according to the organizational recruitment. They came here from villages, forest settlements. They were promised a job, an apartment, lifting. For example, Taisiya Nikolaevna Novikova came to Karelia in the late 1930s voluntarily. The fate of this woman was not easy. She got married at the age of twenty. The husband was at that time the chairman of the village council. In 1932 she graduated from pedagogical courses in the town of Poshekhonovo, Volodarsky district, then worked as an accountant and teacher. In 19936, her husband was arrested under Art. 74 of the Criminal Code (slander of the social system) and taken to prison for two and a half years. Somehow, his wife managed to find out that he was exiled to the LBC. Taking two children, she went after him. In Karelia, the family stayed in the village of Povenets. The woman got a job as an accountant at a shipyard.
The premonition of an approaching military thunderstorm was especially felt at the LBC. A formidable order about the state of official discipline and vigilance appears at the canal facilities. Women studied chemical protection means at the courses, learned how to provide medical care.
On July 1, 1941, on the basis of a decree of the NKVD of the USSR, the evacuation of prisoners who worked in the LBC system began. Among the first to be evacuated were the "most dangerous elements": those convicted of counter-revolutionary activities, foreign nationals, as well as "persons of certain nationalities" (Germans, Finns, etc.). 24,880 prisoners were transported by water and rail to Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kirov, Yaroslavl and other regions.
Navigation in 1941 was difficult, with airplanes constantly flying from the Finnish border. The enemy was well aware of this artificial waterway. On June 28, the first bomb fell on lock number six. Raids were also made on other hydraulic structures. In total, in June 1941 there were 5 bombings of the canal. 1941, on August 28, the last (fifth) bombing in the 1941 navigation was undertaken by the enemy. Airlock 7 attacked. No damage found.
In August 1941, the Directorate of LBC and technical departments was evacuated to Belomorsk, to lock No. 19. Of the 800 workers on the canal, 80 remained. The rest were evacuated.
After the surrender of Petrozavodsk, our troops retreated to the north. At the end of October 1941, a decision was made to evacuate the Povenets shipyard to Belomorsk. By that time, this enterprise had grown from semi-handicraft workshops into a modern, well-equipped production. The main equipment of the plant was dismantled and loaded onto ships. Barges were loaded with materials and everything necessary for work at the new location. Together with the equipment, workers and specialists were sent from Povenets to Belomorsk. In addition, the caravan included barges with employees of the factory department of work supply, medical service specialists, among them was T.N. Novikov. They were accompanied by tugboats. The director of the plant, I. Sh. Faizulin, was appointed head of the caravan.
In November, a caravan of passenger ships with evacuated families of Povenets watermen and residents of surrounding villages, as well as equipment, froze into the ice of Vygozero. T. Novikova's granddaughter T. Sokolova recalls: “Grandmother often told us that the caravan was sent when the canal was already covered with ice. The locking went on with great difficulty. Gates and mechanisms froze. The ice interfered with the work of hand winches. Nevertheless, the caravan made its way to the village of Sosnowiec and stood at lock number fifteen. It was not possible to go to the White Sea, but the workers did not sit idly by. They made a diesel engine, a generator and made lighting. Machine tools were connected, and the production of hand grenade parts began. Thus, the ship turned into a floating factory-workshop. Later, an icebreaker was allocated and part of the caravan was brought to Belomorsk. "Here the plant began to operate at full capacity. The workers and specialists of the Povenets ship repair plant produced mines for mortars, machine guns and pistols. For exactly a year, the Povenchans worked near Belomorsk. Accounting for all work and finances was in charge of T N. Novikova In 1942, the floating plant was transferred from Karelia to Veliky Ustyug, and Taisiya Nikolaevna stayed with her children in the village of Vodnikov.
“Grandmother recalled,” says her granddaughter T. Sokolova, “that during the war years they lived in dugouts, which were located at the place where the seaport gatehouse is now. Then they were moved to barracks, and only in the 50s the family received an apartment. All my life my grandmother was demanding and honest. For her work during the war years, she was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Second World War." She did not tell anyone about her fate. She never met her husband, for whom she came to the channel. When we asked her about her grandfather, she said that she had received news that he had died in the Far East on Victory Day. We have not seen any documentation of his death. Only after the death of my grandmother did they find old photographs in her bag, an extract from the register of births for 1904, as well as a certificate of 1917 about her graduation from the city school, then they realized that in the life of our grandmother there were many interesting things unknown to us. But the fact that she connected her fate with the channel is for sure.
I.G., a resident of Belomorsk, also took part in the evacuation of the shipyard from Povenets. Sverchkov. In 1933, as a teenager, he began his work on ships as a stoker, later becoming a mechanic on the steamship Karl Marx. In an interview with the Vodnik of Karelia newspaper, Ivan Grigorievich told in detail how in September 1941 the caravans of ships on which the plant's equipment was loaded headed for Belomorsk. With great difficulty, under the bombing, the ships moved forward, despite the fact that the channel was already covered with ice. “We had to pick up people in the villages for evacuation,” the veteran recalled. - And on Vygozero, the ice already reached 20 cm. The steamships Karl Marx, Pyatiletka, A. Zhdanov”, “Sacco and Vanzetti”, “Northern Commune” and two boats. In Vygozero it became clear that further advancement was impossible. All passengers and part of the ship's crews were taken to Segezha. Only eleven people, among them I.G. Sverchkov, remained to protect the state property. Firewood had to be delivered from the shore, which was 20 km away. It was also difficult with food. Later, the Karl Marx steamer was placed at the disposal of the military, it delivered food, ammunition to the front, and transported the wounded. Ivan Grigorievich met the victorious May 1945 in Belomorsk, at that time he worked in repair shops.
On the night of November 12-13, another caravan of ships froze into the ice of the Zaonezhsky Gulf in the Megostrov area and was captured by parts of the Finnish army. The captain of the steamer "Metalist" Egor Ivanovich Zaonegin fulfilled his professional duty to the end. He destroyed the ship's property and documents and was shot.
On December 5, 1941, Medvezhyegorsk was captured by the Finnish army. On December 6 - 11, fierce battles took place in the area of locks No. 1 - 7 of the LBC.
On December 7, by decision of the leadership of the Karelian Front, a plan was implemented to decommission the hydraulic structures of the LBC: 7 locks of the Povenchanskaya Stairs were blown up, water was dumped from most of the pools of the southern slope in the direction of Lake Onega to flood the area adjacent to the canal. Finnish troops were stopped on the canal line until June 1944.
Already on March 3, 1942, the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet of the USSR decided to begin preparations for the restoration of the LBC, and in May 1944, the Canal Route Administration developed the first plan for its reconstruction.
On June 22, 1944, Finnish troops were expelled from Povenets and from the southern slope of the canal. It became possible to assess the damage caused by the war and begin restoration work. On September 6, 1944, the “Act on the Damage Caused by the Nazi Invaders and Their Accomplices to the Administration of the Way of the White Sea-Baltic Canal named after Com. Stalin."
The structures of seven hydroelectric facilities were completely or partially destroyed, including 7 locks, 4 water outlets, 1 dam, 4 dams, as well as lock settlements, residential management houses, a military camp in Povenets, lighthouses and coastal situation signs remaining on the territory occupied by the enemy . The total cost of restoration is determined at 92 million 650 thousand 210 rubles.
In October 1944, the first group of leaders and specialists from Belomorstroy of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived in Medvezhyegorsk under the leadership of engineer-colonel V.P. Busygin, who was entrusted by the government with the restoration of the southern slope of the canal.
In May 1945, full-scale restoration work began on the southern slope of the canal. The restoration was completed on July 28, 1946. The costs amounted to 77 million 780 thousand 489 rubles. 69 kop. Through shipping was officially opened along the entire length of the LBC. In honor of the completion of restoration work, I. V. Stalin sent a telegram of congratulations to the builders of Belomorstroy. In memory of the fallen defenders of the canal, a monument of grief was erected near lock No. 9, which is carefully guarded by the workers of the hydroelectric complex.
On August 22, 1946, the LBC Track Department moved from lock No. 19, where it was located during the war, to Medvezhyegorsk and was housed in buildings transferred by Belomorstroy.
On November 18, 1947, the technical section of the Belomorstroy of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was engaged in the operation of the hydroelectric facilities on the southern slope of the canal after their restoration, was liquidated. The operation of the LBC throughout its entire length was once again fully entrusted to the Rope Path Administration.
In the 1950s, after the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR on the overhaul and reconstruction of the LBC hydraulic structures was adopted on February 2, 1950, work began on the gradual electrification of the structures and mechanisms of the canal. The first own construction organization was created on the canal - Remstroykontor under the leadership of N.P. Ivanova.
On August 10, 1952, the channel changed its name. The Basin Directorate of the way of the LBC named after Stalin became known as the Directorate of the LBC named after Stalin.
In 1953, electricians were included in the staff of the hydroelectric facilities. Work began on the transfer of mechanisms to an electric drive at the LBC. At the First Conference on the Operation of Hydraulic Structures of the Ministry of River Fleet of the USSR, held on February 2-6, 1954 in the city of Kalach, the work of the LBC operators for the first 20 years was highly appreciated.
By 1957, work on the electrification of hydroelectric facilities on the northern slope of the canal had been basically completed, and in 1959 all coastal and floating position lights were switched to power supply. From this year there are no more buoyers at the LBC.
On August 2, 1958, the LBC team solemnly celebrated the 25th anniversary of the commissioning of the White Sea - Baltic Canal. The deputy chief of Belomorstroy in 1931-1933 Ya. D. Rapoport took part in the celebrations.
During these years, competent, knowledgeable people came to work on the channel: a graduate of LIVT V. V. Gudzansky, who became the chief engineer of the LBC, Yu. Ya. Sholokhov, V. A. Aleksandrov, who at various times became the head of the LBC, young graduates of the Leningrad River School Evgeny Fedorov, Evgeny Volkov, Vladimir Ivanov, Evgeny Stankevich, Anatoly Stekolshchikov, Vladimir Sidorov, Vladimir Voynov, Yuri Shalin, Vasily Aldoshkin and others.
Young hydraulic engineers of the 50s - early 60s, who had the difficult task of modernizing the shipping route, making work on its hydraulic structures and services consonant with the renewal processes taking place in the national economic complex of the country, for the most part were not only highly qualified specialists, but also versatile, talented people. E. V. Stankevich was an excellent connoisseur of nature. Artistic photographs by Yu. V. Shalin are known throughout the northern slope of the canal. The poetic work of V. A. Aldoshkin is also known to the inhabitants of Karelia.
On December 6, 1961, the White Sea - Baltic Canal, bearing the name of the "leader of the peoples", lost the name of Stalin in its name.
In 1963, the first ships with export cargo passed through the LBC from the points of the White Sea.
The significance of the White Sea-Baltic Canal especially increased after the commissioning in June 1964 of the modern Volga-Baltic waterway. The cargo line Kandalaksha - Cherepovets was opened. The throughput of the channel and the actual volume of cargo transportation have increased several times.
Thus, during the Great Patriotic War, the canal team continued to do its job: it serviced the waterway and hydraulic structures, locked ships going from south to north, even under continuous enemy bombing.
For almost three years, the southern slope blocked the enemy's path to the east, while the northern one operated continuously. Ammunition and weapons, troops and food were transported along the lock road. During the Great Patriotic War, the canal, as a strategically important transport artery, was destroyed.
The importance of the White Sea-Baltic Canal especially increased after the commissioning in June 1964 of the modern Volga-Baltic waterway.
Conclusion
The White Sea - Baltic Canal continues to work for the country's economy for more than 70 years. And its importance is difficult to overestimate. The waterway, once dreamed of by the Pomeranian merchant Fyodor Antonov, supplies the largest enterprises of the Kola Peninsula and the Arkhangelsk region from the industrial and commercial centers of Russia.
The White Sea Canal changed the economic map of the North-West of the Russian Federation, made adjustments to the economic and military doctrines of a number of Northern European states.
The channel has a complex, sometimes tragic history. It was on the White Sea Canal that the Bolsheviks decided to show the world the advantages of the socialist system.
The idea proposed by N.A. Frenkel on the use of slave labor of prisoners, was tested on the construction of the White Sea Canal.
After the White Sea Canal, the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway, the Moscow-Volga navigable canal and dozens of other plants, factories and cities began.
The creation of the LBC gave life to Belomorsk, as well as other cities of Karelia from the White Sea to Lake Onega. After the start of the operation of the canal, industry began to develop in the republic. On the basis of the canal, a cascade of Vygsky hydroelectric power plants was built, providing cheap electricity, which made it possible, for example, to build aluminum and pulp and paper mills.
New cities and settlements also grew up - Medvezhyegorsk, Segezha, Nadvoitsy. The town of Povenets became a large port, and Belomorsk became an important industrial center.
During the Great Patriotic War, the canal team continued to do its job: it served the waterway and hydraulic structures, locked ships going from south to north, even under continuous enemy bombardment.
For almost three years, the southern slope blocked the enemy's path to the east, while the northern one operated continuously. Ammunition and weapons, troops and food were transported along the lock road. During the Great Patriotic War, the canal, as a strategically important transport artery, was destroyed.
After the occupiers were expelled, the canal's borders were restored, the destroyed structures were rebuilt, and transit traffic was opened along the entire route.
During the Soviet period, it was actively used for the transportation of domestic cargo.
In the 1970s, the canal was reconstructed. In the early 1970s after building up the crests of dams, dams, structures of waterworks and lifting mechanisms at the LBC, a guaranteed depth of the ship's passage of 4 meters was established. The channel has become an equal link in the Unified deep-water system of the European part of the RSFSR. In the mid 1970s. emergency repair gates were completely replaced at all hydroelectric facilities, then the replacement of metal gates of lock chambers of riveted construction with new, all-welded ones began. On January 1, 1976, full-scale work began on the reconstruction of the LBC hydraulic structures at the expense of centralized capital investments from the country's budget. This became possible thanks to the decision of the XXV Congress of the CPSU, which included in the program of the most important works of the upcoming five years the beginning of the reconstruction of the canal without decommissioning it.
On July 30, 1983, the channel staff solemnly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the LBC. For a great contribution to the development of the national economy of the European North, the channel was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. The peak of cargo transportation along the canal came in 1985. Then, 7 million 300 thousand tons of cargo were transported along the White Sea - Baltic Waterway, 62,030 locks were made during navigation. Such volumes of traffic were maintained over the next five years, after which the intensity of navigation along the canal significantly decreased.
With the beginning of perestroika, many enterprises of the country stopped, while others reduced their production volumes by several times - accordingly, the volume of goods transported along the White Sea Highway also sharply decreased.
In the 1990s, the White Sea - Baltic Canal fully felt the negative consequences of the changes taking place in the country. So, in 1995, for the first time in the entire period of reconstruction of the canal, work on the shipping route was suspended at the most inopportune time for this due to lack of funding. In the late 90s. vessels on the canal route could be seen, at best, 2-3 times a week. The youth left the vicinity of the canal, went to Petrozavodsk. The gateway villages fell into disrepair. The lack of funding also affected the technical condition of the canal facilities. There were even proposals to close the channel as unnecessary.
At that moment, the canal was defended by the military - they need it for escorting to the White Sea, to the northern borders of Russia, submarines that are being built and repaired in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Actually, the canal was created in the thirties primarily as a strategic, military facility, although it was officially stated that the construction was organized in order to boost the national economy.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the volume of cargo transportation along the canal began to grow gradually, but still they remain much lower than before.
However, at present, the White Sea - Baltic Canal - the largest inter-basin connection in the north-west of the country - is a reliable waterway that is part of the Unified Deep-water System of the European Part of Russia, which connects five seas, and allows the operation of large-tonnage vessels of mixed "river-sea" navigation and non-transshipment transportation of export-import cargo. Nearly a thousand qualified specialists work at its hydroelectric facilities today. All the processes of passing ships here have long been automated.
Performs certification of officers of the courts;
Organizes work to eliminate oil spills and oil products on inland waterways.
Of the total length of the system (227 km), artificial canals account for 43 km and lakes, reservoirs and backed rivers for 184 km. The structure of the canal facilities includes 19 locks (13 of them are two-chamber and 6 single-chamber), 15 dams, 51 dams, 12 spillways for regulating the pools. The length of the pressure front is more than 50 km.
A cascade of five hydroelectric power stations operates at the canal facilities, which provide energy to the Republic of Karelia. Unlike other canal structures, the HPPs are not owned by the state, but by a private company, OAO TGC-1.
Continuous modernization and reconstruction of the canal continues now. Thanks to the channel, the Republic of Karelia is developing.
The channel allows you to speed up the exchange of goods throughout the Russian North. In addition to the transport and cargo destination, the canal today is the route of tourist ships going from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Belomorsk and further to the Solovetsky Islands. Modern workers of the White Sea Canal know and remember their history. They publish various essays and articles, create a museum, commemorate the builders with Orthodox churches and memorial crosses.
Today, on the basis of the canal, the historical and cultural complex "White Sea - Baltic Canal" operates, which is a system of hydraulic structures, residential and administrative buildings, memorial sites for the construction of the canal. Along the canal there are several monuments to prisoners who died during construction. In Povenets, a wooden church-monument (Church of St. Nicholas) was built in memory of the dead.
The reconstruction of the White Sea Canal's hydraulic structures is included in the Inland Waterways subprogram of the Ministry of Transport.
Legendary Thirty, route
Through the mountains to the sea with a light backpack. Route 30 passes through the famous Fisht - this is one of the most grandiose and significant natural monuments in Russia, the highest mountains closest to Moscow. Tourists travel lightly through all the landscape and climatic zones of the country from the foothills to the subtropics, spending the night in shelters.
The history of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal is tragic. The Belomorkanal became one of the first great construction projects in the country of the Soviets and the first great construction site where the labor of prisoners was used. The most famous of all the canals in Russia, thanks to the immortal cigarettes of the same name, the White Sea-Baltic Canal remains, nevertheless, the most unknown ..
The idea of building a canal was born in ancient times. In 1702, Peter I cut a clearing six meters wide, the famous "Sovereign's Road" - its traces were visible even at the beginning of the last century - along which a flooring was built from logs and military ships were dragged along them from the White Sea to Lake Onego in ten days . In 1798, the Pudozh merchant Bakinin applied for the construction of a canal from Lake Onega to the Onega River through Vodlozero. He expected to recoup the costs by cutting down valuable larch forests in the area. Almost simultaneously, a project was received from Petrozavodsk, signed by three merchants and the director of the Olonets plant, Englishman Adam Armstrong.
The route of the canal ran from Povenets on Lake Onega to the village of Soroka (now Belomorsk) - that is, it almost coincided with the current route. The government became interested in the project and sent to find the best specialist - General de Volan, the builder of the Mariinsky canal system. However, after examining the area, he rejected the project: there are too many rocks, waterfalls and other obstacles ... There were proposals in the middle of the 19th century, and in 1900 Professor V. E. Timonov was even awarded gold medal at the Paris Exhibition. But a reminder of all these events, according to Mikhail Prishvin, who visited these parts in 1906 and wrote the book “In the land of fearless birds” about the trip, only two stones remained near the village of Maselga with the inscription: “Onega-White Sea Canal”.
At the direction of I.V. Stalin, a 227 km long canal was to be built in twenty months - from September 1931 to April 1933 (for comparison: the Panama Canal 80 km long was built 28 years, the Suez Canal 160 km long - 10 years). It should also be taken into account that no currency was allocated for the construction of the White Sea Canal, the OGPU had to ensure the construction of the canal without unnecessary material costs. People didn't count. Echelons of prisoners continuously entered the "great construction site". Faithful Stalinists were instructed to lead the construction of the canal ... ”(L. Tales. The role of the Gulag in the pre-war five-year plans. Economic history: Yearbook. 2002. - M .: Rosspen, 2003. S. 269-319). The curators of the construction were the future Stalinist People's Commissar Heinrich Yagoda and the head of the Gulag Matvey Berman. Lazar Kogan is appointed head of construction. On the White Sea Canal, another famous "Solovki figure" became famous - Natan Frenkel.
Frenkel, head of works at Belmorstroy, and other construction managers.
In the spring of 1932, Genrikh Yagoda, then deputy chairman of the OGPU, and his accomplice, deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court of the USSR Katanyan, approved the “Regulation on the special rights of the head of the Gulag comrade. Kogan L.I. and assistant chief of the Gulag comrade. Jacob Rapoport. on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic waterway, carried out by the forces of prisoners. In accordance with the Regulations, they were given the right to administratively increase the term of imprisonment in the camps for persons violating the established order and discipline. The list included 15 specific violations. At the same time, it was allowed to apply such a measure for other offenses. It is important to emphasize that the decision to increase the term of imprisonment was not subject to appeal.
The history of the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal is the history of the suffering of a huge number of Soviet people. By May 1, 1932, 100 thousand workers were employed in the construction of the canal, of which 60 thousand were housed in barracks. The rest lived in tents and other temporary buildings. Without modern technology, without sufficient material support, the construction management achieved “for many objects ... output standards exceeding the unified all-Union standards”27.
In May 1933, G.G. Yagoda reported to I.V. Stalin on the readiness of the White Sea Canal. In July of the same year, I.V. Stalin, K.E. Voroshilov and S.M. Kirov take a boat trip along a new man-made waterway. And in August, a landing party of 120 writers and journalists is sent to the White Sea Canal to get acquainted with the miracle of the socialist economy. They talk with the prisoners, who, of course, praise the party and the great leader for giving them the opportunity to atone for their guilt by shock work at the great construction site, with the leaders of the construction of the facility, and take walks along the canal.
As a result of this trip, 36 writers (including Maxim Gorky, V.P. Kataev, V.V. Ivanov, V.M. Inber, A.N. Tolstoy, M.M. Zoshchenko and others) publish a book about the history of construction White Sea Canal and the heroic work of the creators and dedicate it to the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b). The writers told the readers of the Soviet country about the unusually high growth rates of the socialist economy, about the shock work of production workers on the construction of the canal, about the inferiority of European-American capitalism, about the heroic efforts of the Chekists to organize work and to “reforge” prisoners. Nothing is said only about the cruelty of the order, about hunger, about the cold, about the death of thousands of people, the humiliation of their human dignity. However, many authors, as well as editors L. L. Averbakh and S. G. Firin, were subsequently arrested. After 1937, almost the entire edition of the book, on the instructions of Glavlit, was withdrawn from the libraries and destroyed.
The worker's ration was 500 grams of bread a day and a bowl of seaweed gruel.
During the construction of the canal, the administration used various methods to improve the efficiency of the work performed: competition between teams, labor collectives, locks. Universal days of records were announced. This was facilitated by a sophisticated propaganda campaign to praise the state penitentiary policy ...
Dance of the prisoners.
The transport route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal has a length of 227 km with approach channels from Lake Onega to the White Sea, of which 37.1 km are artificial routes. The conditional direction of the current is the direction from Lake Onega to the White Sea, all navigational signs (buoys, lighthouses
) are equipped in accordance with this regulation. The canal begins at the village of Povenets in the Povenets Bay of Lake Onega. Immediately after Povenets, seven locks follow, located at a short distance from each other (the so-called "Povenchan Stairs"). Together, these locks form the South Slope of the Canal. Between the seventh and eighth locks is the watershed of the canal. In the north, the canal flows into the Soroca Bay of the White Sea, and the city of Belomorsk is located at the mouth of the canal. The following large settlements are located on the banks of the canal: Povenets, Segezha, Nadvoitsy, Sosnovets, Belomorsk.
During the first navigation, 1,143 thousand tons of cargo and 27 thousand passengers were transported. In 1940, the volume of traffic amounted to about a million tons, which was 44% of the throughput. The peak of cargo transportation along the canal came in 1985. Then, 7 million 300 thousand tons of cargo were transported along the White Sea-Baltic Waterway. Such volumes of traffic were maintained over the next five years, after which the intensity of navigation along the canal significantly decreased. At the beginning of the 21st century, the volume of cargo transportation through the canal began to gradually grow, but still they remain much lower than before. For example, in 2001, 283.4 thousand tons of cargo were transported through the canal, in 2002 - 314.6 thousand tons.
From a strategic point of view, the canal provided an opportunity to link the White and Baltic Seas. Already in 1933, the White Sea Canal made it possible to create a reliable defense of the northern borders of the state. Until that time, the North Arctic coast was practically not guarded by anyone and was not protected from a possible invasion. Warships were the first ships to pass through the new water route. The White Sea-Baltic Canal is a promising route for tourist ships. Guaranteed minimum dimensions of the channel: depth 4 m, width 36 m, radius of curvature 500 m. The dimensions of the chambers of all locks are 135x14.3 m. Vessel speed on artificial sections of the canal is limited to 8 km/h. In conditions of limited visibility (less than one kilometer), the movement of ships along the canal is prohibited. The average duration of navigation on the channel is 165 days.
To Murmansk. The White Sea-Baltic Canal is part of the Unified Deep Water Transport System of the European part of Russia.
The history of the construction of the canal is tragic - it was one of the first great construction projects in the country of the Soviets and the first construction site where the labor of prisoners was used. At the same time, thanks to the Belomorkanal cigarettes, this channel has become the most famous in the country.
Map of the White Sea-Baltic Canal
Main characteristics
- Length - 227 km, of which 37.1 km are artificial tracks
- Guaranteed minimum dimensions of the passage: depth - 4 meters, width - 36 meters, radius of curvature - 500 meters
- The number of locks is 19, the dimensions of their chambers are 135 by 14.3 meters
- The speed of movement on artificial sites - no more than 8 km / h
- The average duration of navigation is 165 days.
White Sea-Baltic Canal - structures
- 19 hydroelectric facilities were built on the White Sea-Baltic Canal, of which 7 are located on the southern slope and 12 hydroelectric facilities are located on the northern slope of the structure
- Of the 19 locks, 13 are two-chamber and 6 are single-chamber, that is, a total of 32 lock chambers were built
- 15 dams to create backwater and regulate flow
- 5 hydroelectric power plants - Belomorskaya, Vygostrovskaya and Matkozhnenskaya, Ondskaya and Palakorgskaya
- 12 spillways and other structures.
White Sea-Baltic Canal - description
The route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal begins at the village of Povenets on Lake Onega and ends at the city of Belomorsk on the White Sea.
The waterway passes through rough terrain, along flooded valleys of small rivers and numerous lakes, on which there are many islands. On many reservoirs there are rocky shoals, and on the northern slope and in the watershed, the bottom and shores are covered with rocks. All these factors complicate navigation and the slightest deviation from the ship's course can lead to damage to the vessel.
For this reason, only one-way traffic is allowed on many sections of the canal.
The conditional direction of the current is the direction from Lake Onega to the White Sea. The entire route of the White Sea Canal can be divided into the Southern Slope, where there are seven locks, a watershed canal and the Northern Slope, consisting of 12 locks.
Southern slope of the White Sea Canal
The southern slope, 10 km long, begins near the village of Povenets, located in the Povenets Bay of Lake Onega. Seven waterworks built side by side form the so-called Povenchanskaya staircase, along which ships rise to a height of almost 70 meters.
The first 6 hydroelectric facilities have two-chamber locks No. 1 - No. 6, the seventh hydroelectric complex includes a single-chamber lock No. 7. The distance between the waterworks is small - about 1 km.
A drawbridge was built in the area of lock No. 2, the passage of ships here is regulated with the help of a traffic light. The ground is sandy with boulders, sometimes rocky. A memorial sign has been erected at lock No. 2 in memory of the innocent victims who died in 1931-1933 during the construction of the canal.
The Museum of the White Sea-Baltic Canal was opened in the city of Povenets. Not far from the city, on the road to Medvezhyegorsk, there is a memorial burial, the so-called Mass Grave No. 6 - one of the largest reburials of the soldiers of the Karelian Front who died from January 1942 to June 1944 while protecting the White Sea-Baltic Canal.
Dividing pool of the White Sea Canal
The watershed pool with a length of 22 km is located between locks No. 7 and No. 8. The ship's passage here passes through Lake Volo (10 km) and Lake Vadlo (4 km). This is the most difficult section on the canal, the ship's passage here goes around the islands and has turns, and the depth along its axis varies from 4.5 to 15 meters. Only approaching the northern slope, the channel expands, which favors the divergence of ships.
Northern slope of the White Sea Canal
The route of the North Slope of the Canal passes through several rivers, small lakes and five large lakes:
- Between locks No. 8 and No. 9 there is a watershed bluff 11 km long and including Matkoozero 8 km long, the Vologzha River (1 km) and Lake Toros, as well as the sections connecting them. The difference in depths on the axis of the ship's passage on the Matkoozero is from 5 to 17 meters, along the Vologzha River - 4.1-4.5 meters, on the Torosozero - 4.5 - 7 meters. Vessel traffic in narrow areas is one-way and their speed is limited
- Between locks No. 9 and No. 10 there is a watershed bluff with a length of 86 km, including Lake Telekino, the channel and valley of the Telekinka River and Vygozero, which is the largest on the White Sea-Baltic Canal - its length is 50 km, and its width is 15 km
- Lake Voitskoe is located between locks No. 10 and No. 11, it is a small reservoir with a width of 100 meters to 1.5 km
- Between locks No. 11 and No. 12 there is a watershed bluff with a length of 34 km, including Lake Shavan, the Onda River and the Parandovsky reach. The most difficult section, 6 km long, is Onda, where the ship's passage is winding and in several places passes through a cut in the rocks
- A narrow section 5 km long, difficult for navigation, is located between locks No. 12 and No. 13, underwater rocks are found on the edges of the ship's passage
- The Matkonezh pool with a width of 250 meters to 1 km is located between locks No. 13 and No. 14. The 19 km long ship passage passes along the flooded bed of the Vyg River
- Vygostrovsky pool is a section between locks No. 14 and No. 15, here is a two-kilometer canal carved into the rocks.
- Between locks No. 15 and 16 there is a watershed pool 10 km long, the ship's passage on which again passes along the flooded channel of the Vyg River
- After lock No. 16, a steep descent begins to the Soroca Bay of the White Sea, where there are three locks No. 17, No. 18 and No. 19, separated by three pools 1, 3 and 5 km long. The ship's passage of this section passes along the flooded bed of the Shizhnya River. A single-span drawbridge was built in the area of lock No. 18.
From the watershed bluff to the Soroca Bay, ships descend by 103 meters.
From the history
The idea to connect Lake Onega with the White Sea arose during the reign of Peter the Great. In 1702, the famous “Sovereign's Road” was built - a clearing six meters wide with a flooring of logs, along which military ships were dragged from the White Sea to Lake Onego.
Several waterway construction projects were later proposed. One of them, developed by Professor Vsevolod Timonov in 1900, was awarded the gold medal at the Paris Exhibition. All the proposed projects were not implemented, and as Mikhail Prishvin wrote in his book “In the land of fearless birds”, that only two stones near the village of Maselga with the inscription “Onega-White Sea Canal” remind of all those events.
In June 1930, a decision was made to start building the canal. According to Stalin's instructions, the waterway was to be built in 20 months at no great expense. The idea to use the cheap labor of prisoners belongs to Lieutenant-General Naftaly Frenkel, one of the leaders of the Gulag.
In the spring of 1932, Genrikh Yagoda and Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of the USSR Katanyan approved the Regulations on the special rights of the head of the Gulag. Kogan L.I. and assistant head of the Gulag Yakov Rapoport, according to which they were granted the right to increase the term of imprisonment in the camps for persons who violate the established order and discipline.
Construction work was carried out without the involvement of modern technology, almost manually, with the help of a shovel, ax and pickaxe, and the building materials were sand, stone and wood. Over the entire period of construction, more than 250 thousand prisoners were sent to BelBaltLag (White Sea-Baltic Correctional Labor Camp), of which, according to official data, about 13 thousand people died.
The organizers of the construction tried to give it a paramilitary form and used such words as headquarters, company, and the imprisoned builders were called canal soldiers by analogy with the Red Army. The less the builder worked out, the less was his ration, and with an increase in output, the ration increased. The canal army lived in barracks and tents.
In his work The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenits wrote: “So it would be just right for them to lay out six names on the slopes of the canal - the main henchmen of Stalin and Yagoda, the main overseers of the Belomor, six assassins, writing down thirty lives for each thousand: Firin - Berman - Frenkel - Kogan - Rappoport - Zhuk.
In 1997, mass graves were discovered 12 km from Medvezhyegorsk in the Sandarmokh tract. In this area, more than 9,500 people were shot and buried, mostly repressed, canal soldiers and prisoners of the Gulag. A total of 236 graves were found.
In May 1933, the canal was completed; it was named after I.V. Stalin, which he wore until 1961.
On June 25, the Chekist steamer passed along the route. According to eyewitnesses, Stalin said that the canal turned out to be shallow and narrow (at that time its depth was 3.65 meters), and also described it as meaningless and useless.
During the Great Patriotic War, the southern part of the structure was badly destroyed, the infrastructure was damaged, 7 locks of the Povenchanskaya stairs and dam No. 20 were blown up, the village of Povenets was practically destroyed by the flow of water.
After the war, the hydraulic structures were restored and shipping began in July 1946. The village of Povenets was rebuilt. The importance of the White Sea-Baltic Canal especially increased in 1964, when Volga-Baltic waterway.
In the 1970s, the guaranteed depth of the route was increased to four meters and the channel became part of the Unified Deep Water System of the European part of the RSFSR.
With the construction of the White Sea Canal, many cities in the region, including Belomorsk and Povenets, were developed, and new settlements appeared.
Interestingly, in 4-5 years after the completion of the work, it was planned to build a second offshore branch of the route with a guaranteed depth of at least 6.4 meters. All design and survey work was completed, but was never implemented.
Cruises on the White Sea-Baltic Canal
Travel companies organize cruises to Solovki from Petrozavodsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg, passing through the White Sea-Baltic Canal. During the cruise, tourists arrive in the city of Belomorsk or the village of Sosnovets, and then go by boat to the Solovetsky Islands. A trip to Solovki is one of the most interesting cruise routes.
The White Sea-Baltic Canal is a unique hydraulic structure, which is an important water transport artery and at the same time it is a historical monument and a monument to people, a monument to that harsh era.
