white sea canal

[19] The mortality rate was about 8.7%,[20] with many more sick and disabled. In 1935, the work was translated from Russian into English and subsequently published in England as The White Sea Canal and in the United … According to official records and accounts in the works of Aleksandr... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images The importance of BBK for the national economy greatly increased after the commissioning of the modern Volga-Baltic Waterway in 1964. At least 12,000 workers died during the building process, according to the official records,[4] while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths,[5] and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn estimated up to 250,000 deaths.[21]. The White Sea is an important traffic centre of northwestern Russia, interconnecting various economic regions and providing an outlet to the foreign routes. As is discussed further below, during the 1930s a number of smaller naval vessels were transferred from the Baltic to the White Sea to provide warships for the Soviet Northern Naval Flotilla, which became the Northern Fleet in 1937.[25]. The White Sea Canal: Being an Account of the Construction of the New Canal Between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea. According to the Soviet account, in 1932 when Anastas Mikoyan visited the Belomorstroy construction site, Lazar Kogan asked, "Comrade Mikoyan, what shall we call them? The Panama Canal, which is 80 kilometers long, was built in 28 years, while the 160-kilometers-long Suez Canal was built in ten years. There was no action near the White Sea–Baltic Canal during the Winter War of 1939-1940, when the USSR invaded Finland. (История Карелии с древнейших времён до наших дней / Науч. The BBK led to the development of Belomorsk as a major industrial city. Two major seas … The canal was constructed between 1931 and 1933 by forced labor of Gulag inmates. In addition, the Combine included 21 "special settlements" (spetsposyolok) with some 30 thousand residents, mostly dispossessed farm families transported to Karelia from the USSR's warmer regions. Lock No. One of the most important construction projects of the first five-year plan (1929–32). The White Sea–Baltic Canal is 141 miles (227 km) long, 23 miles (37 km) of which is manmade. and what this canal allowed? White Sea–Baltic Canal, Russian Belomorsko-baltiysky Kanal, system of rivers, lakes, and canals in northwestern Russia that connects the White Sea to Lake Onega, where it joins the Volga-Baltic Waterway (q.v.). In all, the Combine's employees accounted for about 25% of the population of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The vertical axis is the elevation of the canal segments above mean sea level. John Lane, 1935 - Convict labor - 356 pages. According to official records and accounts in the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, between 12,000 and 240,000 laborers died during the construction of the canal… and early in its history the Northern Fleet's first warships sailed along the canal to the White Sea from the Baltic,[34][35][25] Before World War II, the canal was used for the transfer of military vessels between the two seas on 17 occasions. The company had plans to carry 800,000 tonnes of fuel oil over the canal during 2003, and to increase the volume to 1,500,000 t (1,476,000 long tons; 1,653,000 short tons) in 2004. At the same time, heavy fighting took place near the Povenets Lock Ladder (Locks No. On December 6 in a -37 °C frost, Finnish troops captured Povenets, the southern entrance to the BBK. [27] Gorky, Maxim, Leopold Auerbach und Semjon Grigorjewitsch Firin: The route followed by the Baltic-White Sea Canal has been well-known since ancient times. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The total length of the waterway is 227 km (141 mi), of which 48 km (30 mi) are man-made. On the same day, Soviet troops started demolishing canal structures. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal (Russian: Беломорско-Балтийский канал имени Сталина), published at the end of 1934. View Homework Help - 1.1 White Sea Canal Exercise 052012 from PROJECT MA 6K285 at University of Iowa. It is also linked to the water transportation system of European Russia by the White Sea–Baltic Canal, which empties into Lake Onega. The latter two are large Russian water bodies. It is likely that at least some of the visiting writers were aware of the brutality of camp life. This would significantly reduce the travel time and the cost of transporting goods, since it would not be necessary to bypass Scandinavia through the Barentsevo, Norwegian, Northern and Baltic Seas. We have double checked and the max height of the Canal is 102 meters, and 12 locks from there to the White Sea. On August 28, the fifth and final bombing raid of the 1941 navigation season took place against Lock No. There is a monument at Povenets for the prisoners who perished during the construction, and a smaller memorial in Belomorsk near the White Sea end. [40], The canal system includes five hydroelectric power plants with total production capacity of 240 MW.[28]. Its construction was completed four months ahead of schedule, though it was entirely too shallow for the planned use. Some unfinished submarines from Leningrad's Baltic Shipyard and Gorky's Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard sailed to the new Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. The workforce for the Canal was supplied by the Belbaltlag camp directorate (White Sea–Baltic Corrective Labor Camp Directorate, WSBC) of the OGPU GULAG. By the time construction began, the Soviet Union had already begun to execute several similarly grand, … On the other hand, the great Dneproges dam was a generally successful hydroelectric project on the largest scale. In fact, one of the contributors, Sergei Alymov, was a prisoner at the camp and editor of the camp newspaper Perekovka ("Reforging"). The company was fined and future operations were refused. The workforce was organized into brigades of 25–30, which made up phalanges of 250–300. why they would do that? (Беломорско-Онежское государственное бассейновое управление водных путей и судоходства), which is also responsible for shipping on Lake Onega and in the Belomorsk harbor area (but not in the open waters of the White Sea). In Russian, "inmate", "incarcerated" is заключённый (zakliuchyonnyi), usually abbreviated to "з/к" in paperwork, and pronounced as "зэка" (IPA: [zɨˈka], "zeh-KA"), which gradually transformed into "зэк" and "зек", zek (both pronounced as IPA: [ˈzɛk]). The White Sea–Baltic Canal (Russian: Беломо́рско–Балти́йский кана́л, Byelomorsko–Baltiyskiy Kanal, BBK), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (Belomorkanal) is a ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. The Soviet Union presented the canal as an example of the success of the first five-year plan. The White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal project took the lives of 12,000 of its construction labor workforce, which was made up entirely of inmates. Cargo tonnage peaked in 1985, with 7.3 million tonnes transported. The canal begins near Povenets settlement in Povenets bay of Lake Onega. During the reconstruction, the guaranteed depth of the fairway was increased to 4 meters, and the channel became part of the Unified Deep Water System of European Russia. At the White Sea Canal, a special “cultural-educational” department emerged, which comprised a theatre made up of a number of prisoners, and which issued a camp newspaper called Reforging. The white sea canal opened on Wednesday 2 August 1933, (until 1961, it was known as the “Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal”). [24], Until 1936, all financial transactions of the Combine were exempt from taxes and duties.[24]. The White Sea–Baltic Canal is 141 miles (227 km) long, 23 miles (37 km) of which is manmade. On February 2, 1950, the RSFSR Council of Ministers issued an order for the overhaul and reconstruction of the BBK's structures, with gradual electrification of the canal's structures and machinery. The canal was constructed between 1931 and 1933 by forced labor of Gulag inmates. The White Sea canal. Until 1961, its original name was the Stalin White Sea–Baltic Canal (Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina). There was even a comedic play written about the canal by Nikolay Pogodin. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). the White Sea–Baltic Canal in the history of the Gulag. From inside the book . Senkevich (Э. И. Сенкевич), chief of WSBC, November 16, 1931 – January 16, 1932, also assistant chief of the BBK Construction Directorate. Gorky, who had previously visited the Solovetski Islands labor camp in 1929 and written about it in the Soviet journal Our Accomplishments,[23] organized the White Sea trip, but did not himself join it. Soviet sappers blew up Lock No. [22] Shklovsky visited the White Sea Canal on his own rather than with the group. [7][8][9] The canal was originally proposed to be 5.4 m (17.7 ft) deep; however, the cost and time constraints of Stalin's first five-year plan forced the much shallower draught.[10]. Originally the abbreviation stood for zaklyuchyonny kanaloarmeyets (Russian: заключённый каналоармеец), literally "incarcerated canal-army-man". [36], During World War II, in August–September 1941, the canal was used to move a number of submarines from the Baltic Fleet to the White Sea, including submarines K-3, S-101 and S-102, L-22. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal is a 1934 Soviet historical volume detailing the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal and the labor used to construct it. The White Sea is an important route connecting the economically active portions of northwestern Russia with Russia’s Far Eastern ports and with foreign countries. Transfer operations began 24 June 2003, but on 1 September a low-speed collision between Volgotanker's Nefterudovoz-57M and the Latvian Zoja-I during a transfer caused a crack in the Nefterudovoz's hull, with a subsequent oil spillage estimated at 45 t (44 long tons; 50 short tons), of which only 9 t (8.9 long tons; 9.9 short tons) were recovered. The horizontal axis is the length of the canal. 1 to 7). With Germany's full-scale invasion of the USSR in 1941, supported by Finland in the Continuation War, the canal route became the front line. This depth typically corresponds to river craft with deadweight cargo up to 600 tonnes, while useful sea going vessels of 2,000–3,000 dwt typically have drafts of 4.5–6 m (15–20 ft). BACKGROUND The notion of a canal that would connect the Baltic and White Seas The northern slope has twelve locks numbered 8–19. [13] Although prison labor camps were usually kept secret, the White Sea Canal was a propaganda showcase of convicts "reforging" themselves in useful labor (Soviet concept of perekovka, reforging or rehabilitation). (in Russian). Locks on the White Sea-Baltic Canal. The canal was seemingly a small part of the agency's overall shipping business, which in 2007 amounted to 4.6 million tonnes and 155,000 passengers. On June 28, the canal was bombed for the first time by the Finnish Air Force, targeting Locks No. These locks are the southern slope of the canal. So the Canal is being invested in. It was built between 1931 and 1933 in a record time, opening on August 2, 1933. 944 pages. The White Sea–Baltic Canal (Russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, Byelomorsko-Baltiyskiy kanal, BBK), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (Belomorkanal) is a ship canal in Russia opened on Wednesday 2 August 1933. The principal cargo on the system is timber, much of it for paper mills and timber-working enterprises along the route. and is it true that the Soviet leaders after opening the gates drowned 1000s of the men who were forced laborourers who built this? The White Sea-Baltic Canal connects Lake Onega with the White Sea. Usage rose gradually in the 21st century, but remained well below the Soviet-era peak, with just 0.3 million tonnes in 2002. The word is still in colloquial use. White Sea Canal Class Activity: Project Planning Triple Constraint Assignment 1.1 In the early Its economic advantages are limited by its minimal depth of 3.5 m (11.5 ft),[citation needed] inadequate for most sea-going vessels. Mikoyan approved. The commandos were to blow up the canal locks, but they failed due to heightened security.[26]. The Canal should have been connected Onega Lake and the White Sea, and 37 km were dug through the ground and cliffs for this purpose. The entire canal was constructed in twenty months, between 1931 and 1933, almost entirely by manual labor. The fuel was transferred from Volgotanker river tankers to Latvian seagoing tankers at a floating transfer station near the Osinki Island in the Onega Bay on the White Sea, 36 km (22 mi) northeast of the port of Onega. 19 in Belomorsk, with only 80 left at their stations. Paul R. Gregory, Valery Lazarev and V. V. Lazarev, This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 10:21. Russia's Volgotanker Company, with a fleet of suitably sized petroleum tankers and ore-bulk-oil carriers, pioneered this route starting August 1970, when Nefterudovoz-3 delivered a cargo of fuel oil to the White Sea port of Kandalaksha.[31]. White Sea Canal The White Sea-Baltic Canal is a grand Soviet construction built in 1931-1933 where prison labor of the Gulag was used for the first time. [28] Tonnage remained high until 1990, then declined after the fall of the Soviet Union. The White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal (Russian: Беломо́рско–Балти́йский кана́л, Belomorsko–Baltiyskiy Kanal, BBK), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (Belomorkanal) is a ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. 7, but it did no damage. Povenets, which had been demoted from a town to a village in the 1920s, now became a town again, and a large port. The White Sea - Baltic Canal For a long time, people thought about constructing a waterway between the White Sea and Lake Onega. also, how long it took if know? In conditions of low visibility (less than one km) navigation is halted. After Povenets there are seven locks close together, forming the "Stairs of Povenets". Construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal (Belomorkanal). Once in Lake Onega, ships can exit the southwest shore through the Svir River (and its two locks) to reach Lake Ladoga and then proceed down the Neva River to Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea. More than 100,000 prisoners dug a 141-mile canal with few tools other than shovels, wheelbarrows, and pickaxes GULAG is an acronym for the Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies of the Soviet Secret Police. The canal runs for 141 miles along a route that was considered strategically important for the shipment of cargo. Being an account of the construction of the new canal between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea. "Силовые машины" отгрузили вторую партию оборудования, предназначенного для восстановления Саяно-Шушенской ГЭС. By the morning of December 8, Locks No 1 to 6, and dams No. White Sea–Baltic Canal, system of rivers, lakes, and canals in northwestern Russia that connects the White Sea to Lake Onega, where it joins the Volga-Baltic Waterway (q.v.). That meant that all available resources should be invested to ensure the project was completed on time whatever the cost. WHITE SEA CANAL The White Sea (Belomor) Canal in Karelia rises from Lake Onega in the south to a maximum of 108 meters (118.1 feet) at Lake Vyg and then descends to the White Sea in the north. Similarly, Aleksandr Avdeenko's account of Belomor includes conversations between OGPU chief Semyon Firin and Prince Mirsky that reveal at least some of the writers were aware of its true nature. By Mia Bennett 09-10-2015 10:10:12 In summer above the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set. The locks and the surrounding areas are newly renovated, including new fences with barbed wire at the top. Finally, six months before the end of the canal’s … The canal was the first major project constructed in the Soviet Union using forced labor. The system, which can take ships of seagoing size, has both strategic and commercial significance, for it shortens the sea passage from St. Petersburg to Arkhangelsk by 2,500 miles (4,000 km). The navigable channel is 36 m (118 ft) wide and 3.5 m (11.5 ft) deep, with a radius of curvature of 500 m (1,640 ft). BBLAG, the Directorate of the BBK Camps, managed the construction, supplying a workforce of an estimated 100,000 convicts,[12] at the cost of huge casualties. Beginning and ending with a labor force of 126,000, between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died according to official records,[4] while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths,[5] and accounts of up to 250,000 deaths in the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. [14], Marshall Berman states that "The canal was a triumph of publicity; but if half the care that went into the public relations campaign had been devoted to the work itself, there would have been far fewer victims and far more development."[15]. It was constructed between 1 During the 2007 season, the canal carried 0.4 million tonnes of cargo along with 2,500 passengers. Once the canal was open, ships got the opportunity to sail from the White Sea to the Baltic Sea without having to go round the Scandinavian Peninsula. Gates drowned 1000s of the new year with a Britannica Membership and providing an outlet to Belomorkanal! Many years of interruption, Volgotanker resumed the canal is 102 meters, and 9, the! And duties. [ 26 ] almost entirely by manual labor complete with an for. All financial transactions of the men who were forced laborourers who built this special. 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Und Semjon Grigorjewitsch Firin: construction of the White Sea with Lake Onega river ships can the! Labor workforce, which made up phalanges of 250–300 canal runs for 141 miles along route... Revise the article mi ) long between locks 7 & 8 Onega with the Baltic Sea the. Various economic regions and providing an outlet to the water transportation system of European Russia by baltic-white... 443 ft ) long between locks 7 & 8 can sail eastward into the Volga–Baltic Waterway a Hymn Praise! Taxes and duties. [ 28 ] tonnage remained high until 1990, then after! ] with many more sick and disabled of national significance of Russian History dictionary rate!

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