Records of mass murders in the region of Central Ural
Here is a summary of the mass murders which were recorded in the region of Central Ural - Sverdlovsk Oblast - Ivdel District. I gather different existing material, sorry for the repetition, the benefit is to have an overview. And this overview gives the
context of the criminal case opened by prosecutor Tempalov on Feb. 26 and closed by prosecutor Ivanov on May 28.
The killers belong to three categories:
1. MANSI
First, the Mansi were not "peaceful", the idealistic Rousseauist dreams of "primitive innocence" are to be forgotten. We can find in the DPI several records of murders in the taiga:
ANYAMOV Andrey Alekseevich (Анямов Андрей Алексеевич)
born in 1939, a hunter, in 1959 - lived in the village of Suevat-Paul, Andrey Alekseevich Anyamov's nephew. Took part in hunting in mid-February. He is thought to have been a member of the Kurikov and Nevolin search party Feb 23 - Mar 3 (Andrey Alekseevich Anyamov appears on the group's list). Allegedly, he was killed by fellow countrymen shortly after 1959.ANYAMOV Prokopiy Vasilyevich (Анямов Прокопий Васильевич) -
Nikolay Vasilyevich Anyamov’s brother. In the 60s he lived in the village of Suyevat-Paul. In 1961 while hunting he was accidentally killed by Nikolay Stepanovich Kurikov.SAMBINDALOV Vasiliy Mironovich (Самбиндалов Василий Миронович),
the son of M.I. Sambindalov. In a drunken squabble he shot and killed Ilya Dunaev, a Mansi.BAHTIYAROV Timofey Prokopyevich (Бахтияров Тимофей Прокопьевич)
born in 1926; in 1959 – a hunter, brother of Pavel Prokopyevich and Aleksander Prokopyevich Bahtiyarov; lived in the Bahtiyarov's yurts on the N. Toshemka river in the area of the Vapsos river. Krasnobaev went there on Feb 26 (Krasnobaev's testimony). It is not known where he was on Feb 16-25. Most likely he accompanied Pavel Vasilyevich Bahtiyarov. Later he was killed in unclear circumstances.SHESHKIN Konstantin Efimovich (Шешкин Константин Ефимович)
- born in 1932, Tyumen region - in 1959 а Mansi hunter; lived in Pelym yurts, Burmantovskiy rural council. Presumably in mid-February, while hunting, he saw traces of skis on the Lozva (above Auspiya) and Auspiya rivers leading to the Ural ridge while hunting with the Anyamovs from Suevat Paul. (Testimony). In the 60s he lived in the settlement of Lyamya-Paul. Brother of the famous Mansi artist Pyotr Efimovich Sheshkin (1930-1981). He was sentenced to 7 years for murder (in the taiga three people attacked him, so while trying to protect himself he accidentally killed one).These are isolated cases. But the locals could be engaged in actual private wars:
At that time, they used to go in hunting brigades. The brigades lit the fire to spend the night, and whoever lit the fire first, that one was slaughtered. If the Ostyaks lit the fire first, our men killed them. If they managed to catch our men, to sneak secretly up to the fire, they murdered our people. This was in the 1920s to 1930s, and even later. Well, maybe Siberia was not so rich with furs, and on our side there was everything, now only a few are left. However, they came with good prey from that side. Or they did not come back at all. (Hidden Rituals and Public Performances, Traditions and Belonging among the Post-Soviet Khanty, Komi and Udmurts, p. 209)
This testimony is about Khanty and Ostyaks people, but Kurikov told a similar story:
Kurikov said that near the holy mountain, where this mountain is located, he didn't say, there live five Ostyaks. They are like savages, they are not friends with Mansi or with Russian people. They never come to Ivdel. And these Ostyaks could kill the hikers because they wanted to ascend the holy mountain or because they thought that hikers could kill their deer and moose, which they feed on. Kurikov expressed only his own assumptions, but what really happened he, Kurikov, couldn't say. Kurikov saw these Ostyak savages some years ago. Kurikov didn't know where the holy mountain is. (Gorbushin's testimony)
The Mansi were serious suspects, In 1959 they were killing each other in the taiga, and the idea of killing a group of 9 strangers was not weird at all to them.
2. MILITARY UNIT 6602 OF MVD GUARDING IVDELLAG
It is estimated that in less than 14 years of Ivdellag existence its
commanders, officers and guards, killed about 30,000 prisoners.
Testimonies about Ivdellag:
Jadwiga Bałajewicz
On 15 February 1941, they took us two from Nizhnyaya Tura to a large forced labor camp in Ivdel. On the day of our arrival in Ivdel we were forced to prepare a mud hut for ourselves. Although waterlogged and damp, it was the only place where we could rest for even a while. I worked felling trees. My hands were in a terrible state, covered with blisters and festering wounds caused by the continuous use of a heavy ax and saw. We were fed with nothing more than beetroot and radish; we all suffered stomach ailments, and one half of all prisoners died of hunger. (
source)
Józefa Dobrońska
I was arrested in Wilno on 15 June 1941 and deported to the Northern Ural, Sverdlovsk Oblast. I spent seven months in a labor camp there. Both the housing and hygienic conditions were deplorable. A small group of Poles, comprising 25 people, was placed among 600 Estonians, who were very kind to us. The work (sawing timber) lasted from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. In return for work we received only food. The Soviet authorities were very hostile and full of sarcasm. They often addressed us with mockery, telling us that we would never leave the woods or go anywhere else. The medical assistance was virtually non-existent. The mortality rate was very high. From six to eight people died on some days. (
sourceIn 1942 alone, in TavdinLag, a forced labor camps complex in the same Sverdlovsk oblast, NKVD commander, executives and guards kill 2,742 prisoners… 219 deaths per 1 month, 8 deaths per 1 day...
The commanders, officers and guards of Ivdellag were guilty of
crime against humanity, but they were never arrested and never trialed, they lived comfortable lives, rewarded with medals and retiring with pensions. In 1959, they were all around Dyatlov and his friends. They were in Vizhay with the hikers, and at Kholyat Syakhl after their death. These Ivdellag guards are more serious suspects than the Mansi, because they killed at a much higher scale,
30,000 victims being quite a score (2,142 killed per 1 year, 179 killed per 1 month).
3. EXECUTIONERS OF 1937-1938 MASS SHOOTINGS
In 1937, in Sverdlovsk oblast, the initial "quota" of persons to be shot in the head was
4,000 according to
NKVD Order No. 00447. These quotas were augmented with extra figures in the whole USSR and until November 1938 at least
387,000 persons where shot in the head and there are about 21,000 bodies shot in the head in the mass grave of "
12 kilometer" alone, near Sverdlovsk, at the
"12 kilometer" Memorial.
Khrushchev provided tens of thousands names of Russians to be shot in the head during 1937-1938. Khrushchev himself was a veteran of the application of NKVD order N°00447, he was the boss of the NKVD henchmen who killed at "
Butovo shooting range" near Moscow, he proposed the lists of names to Stalin for Moscow region (Beria was such a veteran too, he supervised the application of NKVD order No. 00447 in Georgia).
In 1989, the mass grave of "
Zolotaya Gora" was opened in Chelyabinsk, 200 km South from Sverdlovsk...About 20,000 other Russian people were killed there:
These young soviet enthusiastic who pulled the trigger and shot 400,000 Russians in the head, and finally shot Yezhov and their own bosses, they had successful careers and climbed the steps of state security hierarchy, they were bonded by the strongest ever caste solidarity, and in 1959, they were filling positions in different state security agencies: KGB, MVD military units, Ivdellag... These men are the first suspects, they pulled the trigger in 1937-1938 and
shot in the head 400,000 of their fellow citizens, their careers began in a blood bath and nothing could ever restrain them to do what they thought they had to do.
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So, there are records of mass murders around Kholyat Syakhl and suspects are identified. Dyatlov and his friends were not hiking in Switzerland, but in a country endlessly filling mass graves with its own people.
The soviet authorities first wanted to dump the nine hikers in a mass grave in Ivdel... and they had to back off because of the families!
There was a photo taken in 1989, at "Zolotaya Gora", the "Golden Moutain", and maybe this photo shows the ultimate truth about the fate of Dyatlov and his friends at Kholyat Syakhl... they were not hiking in a "country of mysterious signs" but in a "country of endless self-destruction":
(click to enlarge)
Having fun in Vizhay watching the movie
The Symphonie in Gold, in Vizhay where there were 12 camps of Ivdellag - they were in a "hotel" room with a view of the barbwires and watchtowers!!! They befriended with the guards of Military unit 6602 of MVD who were hunting Zeks like animals with rifles and dogs in the taiga!!! Skiing on the frozen Lozva above the bones of all the Zeks who drowned there!!! Their tent was pitched in Kholyat Syakhl at the same place as the tent in Golden Mountain: at the edge of a mass grave... They called themselves "tourists"!!! What kind of "tourism" was that? They were completely oblivious... And Doroschenko complaining about the illegal songs!!! Hiking in the heart of darkness, of sufferings, despair and death? And complaining because the living dead still dared to sing words of revolt? They spent their holidays in hell and it turns out that hell is filled with demons. So this photo of the tent at "Golden Mountain" is terribly meaningful about the hikers' death... there was finally a true "mysterious sign".
My opinion is that this photo of the tent at "Golden Moutain" shows all the truth about the Dyatlov Pass "Incident". The regime gave the order to close the case and to tell the families it was an accident, and wanted to dump the hikers in a mass grave: in the end, the regime treated the hikers like any previous victims of bloody political repression. This extraordinary photo is the absolute symbol of the hikers' fate, a mysterious sign showing to who can see, speaking to who can listen...
Topic: Records of previous mass murders around Ivdel (Read 110 times)