- Kara katorga
Kara katorga (Russian: Карийская каторга, Kariyskaya katorga) was the name for a set of
katorga prison s of extremely high security located along theKara River inTransbaikalia and included into the system ofNerchinsk katorga .It existed during
1838 -1893 . During1873 -1890 it heldpolitical prisoner s.It was closed down because of the Kara Tragedy of1889 .The inmates of Kara katroga were used in
gold mining . Gold was found by Kara River in 1832. The first rich lode, suitable for exploitation was found in 1838, giving rise to Lower Kara Field (Нижне-карийский прииск). In 1839, Upper Kara Field was discovered, and Middle Kara Field in 1852. The Kara field turned out one of the richest in Transbaikalia. At the peak times they delivered 1tonne of gold yearly.The majority of workers were criminal convicts, up to 2,000 in numbers. After national-liberation movements in
Poland andLithuania , Kara katorga hosted the Polish and Lithuanian insurgents. The first small group was sent there after the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. However the majority of political convicts were Polish insurgents of 1863, about 180 persons. Later a number of Russian revolutionaries were put there the majority were members ofNarodnaya Volya . In total, 185 men and 32 women were political prisoners at Kara katorga.Kara Tragedy
Kara Tragedy was the event of
November 7 -November 11 ,1889 . Political prisoners enjoyed certain privileges in comparison tocriminal s. Katorga administration decided to abolish them, and the political's expressed their protest. The chief of the katorga orderedcorporal punishment for a female prisoner ofUst-Karsk settlement,Nadezhda Sigida (Надежда Сигида), 27 years old, member ofNarodnaya Volya . She served 8 years for establishing an undergroundprinting shop inTaganrog . After being flogged she killed herself. As a protest, 20 other political prisoners took poison and 6 of them (4 women and 2 men) died.This event stirred public response. As a consequence, Kara katorga was closed, and the use corporal punishment against imprisoned women and
dvorian s was abolished by the law ofMarch 28 ,1893 .Russian artist
Nikolay Kasatkin (Николай Алексеевич Касаткин) painted the picture, "Kara Tragedy" (1930).
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