Background and scope of activities

The main purpose of Dalstroy as an organization was to obtain benefits for the state from little-known and little-explored territories of Northeast Siberia. Expeditions were financed by the USSR in order to explore the region as early as 1928. the First Kolyma Expedition in 1928 led by geologist Yuri Bilibin and the Second Kolyma Expedition in 1931–1932, organized by Bilibin and led by Valentin Tsaregradsky resulted in the discovery of gold deposits in Northeast Siberia. From then onward, emphasis was laid in ambitious mining operations to obtain the maximum amount of gold and other strategically important minerals.^[6]

Dalstroy authorities chose civilians employed as labor force, but faced with the harsh climate, with long winters and extremely low temperatures, working conditions were brutal from the onset. After the organization was placed under the NKVD in 1938, prisoners from various forced labor camps (ITL - Исправительно-трудовой лагерь) of the USSR were used as miners, as well as for the building of the infrastructure that the region lacked. Development of the area included industrial, railway, airfield, harbor and road construction, as well as providing the administrative and urban structure for a territory which previously had had no roads and no cities.^[7]

The Okhotsk Sea shore of the Kolyma region was sparsely inhabited by Evens. Since the area was chosen as a harbor for future operations, a plan for the establishment of an East Even Cultural Base (Восточно-Эвенская культбаза) was carried out. After surveying the area in 1928, the spot of the base was chosen by Karl Luks at a certain location in Nagaev Bay. Construction began in 1929 in order to settle and re-educate the local population and to educate the younger generation in line with the Soviet Cultural Revolution. Among the structures built, there were three residential buildings, a school, a veterinary station, a hospital, a bathhouse and a boarding school.^[8] By the end of the year there were 75 residents. However, there was resistance from the part of the native population to the system of cooperatives, district committees and to have their children educated at the school of the cultural base. In the first academic year 1929/1930, only 17 students enrolled at the school and even though the number of students rose to 44 in the following year, the base was wrapped up owing to low efficiency. However, the village of Nagaevo grew around the base and the Kamchatka Joint-Stock Company (AKO) erected a building. More ships entered the harbor and the area continued developing, paving the way for modern Magadan. Some of the East Even Cultural Base buildings survived well into the 1980s.^[9]

The administration of Dalstroy grew increasingly complex over the years, not only as a result of various geographical centers but also with the establishment of separate units to provide geological surveying, motorized transport, management of secondary economies, road administration, steamship navigation on the River Koyma, and port and terminal management.^[10]

In his book Red Arctic, John McCannon explains how Dalstroy initially relied on Glavsevmorput or GUSMP (Russian acronym for Main Administration of the Northern Sea Route, a Soviet agency for exploiting resources across the far north) for coordination of supplies and transport. Glavsevmorput managed railway traffic to Vladivostok and shipping from there to Magadan. Over the years, however, as Dalstroy grew more powerful, its director Eduard Berzin obtained ships of his own so as to have more freedom of action. By 1938 Glavsevmorput had lost much of its political support, leaving Dalstroy firmly in control.

Shipping

Dalstroy Fleet flag.^[11]

An account of the many ships used over the years to transport prisoners across the Sea of Okhotsk to Magadan as well as to the Arctic port of Ambarchik is given by Martin Bollinger in his book Stalin's Slave Ships.^[12] Among the Dalstroy fleet were the following ships:^[12]

• SS Yagoda, which later was renamed SS Dalstroi
• SS Dzhurma
• SS Kulu
• SS Felix Dzherzhinsky
• SS Indigirka
• MV Sovetskaya Latviya

In addition, several ships of the Far East State Sea Shipping Company were used at times to transport prisoners to various locations operated by Dalstroy. Examples include SS Nevastroi, SS Dneprostroi, SS Shaturstroi, SS Syasstroi, SS KIM, and SS Kiev.

Aviation

Air service in Dalstroy administered territories began in 1932. By 1946 Dalstroy had an air transport branch, Dalstroy Aviation (1946–1957), under the Dalstroy Air Transport Directorate. The aircraft flown by the airline included Polikarpov Po-2, Lisunov Li-2, Douglas C-47, Polikarpov P-5, Yakovlev Yak-12, Kawasaki Ki-56^[13] and Antonov An-2, as well as Beriev MP-1 flying boats.^[14][13]