Photo, Print, Drawing Veselai︠a︡ kompanii︠a︡ na kvartire V.Ruge. Веселая компания на квартире В.Руге.
About this Item
Title
- Veselai︠a︡ kompanii︠a︡ na kvartire V.Ruge.
Other Title
- Веселая компания на квартире В.Руге.
Translated Title
- Cheerful Company in the Apartment of W. Ruge.
Summary
- This item is from a collection of materials related to the Salekhard-Igarka Railway, an unfinished Soviet railroad sometimes called the "Dead Road." This railroad was intended to unite European Russia with the northern regions of Siberia and to facilitate the export of minerals from the industrial city of Noril'sk. Construction began in 1949 but was abandoned in 1953 after Stalin's death. Stalin had ordered the construction of the railroad without heeding the advice of specialists, who knew that a railroad built on permafrost would be difficult to maintain. Stalin considered the railroad strategically necessary to facilitate the defense of Russia's northern coast; however, actual demand for the railway was low. Construction was divided into two projects, number 501 and number 503, and was carried out by prisoners of the infamous gulag system. According to eyewitness accounts, conditions in the camps of these projects and in Yermakovo, the central settlement of construction project 503, were better than in most parts of the gulag system. This collection consists of photographs, documents, maps, letters, and memoirs housed in the Igarka Museum of Permafrost. Photographs depict daily life in Yermakovo, a settlement near Igarka, abandoned buildings and railroad equipment, and musicians and actors of the projects' cultural and educational divisions. Many of the photographs were taken by Walter Ruge (1915-2011) and depict his wife Irina Andreevna Alferova. Ruge completed a ten-year sentence as a political prisoner in 1951 before he was released to live as an exile in Yermakovo, where he met Alferova, a fellow exile. The collection's documents and maps provide information about the planning and construction of the railroad and the administration of the camps, while the memoirs and letters describe the experiences of prisoners, exiles, and civilian residents of Yermakovo and the camps. The collection was digitized in the early 2000s for the Meeting of Frontiers digital library project. World Digital Library.
Names
- Ruge, Walter, , 1915-2011 , attributed name.
Created / Published
- Krasnoi︠a︡rskiĭ kraĭ, poselok Ermakovo : [publisher not identified], 1953.
Headings
- - li︠u︡di
- - Lenin
- - odezhda
- - Convict labor
- - Exiles
- - Friendship
- - Labor camps
- - Lenin, Vladimir Ilʹich, 1870-1924
- - Prisoners
- - Railroad construction and maintenance
- - Siberia
- - Russian Federation
- - Krasnoyarsk Krai
- - Yermakovo
- - люди
- - Ленин
- - одежда
Notes
- - Nadpisi na oborote: "Pos. Ermakovo 1953 g.", "Veselai︠a︡ kompanii︠a︡ na kvartire moego muzha Val'tera Ruge med-rabotnika polikliniki upravlenii︠a︡, ssyl'nogo (byv. z/k 58.p10 - 10 let)", "Sleva: Frant︠s︡ Massal'skiĭ (zast.), ego zhena Ani︠a︡, ri︠a︡dom Viktor Adol'fovich Shneĭder ( byvsh. chekist st.58. - 8 let), ri︠a︡dom v pravo Li︠u︡ba - bukhgalter v/p, Sergeĭ Lominadze (byv z/k st.58 - 10 let syn Vissariona Lominadze, zastrelivshegosi︠a︡ v 1938 g. v Cheli︠a︡binske), Zina - zhena V.A.Shneĭdera, Oli︠a︡ - med-sestra vol'nonaemnai︠a︡.
- - Original image at: Igarka Museum of Permafrost
- - Надписи на обороте: "Пос. Ермаково 1953 г.", "Веселая компания на квартире моего мужа Вальтера Руге мед-работника поликлиники управления, ссыльного (быв. з/к 58.п10 - 10 лет)", "Слева: Франц Массальский (заст.), его жена Аня, рядом Виктор Адольфович Шнейдер ( бывш. чекист ст.58. - 8 лет), рядом в право Люба - бухгалтер в/п, Сергей Ломинадзе (быв з/к ст.58 - 10 лет сын Виссариона Ломинадзе, застрелившегося в 1938 г. в Челябинске), Зина - жена В.А.Шнейдера, Оля - мед-сестра вольнонаемная.
Medium
- 1 photograph : black and white ; 9.5 x 15 cm.
Source Collection
- Dead Road: Construction Project 503
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2018685834
Online Format
- image