Vorkuta uprising

The Vorkuta Uprising was a major uprising of the concentration camp inmates in Vorkuta in July-August 1953, shortly after arrest of Lavrentiy Beria. The uprising was violently stopped by the camp administration after two weeks of bloodless standoff.

Vorkuta "Rechlag" (River Camp) or Special Camp No. 6 consisted of 17 separate "departments" engaged in construction of coal mines, coal mining and forestry. In 1946 it housed 62,700 inmates, 56,000 in July 1953. Substantial part of camp guards was manned by former convicts. According to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the uprising was provoked by two unconnected events of June 1953 - arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in Moscow and an arrival of Western Ukrainian prisoners who, unlike long-term Russian inmates, were still missing their freedom.

The uprising - initially in the form of passive walkout - began on or before July 19, 1953 at a single "department" and quickly spreaded to five others. Initial demands - to give inmates access to state attorney and due justice - quickly changed to political demands. According to inmate Leonid Markizov, Voice of America and BBC broadcasted regular news about the events in "Rechlag", with correct names, ranks and numbers. Even without foreign assistance, strike at nearby sites was clearly visible as the flywheels of mine elevators stopped rotating. Total number of inmates on strike reached 18,000. The inmates remained static within the barbed wire perimeters.

For a week following initial strike the camp administration did apparently nothing; they increased perimeter guards but took no forceful action against inmates. The mines were visited by State Attorney of USSR Roman Rudenko, chief of convoy troops Ivan Maslennikov and other top brass from Moscow. The generals spoke to the inmates who sat idle in camp courtyards, so far peacefully. However, July 26 the mob stormed the maximum security punitive compound, releasing 77 of its inmates. The commissars from Moscow remained in Vorkuta, planning their response.

July 31 camp chief Derevyanko started mass arrests of "saboteurs"; inmates responded with barricades. Next day, August 1, after further bloodless clashes between inmates and guards, Derevyanko ordered direct fire at the mob. According to Leonid Markizov, 42 were killed on site, 135 wounded (many of them, deprived of medical help, died later). According to Solzhenitsyn, there were 66 killed.

After submission of the mob, many "saboteurs" were arrested and placed into maximum security cells, but without furher punitive executions. Inmate regime was marginally loosened (especially for "political" inmates).

References

* Markizov, L. P. Uprising, not sabotage (Маркизов Л.П., Не "волынка" - восстание - "Дым Отечества", 1993)
* Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, v.3 ch. 11

ee also

*Kengir uprising
*Novocherkassk massacre
*List of Gulag camps
*John H. Noble