Kotlas

Kotlas ( _ru. Котлас) is a town in the south of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Northern Dvina and Vychegda Rivers. Population: ru-census|p02=60647|p89=68021 The town has the largest paper mill in Russiafact|date=February 2007 and also is a center of the timber industry and an important river port and a railroad center (standing on the railroad connecting central Russia with the Komi Republic).

The place was probably inhabited from the ancient times but got an official town status only by the Provisional Government of Russia on May 3, 1917.

Kotlas is served by Kotlas Airport and is home to Savatiya air base.

Gulag

During the 1930s, Kotlas became a place to which "kulaks" were deported and made to work in the forestry industry. It was managed by the Kotlaslag division of Gulag. Later, it hosted all possible categories of people repressed during the Stalin era. A particularly significant population of Poles existed in the area, with whole Polish villages resettled here in 1920s and 1930s.

Labor camps existed within the territory of the city until 1953. Besides logging and paper industry, the occupation of inmates were plant, housing, bridge, and railroad construction. Most of camps were unguarded barrack settlements. In addition Kotlas was a major transit point for deportees transferred further to the North and East, since it was a railroad terminal point. There is a Kotlas branch of the "Sovest" ("Conscience") organization, which seeks to preserve the memory of these times and to seek compensation for victims.

ister cities

*flagicon|Ukraine Bakhchisaray, Ukraine.
*flagicon|Poland Tarnów, Poland.
*flagicon|USA Waterville, Maine, United States.

References

External links

*ru icon [http://kotlas-city.ru/ Official website of Kotlas]
*en icon [http://www.kotlas.org/kotlas/ Website about Kotlas]
*en icon [http://www.kotlas.org/kotlas/history/gulag.html Kotlas and the GULAG]