Kalmyk Red Army Soldiers in Shirokovsky Forced Labor Camp: a Statistical Survey

Abstract

Introduction. The article deals with Kalmyk soldiers and non-commissioned officers deported to Shirokovsky Forced Labor Camp (Shiroklag) of the Soviet NKVD in 1944–1945. In the aftermath of the unjust abolition of the Kalmyk ASSR and Siberian deportation of its titular ethnos, over two-thirds of surviving Red Army soldiers and sergeants of Kalmyk descent were sent to Shiroklag where they formed two non-Russian construction battalions henceforth referred to as ‘labor army men’. Hard work without any essential mechanic means or labor saving devices, harsh climate, backbreaking output norms, and meagre meals resulted in mass exhaustion of Kalmyk soldiers, high disease and death rates. Goals. The paper presents a statistical analysis on Kalmyk inmates of Shiroklag. Materials. The compiled database utilizes the annotated list of Shiroklag prisoners published under the title ‘Shiroklag. Shirokstroy’ in 2000. The data are analyzed by categories, such as nationality, place (district) of birth, place of conscription (draft board), year of birth, educational level, party membership, diseases that caused death or disability, battle honors, time of arrival in Shiroklag, time and areas of decommissioning (for survivors). Results. The analysis reveals the reference book mentions representatives of other nationalities and contains some mistakes, leaving aside names of some Shiroklag ex-prisoners. However, the annotated list is a bulk of statistical data on the mentioned categories that makes whatsoever analysis possible and helps compile a collective portrait of Shiroklag-based Kalmyks which — being essentially extensive — may be actually instrumental in outlining features of Kalmyk combat veterans during the third stage of the Great Patriotic War.

Keywords

• great patriotic war of 1941–1945
• red army
• kalmyk assr
• non-russian units
• kalmyks
• political repressions
• shiroklag