The enduring scars of Stalin's 'dead road' in Siberia
Hundreds of thousands of prisoners from forced labour camps built railway tracks in one of the most inhospitable regions of Siberia. Years later, only abandoned locomotives and old railway lines remain. Today, they stand as a grim monument to the human tragedy and absurdity that unfolded there during the time of Joseph Stalin.
The "Dead Road" is now what they call a never-completed railway line in the hard-to-reach part of the Siberian tundra, whose construction claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of prisoners. The construction of the tracks began in 1947, and up to 100,000 prisoners from gulags spread throughout the USSR were used for the grueling work. The work was never finished—you can still find interrupted railway lines and abandoned, rust-covered locomotives or train cars from a period long forgotten.
"Working in such conditions was unbearable."
These traces of history conceal a huge tragedy—hundreds of thousands of people suffered and died during the execution of this project. They were forced into slave labour in harsh conditions—in winter, they endured temperatures around -50°C; in summer, they were plagued by swarms of mosquitoes. There was a constant shortage of tools and food, and the slave labour, archaic technology, violence, tyranny, and death were constant elements of this absurd undertaking personally commissioned by Joseph Stalin. Today, even Russian historians are not entirely sure what compelled the Soviet dictator to build a railway in this uninhabited and hostile region of Siberia.
According to one account, labour camps inhabited by 200 to 1,000 prisoners were scattered every 5 kilometres along the route. Over time, natural fires destroyed many of these facilities. What the prisoners experienced then is brought to light by the fragmentary reports found in old reports, notes, and testimonies.
Of course, the above account does not mean that work in this place was pleasant. Political prisoners were often intimidated.
Siberia as a monument to human tragedy and the "railway to nowhere"
The concept of building a railroad stretching for 1,260 kilometres was intended to connect Salekhard, located beyond the Arctic Circle at the mouth of the Ob River, with the virtually abandoned port in Igarka (now inhabited by fewer than 10,000 people). Even then criticized as the "railway to nowhere," it represented an example of the unbridled ambition of Soviet authorities. As reported by the "Siberian Times," the planned route of the polar railway was intended to go far beyond the Trans-Siberian route to the north.
After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, Soviet authorities suspended this project and ended the forced labour of prisoners. Only 65 kilometres of tracks were left to complete, but the investment was no longer profitable.
Though many years have passed since those events, old Soviet locomotives still stand and rust in Siberia, reminding us of a grim past. Emerging from the harsh landscape of the tundra, these vehicles today testify to political errors and the dark side of human nature.
