The Gulag Study

Perm-36 Special Camp, located in Perm, Russia. This site is now a museum.

Joint Commission Support Directorate

Gulag Research Group

Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office

Fourth Edition

22 June 2002

i

The Gulag Study

Direct any questions or comments concerning this study to: 

Major Tim Falkowski, Project Manager

Phone: (703) 602-2202, ext 209

Email: Tim.Falkowski@osd.mil

or

Chief Petty Officer Michael Allen, Gulag Study Analyst

Phone: (703) 602-2202, ext 235

Email: Michael.Allen@osd.mil
1

Gulag Study Contents

Soviet Prison Camps and Other

Detention Facilities, By Region Page

Area of Moscow 2

Area of Vladimirskaya 4

Area of Mordovska 5

Area of Rostov 8

Area of Kirov 9

Area of Komi 10

 Area of Molotov (Perm) 25

Area of Chelyabinsk 28

 Area of Novosibirsk 29

 Area of Krasnoyarsk 30

Area of Irkutsk 34

Area of Yakutsk 38

Area of Chita 44

Area of Magadan 45

Area of Khabarovsk 48

Area of Primorskiy Krai 50

Area of Kazakhstan 52
2

Area of Moscow

Lubyanka—In 1947, while in pre-trial confinement in Potsdam, a Polish witness 

shared a cell with a U.S. Army sergeant, reportedly a gunner. The witness 

believed that the sergeant had unintentionally entered the Soviet Zone in Berlin 

by car and had been immediately arrested. The source described the American 

as a sturdy fellow, whose father was a farmer. The American gave the source an 

overcoat. They spoke German, although both spoke it very poorly. They met 

again at the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow at the turn of 1948.1

 A follow-up interview with the source revealed that in the winter of 1948-

1949, he saw the same American in the Transit Prison at Sverdlovsk-NaUrale. He waved at the American from afar and never saw the American 

again. Some time after this encounter, source heard from a French officer 

that the American was shot and killed while attempting to escape.2

Monino Air Force Academy—During a series of interviews in 1996, a Soviet 

veteran who lived in Minsk claimed to have seen a U.S. POW in May or June

1953. The POW reportedly was a Korean War F-86D pilot whose plane had been 

forced to land. The pilot landed his plane undamaged, was captured, and his 

aircraft taken to Moscow. The incident occurred in the late spring of 1953. 

According to the witness--who served in An Dun, China, from December 1952 

through February 1954--the pilot was sent to Moscow the day after his forced 

landing, "because Stalin wanted to speak with him." The witness said that his 

commander, Colonel Ivan Nikolayevich Kozhedub, interrogated the pilot. He 

believed the U.S. POW was not injured. The witness stated that the late General 

Vasiliy Kuzmich Sidorenkov had a picture of the American POW, which 

Sidorenkov showed to him years ago, declaring, "that's our American." He stated 

that the U.S. POW depicted in the photo was white, with light brown hair and blue 

or light brown eyes, was about five feet seven inches tall, and had a two and half 

inch scar above the right eye. The witness revealed that this pilot later became 

an instructor and taught at the Monino Air Force Academy in Moscow from 1953-

58. The U.S. POW did not speak Russian and served at Monino under an 

assumed Russian name. He did not know the name and could not recall any 

other details about the U.S. POW, who reportedly taught air battle techniques 

and tactics and assisted the Soviets in figuring out a U.S. radar sight (radiolokatsionniy pritsel).3

 

1

 KARTA Center’s research project (KARTA): Searching for Information on American Citizens Gone 

Missing During World War II and After it in the Territory of the USSR, Final Narrative Report for the 

Period April 1-October 30, 1998, p. 9.

2

 Joint Commission Support Directorate Phone Interview, 4 October 2001.

3

 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 191534Z MAR 96, 161242Z MAY 96.
3

Krasnaya Presnya Prison—In a letter to President Nixon, repatriated American 

John Noble reported that, inscribed in the wall of Krasnaya Presnya Prison in 

Moscow, he saw the name of a Major Roberts or Robbins, with his American 

address and the inscription, "I am sick and don't expect to live through this....".4

In 1958 Mr. Noble reported this incident had occurred in Orsha Transit Prison. 

Inscribed on a cell wall in the transit prison in Orsha, Byelorussia, (where he was 

imprisoned prior to his confinement at Krasnaya Presnya) was the name 

Roberts, Robertson, or Robins followed by a date in mid-August 1950 and “Maj., 

U.S.A.”.5 [Major Frank A. Roberts, and Captains Robert Roberts and Edward 

Robbins, are among the 125 service members missing from WWII with the last 

name of Roberts or Robbins.]

Moscow Transit Prison—In 1954, a German returnee reported meeting an 

American Army or Air Force captain while detained in the Moscow Transit 

Prison in 1949. Source was imprisoned in one cell with 19 other German 

officers from February to April 1949. For three to five days in March another 

prisoner was placed in source’s cell. This prisoner spoke broken German 

with an American accent and also spoke fluent Russian. He claimed to be a 

captain in the U.S. Army or Air Force. The Soviet Internal Security Forces 

reportedly arrested him in the USSR while operating as an agent. Source 

described him as 30-35 years old, five feet eleven inches tall, slim, athletic 

build, black hair, slender face with a straight nose and medium-sized ears. 

He was reticent, but energetic. He gave the impression of being well 

educated. Source had no further information about the man. 6

 

4

 Sworn Affidavit to President Richard M. Nixon by John Nobel, 26 May 1973, p. 2.

5

 John Noble, I Was a Slave in Russia, (Broadview, Illinois:Cicero Bible Press,1964), p. 73.

6

 Alleged American National in Soviet Prison near Moskva, 51-B-13005A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 1 March 

1955, Reports of Returning POWs and Detainees Under Soviet Control 1949-1955 (Wringer Reports), 

Office of the Director of Intelligence (ODI), Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff), Record 

Group 341 (RG 341), National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD (NACP).
4

Area of Vladimirskaya 

Vladimir Prison—A United Press release, dated 1 September 1955, reported 

that nine Austrians and one Italian were released from a Russian prison camp. 

The returnees reported that U.S. servicemen Wilfred Cumish [returned], Sidney 

Sparks [returned], Frederick Hopkins [returned], and Grisham [not returned] were 

in the same camp.7 [Captain David Howard Grisham, USAF, went missing from 

the Korean War on 3 September 1950]. 

 

7

 United Press, UPR37, 1 September 1955.
5

 Area of Mordovska

Dubrava Camp—Several repatriated Iranian witnesses claimed that, at this 

location in 1953, they knew of an American, a Colonel Jackson, who had been 

reportedly kidnapped by the Soviets in Berlin.8

Potma—In March 1955 a repatriated German POW informed U.S. Air Force 

debriefers that in June 1954, while interned in a prisoner of war camp 

awaiting repatriation to Germany, he met three alleged Americans who had 

arrived in the camp from Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg). One was 

approximately 43 years old, five feet nine inches tall, stout build, blond hair 

with gray streaks combed back, brownish-gray eyes, and a full face. 

Although born in Russia, his parents immigrated with him to the United 

States where they later became U.S. citizens. He claimed to be former a 

Military Policeman who accidentally crossed into the Soviet Sector of 

Berlin shortly after World War II. The second was described as 

approximately 30 years old, five feet one inch tall, with a stout build, blond 

curly hair, and gray eyes. He was called “Jolly”, spoke German and worked 

at the camp dispensary. The third was described as a black man, 30 years 

old, five feet ten inches, and had a slim build. He did not speak German or 

Russian. The alleged Americans never received any packages from the Red 

Cross or any mail. On 27 December 1954, they told the German good-bye, 

stating that the Russian authorities had informed them they would be 

repatriated. The source had no further information about where the 

Russians transported the alleged Americans.9

Potma Camp No. 18—An Estonian witness alleged that he met a U.S. POW 

from Korea in 1952. The POW's first name was Gary or Harry. The POW was still 

at the camp when the witness left in the autumn of 1953.10

Potma Camp No. 19—A Polish witness was the chief of a work brigade in Camp 

No. 19 in Potma, working primarily in the forest. He claimed there were a few 

Americans among the 17 nationalities in his brigade.11

 

8

 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZF000004W Detention of American Personnel By Foreign 

Agency (ZF000004W) p. 4-12, IRR Case Files: Impersonal Files 1940-1976, Records of the Investigative 

Records Repository (IRR), Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC).

9

 Alleged Americans at PW camp at POTMA, 52HD-55-196B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 25 February 1954, 

Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

10 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 161156Z Aug 93.

11 KARTA, 1998, p. 8.
6

Potma Camp No. 385— In 1960, a German source reported that while 

interned in the Soviet Union he met two American military personnel. 

Source met the first American in the autumn of 1957 at Potma Camp No. 

385, Sub-camp No. 11 and last saw him in the autumn of 1959 in Sub-camp 

No. 7. The American was named Jack. He was a light-skinned AfricanAmerican, 28-30 years old, six feet five or six feet six inches tall, and 

slender. Jack’s mother was part Native American. He had lived in Saint 

Louis, Missouri. Jack had originally served with the U.S. Constabulary in 

Bad Hershfeld, Germany as a “First Sergeant.” Jack showed source a 

photo of himself wearing a uniform with a 7th Army patch and Constabulary 

insignia. Source could not remember any rank insignia. After serving in 

Bad Hershfeld, Jack returned to the United States. At an unknown date 

Jack returned to Europe as a member of the United States Air Forces in 

Europe (USAFE). He was stationed at Celle Airfield during the Berlin airlift, 

and later with the Military Police in Berlin as a “Sergeant Major.” Jack 

showed the source a second photograph of himself in an “Ike” jacket with 

Air Force staff sergeant stripes and airborne (parachute) insignia above the 

jacket pocket. The third photograph was of Jack in a military police uniform 

with a white garrison cap with visor, leggings, Sam Brown belt, and a .45 

holster. In this picture, Jack was standing in front of a military police jeep 

with the Memorial Church in Berlin in the background. The United States 

Army Europe and USAFE emblem with “Highway Patrol” in the center 

appeared just below the windshield of the jeep. Reportedly, Jack went out 

one evening in Berlin and awoke the next morning in the custody of Soviet 

authorities in the town of Karlshorst. He was not allowed to write friends or 

relatives12.

 

 Source met the second alleged American in Sub-camp No. 11-1 in 1958. 

This individual claimed to have been a Marine who fought the Japanese in 

the Philippines during World War II. He was arrested in Manchuria around 

1944 supposedly because he was of Russian heritage. He was between 36 

and 38 years old. This individual was permitted to write and receive mail 

from New Jersey via an unknown location in Sweden.

Yavas—A former German POW met an American prisoner, John Hansen, in 

August 1955, after having previously heard about him from another prisoner as 

early as 1953. John Hansen spoke both German and Russian and was described 

as five feet six inches tall, medium build with brown hair and gray eyes.13 [SGT 

John Hansen, GM2C John Hansen, and 1LT John Hanson are missing from 

WWII. These three are among the 88 service members with the last name of 

Hansen or Hanson missing from WWII.]

 

12 Prisoners of Special Interest at the Potma Rehabilitation Camp, MI-3640B-60 AEUMF-HM, USAREUR, 

September 1960.

13 Soviet Apprehension of U.S. Personnel, AEUC-GI D-30477, HQ 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 

1 December 1955.
7

Saransk Camp No. 8—In 1955, a CIA source reported meeting an American 

from Philadelphia who was a pilot during World War II. He was fairly tall, 

very strong, and approximately 30 years old with light brown hair and gray 

eyes.14

 

14 American in Soviet Forced Labor Camp near Saransk, Central Intelligence Agency, May 1955.
8

Area of Rostov

Novocherkassk Camp No. 1/421—During a 1947 interview, a former German 

POW reported that he met two American soldiers in POW Hospital 5351 located 

at Novocherkassk in September 1945. The Americans stayed at the hospital until 

February 1946, when they were transferred to an engine factory in the same 

town. The witness provided the names of five other sources that he claimed 

would be able to verify this information. The one source contacted did in fact 

verify the account as provided by the witness.15

 

15 Americans Held in Russian PW Enclosure, Office of Military Government of Bavaria Intelligence, 

Historical and Reports Branch, Ag 383.6 MGBI, 11 July 1947.
9

Area of Kirov

Kirov—Repatriated American William Marchuk received information from a 

German POW who was imprisoned in the Kirov camp. The German stated that 

he was in the camp together with nine American POWs, all captains and majors, 

who were Korean War aviators.16

 

16 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZF000004W, p. 4-32.
10

Area of Komi

Abez—A German source who was interned in a prisoner of war camp in 

Inta from January 1949 to September 1950 reported seeing an American 

pilot while on detached duty in a prisoner of war camp in Abez from May to 

November 1949. Among the prisoners was an American who was said to be 

a pilot shot down in World War II. The alleged American was still in Abez 

when the source left in November 1949.17

Inta Camp No. 6–A Ukrainian witness in Topol-3 near Dnepropetrovsk stated 

that he was interned in Inta Camp No. 6 from 1949 through 1955. During that 

time, the camp held many foreigners of various nationalities. In 1952, a man who 

claimed to be an American, referred to as Leonid Teryashchenko (a pseudonym), 

was transferred to Inta. Teryashchenko's real name was never disclosed. His 

prisoner number had an additional slash and digit following the usual letter and 

three-digit sequence of the other prisoners. The witness frequently talked to 

Teryashchenko, who told the witness that he was imprisoned for political 

reasons. The witness described Teryashchenko as an athletic man with a large 

frame, a former boxer, approximately 30-33 years old. In late 1953 or early 1954 

Teryashchenko committed suicide to avoid further torture. Teryashchenko 

overpowered one of the guards, took his weapon, and shot himself in the mouth. 

He was buried in a common grave in the camp (exact location unknown).18

Inta Camp No. 3—A Polish witness recalled meeting two Americans in Camp 

No. 3 in Inta in 1954. They worked in his brigade, which was led by Wladyslaw 

Szyszko. He related that while they were building a bridge one of the Americans 

jumped into the Kosju River and drowned.19

Inta—A Russian witness claimed that, from 1956 until 1975, the KGB maintained 

a facility on the shore of the river Inta. In 1965, people were brought to Inta from 

Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they were imprisoned and killed, and their 

records burned in the boiler room in the eastern suburb on Shakhtnaya Street. 

More than 1,000 people ended up in the Inta prison, both American enlisted 

personnel and officers. The witness claimed that this information could be 

confirmed by Petr Ivanovich Kuznetsov, who reportedly worked as a driver for the 

MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) for twenty years. He now lives on Mir Street in 

Inta. Efforts to contact Mr. Kuznetsov during a visit to Inta in October 2000 

proved unsuccessful as Mr. Kuznetsov claimed that he was too ill to meet with 

USRJC representatives who traveled to Inta to speak with him.20

 

17 Area Description of Abez, 51-B-13074A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 9 March 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, 

RG 341, NACP.

18 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 181139Z Nov 94.

19 KARTA, 1998, p. 8.

20 TFR 140, Task Force Russia, p. 1.
11

Inta—A Polish witness reported two Americans in a camp in 1949-1950.21

Inta—A CIA source reported in that in 1948 that he met an alleged American 

citizen who had Polish documents in the name of Fawitsky or Faveleki. The 

American refused to reveal his true name. He spoke German, Russian, 

French, and English fluently. Source stated Soviets had a photograph of 

the reported American in an U.S. enlisted man’s uniform. Source last saw 

this man in Lubyanka Prison in 1951.22

Inta Mining Camp (Minlag)—A Russian witness indicated that she had spent 

four years in the Inta "Minlag" camp complex (1952-1956). During that time, she 

heard reports of two American flyers in the Inta camp complex in the early 1950s, 

although she did not see them herself. Some of the women who worked in the 

central hospital said there were many foreigners in the camp, including two 

American pilots. According to these reports, the two men were shot down or 

forced down over Germany after having strayed over Soviet-occupied territory. 

One of the two was white, while the other had black skin (chernokozhiy). The 

witness said that these women told her the reputed Americans had been 

imprisoned since 1946. 23

Inta Mining Camp, Section No. 5—A CIA source reported in 1957 that while 

interned he became acquainted with an American citizen. This individual 

was named Jan (John) with a double family name—the first American, the 

second Polish. He was born in the United States of Polish and French 

extraction. Jan was a U.S. Army captain stationed in Berlin from 1946 to 

1947. The Soviets arrested him in the Soviet Zone while he was visiting his 

girlfriend. Source last saw Jan in September 1953 at the eye, ear, and nose 

clinic of the Section No. 5, Barracks 27 hospital.24

Inta Mining Camp No. 15—A Russian stated that he knew of two Americans in 

the Inta Gulag system who were detained at Mining Camp Number 15 (circa 

1950). The two men were U.S. service members and went by the names of John 

and Michael.25

Pechora—A Lithuanian witness claimed to have met an American Major or 

Colonel on 15 or 16 February 1950. The American reportedly was captured in the 

Ukraine during WWII. The witness saw him on two occasions before being sent 

into exile.26

 

21 KARTA, 1998, p. 3.

22 Alleged American Held in Soviet Prison, Information Report No. CS-79883, Central Intelligence 

Agency, 8 December 1955.

23 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 051347Z Nov 96.

24 American Held in Soviet Prison, Information Report, Central Intelligence Agency, 30 May 1957. 

25 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 141940Z Jun 01. 

26 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 070842Z Jul 93
12

Pechora Kozhva (Koschwa)—A German POW reportedly had direct contact 

with a U.S. Air Force Captain described as being five feet eleven inches tall, 28-

33 years old, with reddish hair. The witness last saw him on 5 January 1950. The 

American claimed that at the end of WWII he was arrested for participating in an 

altercation at a Moscow restaurant. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. The 

American spoke broken German.27

Ukhta—A German interned in Ukhta from 1947 to February 1950 reported 

meeting and developing a friendship based on an escape plot with an 

American citizen named James Stafford, who reportedly arrived in Ukhta in 

1948. Stafford was born between 1910 and 1914 in Breslau, Germany, 

where his father worked for the city police. His father immigrated to the 

U.S. via Czechoslovakia in 1919. Stafford followed with his mother and 

sister in 1920. Stafford’s mother was from Chemnitz, Germany. The family 

changed their surname from Lenz to Stafford and settled in San Francisco. 

Stafford attended school in San Francisco and married a South American 

woman who bore him a son. Stafford claimed to be an American 

intelligence operative. After six months training, in 1939 he was posted to 

his first assignment as a radio technician in Spain. During World War II he 

carried out various missions in Germany until German Counter Intelligence 

finally captured him in Helsinki. The Germans transported him to Tallinn for 

execution. When the Russians captured Tallinn, they freed him. The 

Russians arrested him in 1945 while he was attempting to escape to 

Finland with a group of Estonian civilians. He was first sent to a camp in 

Kirov, where he escaped and was recaptured before eventually being sent 

to Ukhta. Stafford was better known in the camp by his World War II cover 

name Kurt Nisslone or Nissloni. The Russians knew his American identity 

but had sentenced him under the name Nissloni Stafford. James Stafford 

was husky, five foot seven inches tall, 165 pounds, dark hair, gray-blue 

eyes, prominent cheekbones, short chin, and high forehead. He spoke 

fluent American English, German with a Silesian dialect, and Russian. 

Stafford was still in Ukhta when source was transported from camp in 

February 1950. The day before source departed Stafford requested if 

source ever returned to West Germany that he contact the nearest 

American intelligence office and report he had met Stafford in a Russian 

penal camp. Stafford told him “All you have to do is mention to them that 

you met K-226 Helsinki and they will know who I am”.28

 An earlier report, most likely from the same source, reported almost the 

exact same information about James Stafford with the additional 

information that Stafford had worked in Helsinki as an American 

newspaper journalist and his journalist ID card No. was K-226.29

 

27 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 

11 December 1953.

28 American National in Penal Camp at Ukhta, 51-B-13547-C, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 11 May 1954, 

Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

29 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 

11 December 1953.
13

Ukhta Camp No. 226/4—A German source interned in a Russian labor camp 

from January 1949 to December 1953 became acquainted with two alleged 

members of the U.S. Army who were transferred from the Soviet Prison in 

Hohenschoenhausen, East Germany to Ukhta Camp No. 226/4 in July 1948. 

Source had occasional conversations with these individuals between 16 

January and 19 July 1949. Source reported meeting a U.S. Army major 

named Bob. He formerly resided in New York. Stationed in Berlin, the 

Soviets lured Bob into the Soviet Sector where he was arrested for 

espionage. Bob was approximately 28 years old, five feet eleven inches, 

squarely built with dark hair and bright eyes. The second American was an 

Army sergeant named Jack, approximately 22 years old, five feet three 

inches, slender, with thin fair hair, a “boxer’s” nose, and sunken eyes. 

Source heard from other convicts that Bob and Jack were transferred to 

Siberia in autumn 1949. Source stated that a special camp for foreign 

convicts (Americans, English, French etc.) was located in Siberia.30

 

30 Members of the U.S. Army Interned in a Convict Camp at Ukhta, 49-D03-873/1-0554, Office of Special 

Investigations (USAFE), 24 May 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.
14

Ust-Ukhta Camp No. 2, No. 3, and No. 14—A German source interned from 

December 1949 to June 1953 reported meeting two members of the U.S. Air 

Force. In December of 1949, while confined in Camp No. 3 source heard 

two individuals speaking English and asked them who they were. They 

responded that they were Americans who made a forced landing in 

Kharkov in 1949 when their four-engine bomber lost both right engines. 

One man was named Harry Rosenberg. Rosenberg showed the source a 

U.S. Air Force cap which he had in his pocket. It was a gray-blue overseas 

cap with an airman’s U.S. insignia with a silver airman’s wing insignia, and 

one silver horizontal bar. Harry was 26 years old, five feet seven inches, 

slim with black hair. He had a scar on his upper right arm and spoke some 

German. In camp he wore a bright blue airman’s shirt without pockets. 

Sometimes he wore a brown-green shirt with two pockets closed with 

buttons. He wore Russian work clothes in the winter. Source did not recall 

the second man’s name. He was five feet nine inches, blond, slim, broadshouldered, and lame in the right leg. He wore similar clothes to Harry 

Rosenberg’s but also had a plain beige tie. Both men were reportedly from 

New York State. In January 1950 source and the two airmen were 

transferred to Camp No. 14. In March or April 1950 Harry Rosenberg 

escaped, making it as far as Kotlas before being caught and returned to 

Camp No. 14. He was placed in a special prison as punishment. Source was 

placed in the same prison with Rosenberg a few days later. Ten days later 

source was released from the special prison back into Camp No. 14. Harry 

Rosenberg was transferred to the disciplinary barracks in Camp No. 2. In 

the summer of 1950 a prison gang murdered the second American while 

robbing him. Source along with three Russian prisoners buried the 

American in a cemetery containing five thousand graves located 1.24 miles 

from Camp No. 14. They placed a wooden cross with the letters U.S. made 

of copper on the grave. Soon after this incident source was transferred to 

Camp No. 2 where he once again spoke with Harry Rosenberg. In autumn 

1951 source saw Harry Rosenberg being escorted through the camp gate 

by two soldiers. They exchanged a few words. Rosenberg stated he was 

going to Moscow. This was the last time source saw or heard of Harry 

Rosenberg.31

Vorkuta—A witness met and spoke with a group of eleven American prisoners in 

December 1946, at Vorkuta. All were flyers, one was black, and they included 

both officers and enlisted men. They were kept in a small barracks separated 

from the rest of the camp and surrounded by barbed wire. The witness claimed 

these might have been part of a group of American pilots coerced into staying in 

the Soviet Union after WWII. These pilots claimed to have flown missions against 

Nazi targets using airfields in the Soviet Union.32

 

31 Americans Held Near Ust’-Ukhta, 59B-B-5865B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 18 May 1954, Wringer Reports, 

ODI, RG 341, NACP.

32 Zoltan Toth, Prisoner of the Soviet Gulag, (Gresham Books, 1978), pp. 62-64. 
15

Vorkuta—A German witness reported meeting U.S. Air Force member Bob (last 

name unknown), in July 1951. Bob had been stationed in Berlin as a U.S. Air 

Force bombardier. While visiting his girlfriend in the Soviet Sector in 1948 or 

1949, he was arrested and sent to Vorkuta. He previously lived in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania, and spoke only English. Bob was 30-35 years old, five feet eight 

inches tall, and had dark hair.33

Vorkuta—A source that had been imprisoned in Vorkuta reported meeting an 

American with the last name "Cox," whose physical description matched that of a 

West Point cadet named Richard Alvin Cox, who mysteriously disappeared from 

the U.S. Military Academy on 14 January 1950.34

However, further investigation and analysis of the primary source document 

(NBG Team, 7051st Air INTSERON, 7050th Air INTSERGU Air Intelligence 

Information Report IR-255-56 dated 18 December 1956)35 indicated the 

individual named “Cox” encountered by the source was probably Private Homer 

H. Cox, a U.S. military policeman who was detained by Soviet authorities in East 

Germany in September 1949. Private Cox was detained in Vorkuta and released 

on 29 December 1953.36 He returned to his home state of Oklahoma, and died of 

pneumonia in 1954.37

The primary source document stated: COX, first name unknown, from 

CHICHASHA (3501N/9755E) OKLAHOMA, 30-35 years old, blond, five feet eight 

inches tall. Source heard from fellow prisoners that this man deserted his military 

unit in West Germany.

Vorkuta—A Lithuanian witness in Vilnius stated that while a prisoner in a camp 

in Vorkuta he met a prisoner who claimed to be a U.S. WWII pilot named John.38

Vorkuta—A woman from Kiev reported that during interviews with former 

prisoners in the Vorkuta and Berlag camps, several claimed to have seen 

American pilots. The pilots were shot down during the Korean War.39

 

33 Allied Personnel Imprisoned in USSR, D-30477, HQ 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 15 June 

1955.

34 American Prisoner at Vorkuta Camp, USSR, Memorandum for the Record, Central Intelligence Agency, 

24 May 1957.

35 Handling and Processing of Prisoners in USSR, IR-255-56, NBG Team, 7051st Air INTSERON, 7050 

Air INTSERGU (USAFE), 18 December 1956, Air Intelligence Reports 1947-62 (AIR), Deputy Director 

for Collection and Dissemination (DDCD), Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff), Record 

Group 341 (RG 341), National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD (NACP).

36 The New York Times, 30 December 1953. 

37 The Stars and Stripes, 29 September 1954.

38 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 231127Z Jun 95.

39 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 181139Z Nov 94.
16

Vorkuta—The son of a Soviet engineer stationed at Vorkuta stated that of the 

several thousand persons in that camp complex, there were two black American 

soldiers, an American major, and several British citizens, as well as "other 

Europeans."40

Vorkuta—In 1962, while living in Vorkuta, a Russian journalist stated that he 

conducted an expose on the KGB, presumably to highlight its good work at 

protecting the borders of the Soviet Union. To present his findings, the reporter 

held a press conference with several KGB officers in attendance. The journalist 

asked the officers whether there were any U.S. servicemen in Vorkuta. He 

reported that one KGB officer commented, "Of course we have American 

prisoners from the Korean War here in Vorkuta." When asked to expound on this, 

the officer demurred, indicating that he did not want to discuss the issue any 

further.

41

Vorkuta—A female source, who was imprisoned in Vorkuta and Ukhta from 

December 1947 until December 1953, reported the presence of American or 

British, and French male prisoners in Vorkuta. Other female prisoners, who 

spoke French and English, told this to source in March 1953 while working 

at an excavation site in Vorkuta. The English-speaking male prisoners were 

supposedly airmen who had been arrested after bailing out of their 

aircraft.42

Vorkuta—A CIA source reported in 1955 that among the prisoners in 

Vorkuta was an American citizen named Walter Kovalik. Kovalik was born 

in 1921. He was missing his right arm. Kovalik was arrested in Mongolia on 

an unknown date. He gave his address as 4406 South Hermitage Avenue, 

Chicago, Illinois. His sister Mrs. Frank (Katherina) Sarna lived at the same 

address.43

 

40 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZF000004W, p. 4-91.

41 Trip Report for TDY to Moscow and Perm, Russia, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, 

Joint Commission Support Directorate, Gulag Research Team, June 2001.

42 Russian Forced Labor, Penal, and Correction Camps in Ukhta and Vorkuta , 59A-B-2792D, 7050 AISW 

(USAFE), 29 July 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

43 American Held in Soviet Prison, Information Report, Central Intelligence Agency, 19 October 1955.
17

Vorkuta—A female Austrian returnee interned from 1946 to 1955 reported 

meeting an American colonel in Vorkuta. In 1946, source met the alleged 

American, Colonel Davison, in the Soviet prison located in the basement of 

a building at Tolbuchkinstrasse 48, Vienna in 1946. The Prison Commander 

was Lt. Colonel Dobrovolsky. Source’s interrogator was named Ivan 

Ivanovich Petrov. Colonel Davison’s case was handled by Colonel 

Ponomorev, a member of the Soviet element of the Vienna Inter-Allied 

Command. Colonel Davison was interrogated by a Major Orlov. Davison 

was approximately 48 years old, and came from Ohio. He was arrested in 

February 1946 at the Hotel Erzherzog Rainer in IV (Soviet) Bezirk of Vienna 

after being set-up by an Estonian dancer and Soviet agent named Helena 

Leit. Source later met Davison in Vorkuta in 1947. When source left Vorkuta 

in 1950, Davison was ill in the camp hospital. In 1953 in Verkhne-Uralsk 

source learned from two other American prisoners (see p. 28) that Davison 

was out of the hospital and still in Vorkuta.44

Vorkuta Camp No. 1—A CIA source stated in 1954 that a person who 

claimed to be an American flyer had been in Vorkuta since 1948.45

Vorkuta Camp No. 1, 9/10, and 11—A German source was interned in 

Vorkuta from July 1950 to June 1953. On numerous occasions he spoke 

with a fellow prisoner who claimed to be an American. The prisoner 

claimed to be a U.S. Army corporal named Bill Matthiuk, a member of the 

U.S. Occupation Forces in Berlin. He was arrested in Potsdam in 1948 after 

falling asleep on a train. At the time, he was twenty-five or 26 years old, 

stout, dark blond with bushy eyebrows. Source last saw him in December 

1952.46 [This is possibly Private William T. Marchuk, U.S. Army. Private 

Marchuk was reported absent without leave 1 February 1949 in Berlin. He 

was imprisoned in Vorkuta and other camps in the Soviet Union until his 

release to U.S. authorities on 8 January 1955.]

 

44 Amembassy Vienna to State, American Citizens Detained by the Soviet Union, 20 October 1955, 

611.61241/10-2055, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

45 Soviet Concentration Camps in the Vorkuta Area, Information Report, 23 April 1954, Central 

Intelligence Agency.

46 Area Description of Vorkuta, 52B-11085A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 7 December 1954, Wringer Reports, 

ODI, RG 341, NACP.
18

Vorkuta Camp No. 3—Repatriated American John Noble reported that shortly 

after his arrival at Camp No. 3, he had spoken with a Yugoslavian national. The 

Yugoslav told him that several months before, an American Navy 

reconnaissance plane had been downed by the Soviets over the Baltic Sea and 

that eight of the ten crewmembers had survived. The survivors were being held 

in the Vorkuta area. However, they were told that the United States Government 

had accepted the official Soviet statement declaring them dead. This effectively 

doomed their chances of ever returning to America. Noble was never able to 

identify the survivors by name. However, he heard repeatedly from other inmates 

who were transferred from one camp to another that Americans were held in the 

same camps from which the transferees had come.47

Vorkuta Camp No. 6—A German witness reported that he knew a U.S. Major 

Schwartz from 1951 until 1952. Schwartz had been stationed in Frankfurt, 

Germany, when Soviet security police in Kassel, West Germany, kidnapped him 

in 1949. The American, last seen by the witness in 1952, spoke Russian and 

English. He was described as being 51 to 56 years old, five feet ten inches 

to six feet tall, 165 to 175 pounds, dark hair, dark complexion with 

protruding teeth and a missing upper front tooth.48

Vorkuta Camp No. 6—A returned German reported that, while interned from 

March 1950 to January 1954 he occasionally conversed with prisoners who 

claimed to be U.S. citizens. In early 1953 source met a colonel in the U.S. 

Army, approximately 50 years old, five feet eleven inches, slender with gray 

hair. He claimed the Russians kidnapped him in the Russian Sector of 

Vienna in 1948, while he was making a trip by car with his girlfriend. Source 

stated this prisoner was still in Camp No.6 when he left Vorkuta in January 

1954. Once in January of 1954 at the tailor’s shop, source met an alleged 

U.S. Army soldier named Joe, approximately 40 years old, five feet seven 

inches, slender, with dark blonde hair. Joe had a scar over his right eye 

and limped on his right leg. He was sentenced to five years hard labor in 

1945 and had been “free” since 1950. He lived in exile in the Vorkuta area 

with a Russian woman. Joe worked as the head of the bath-house for Coal 

Mine No. 29.49

 

47 Sworn Affidavit to President Richard M. Nixon by John Nobel, 26 May 1973, p. 1.

48 U.S. Personnel in Soviet Custody, XE-030477, 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 20 November 

1957.

49 U.S. Citizens, Interned in Russian Convict Camps at Vorkuta , 49-D03-886/1-0554, Office of Special 

Investigations (USAFE), 27 April 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.
19

Vorkuta Camp No. 9—An Austrian journalist imprisoned in various camps from 

1948 until 1954, claimed to have known a naturalized American, Colonel 

Brandenfels, in Vorkuta in 1951. (Brandenfels was reportedly the name he used 

before becoming an American citizen.) The American had been stationed in 

Berlin after WWII and was picked up in a bar in the Soviet Zone.50

Vorkuta Camp No. 9—While detained in labor camp Number 9 in 1952, a former 

German POW heard from camp guards and officers rumors of Americans 

detained in Vorkuta. In early 1952, the camp’s security officer, Fedor 

Nikolayevich Kolesnikov, told the source he had seen the American officers. The 

source also spoke with the Chief of State Security for Vorkuta, Mishanov, who 

acknowledged Kolesnikov’s statement. The source reported that seven American 

military prisoners were reportedly detained in the Vorkut Mekhanicheskiy Zavod 

(The Vorkuta Mechanical Factory) Camp Complex, camp number 23 or 25—one 

lieutenant colonel, two majors, two captains, and two civilian engineers. Another 

American prisoner was detained in Camp No. 9 and worked in Coal Mine No. 8.

Source remembers the latter American’s name as Johnny Thomson or Johnny 

Chemson. This American prisoner told the source that he had been the first 

engineer of an American vessel anchored at Port Author, USSR (no timeframe 

reported). The engineer went on a short errand ashore, was arrested for illegally 

entering the harbor area, and sentenced to six to seven years in the Vorkuta 

Gulag. Source doubted whether the Soviet authorities would release him after he 

completed his sentence. He believed that the engineer would have been forcibly 

settled somewhere in the Urals. Source also noted that the Soviet authorities 

seemed proud of having American officers in custody. 51

Vorkuta Camp No. 13—A German interned from November 1950 to June 

1953 reported meeting an American soldier while working in Coal Mine No. 

13. In November of 1950 source became acquainted with a man named 

Frank who claimed to have been an army sergeant in the Berlin motor pool. 

In early 1949 Frank had been at a restaurant in Berlin-Neukoelln near the 

border of the U.S.-Soviet sectors. He decided to return home via a short cut 

through the Soviet Sector. Russian soldiers arrested him while still in the 

U.S. zone. He was sent to Vorkuta in October 1950 and was transferred to 

an unknown labor camp in November 1951. Frank was 27 to 30, six feet tall, 

dark hair, olive skin, broad-shouldered with athletic build. He spoke 

German with an American accent and Russian. His parents were allegedly 

Russian.52

 

50 U.S. Citizens Reportedly Detained in USSR, Headquarters United States Forces in Austria, Office of the 

Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, 20 September 1954.

51 American Prisoners in Vorkuta, 59A-B-2673 E, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 29 September 1954, Wringer 

Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

52 U.S. Prisoners in Vorkuta, D-58-B-3353 B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 15 April 1954, Wringer Reports, 

ODI, RG 341, NACP.
20

Vorkuta Camp No. 223/III—A German Returnee who was interned from June 

1950 to December 1953 reported meeting a man who claimed to be an 

officer in the U.S. Army. From 1951 to the summer of 1952 the source 

occasionally spoke with a prisoner who worked as the camp bookkeeper. 

He spoke fluent English as well as German, French, and Russian. He 

claimed to be a U.S. Army colonel who at one time was the military attaché 

in Leningrad. Source described him as approximately 35 years old, five feet 

eleven inches, slender, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a twisted 

mouth. He left Vorkuta in the summer of 1952.53

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 1—A Polish witness arrived at Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 1 

in 1950. Other prisoners showed him an American Colonel. He appeared about 

60 years old, was quite tall, broad-shouldered, and pale. He wore a quilted jacket 

and did not converse with other prisoners. After some time the camp 

administration summoned the Colonel, returned his gold ring and watch, and 

released him from Vorkuta.54

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 1—A Polish witness claimed to have met an American 

pilot in the summer of 1946. They could not understand each other, but the 

witness was able to understand that the pilot "fell down" from a plane. He was tall 

(six feet), fine-figured, dark-skinned, with an oval face. He looked robust. The 

witness saw him in the camp for a few days, and did not know what became of 

the American.55

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 1—A Polish source who was at this camp in 1954 heard 

that an American colonel downed over East Germany (near Berlin) was among a 

group of prisoners who arrived that year.56

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 6—A Polish witness recalled that an American arrived at 

the camp around June of 1953. Other prisoners told the witness that the 

American was a pilot from a spy plane downed by the Soviets. The American 

was approximately 40 years old, over six feet tall with an oval face and a shaved 

head, wearing a quilted jacket (like everybody else). His Russian was very poor. 

The witness saw him while the Polish prisoners were being prepared for 

release.57

 

53 U.S. Officer, Interned in Russian Convict Camp North of Vorkuta , 49-D03-1121/2-0654, Office of 

Special Investigations (USAFE), 2 June 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

54 KARTA, 1998, p. 3.

55 KARTA, 1998, p. 3.

56 KARTA, 1998, p. 3.

57 KARTA, 1998, p. 4.
21

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 6—In 1954 this Polish witness came into contact with an 

American and had a short conversation with him (The source's English was poor 

and the American could not speak Russian). The American stated that he was a 

colonel in the U.S. Army, captured in Vienna by Soviet agents. He looked about 

40 years old, of medium height, thickset, with dark or auburn hair. The witness 

left the camp in 1953 [sic] and did not know what happened to the American.58

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 7—A Polish witness reported that he met an American 

colonel, kidnapped in Berlin. The American recounted that at first he had been 

sent to Moscow (Lubyanka Prison). He was originally sentenced to death, but the 

sentence was somehow commuted to 25 years’ imprisonment. He was sent to 

Vorkuta and worked in Coal Mine No. 7, where the source first met him. The 

witness met him a second time between May and June 1954 in prison in 

Tayshet, while being moved from Tayshet to Krasnoyarsk. The American told the 

witness that, after the uprising in Coal Mine No. 7 in Vorkuta in 1953, he had 

been sentenced to death because of his participation in the uprising. However his 

sentence was commuted to 10 years in a camp somewhere in the Irkutsk District. 

The American was of average height with blond hair and was about 45 years 

old.59

Vorkuta Mine No. 9—A German witness met a U.S. Navy Ensign named 

Sobeloff [Sobelev], reportedly captured in China in 1948, when Communist 

forces took control of the country. Sobeloff claimed to have been the Captain of a 

U.S. vessel at the time of his capture. He was Russian by birth, but a U.S. 

citizen. He was last seen at Vorkuta Mine No. 9 in November 1955.60

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 11—A Polish witness was moved from Coal Mine No. 

9/10 to Coal Mine No. 11 in Vorkuta. While at Coal Mine No. 11, he came into 

close contact with an American officer named Langier, who had been captured 

by the Soviets somewhere in Eastern Asia and sentenced for espionage. Langier 

worked at the baths. He spoke some Polish and claimed he had some Polish 

friends in the USA. The source believed Langier was from Alabama. He was tall, 

fair-haired and very friendly. Langier sometimes shared food with the source. He 

also helped him transfer back to Coal Mine No. 9/10 (Langier had a good 

relationship with the camp doctor). When the witness was released in 1954, the 

camp at Coal Mine No. 11 no longer existed. The witness assumed that Langier 

had been moved somewhere else earlier.61 [There are at least 39 service 

members missing from WWII with the last name of Lang, Lange, or Langer.] 

 

58 KARTA, 1998, p. 4.

59 KARTA Center’s research project (KARTA): Searching for Information on American Citizens Gone 

Missing During World War II and After it in the Territory of the USSR, Final Narrative Report for the 

Period February 1-December 31, 1999, p. 3.

60 SOBELOFF, Eugene, D-30477, 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 3 August 1956.

61 KARTA, 1999, p. 3.
22

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 16—In 1951 or 1952 a Polish witness remembered 

meeting a young American 20-25 years old, thin, medium-sized, who spoke 

Russian and worked at the baths. The witness believed he had been captured in 

Germany. The witness also heard rumors about an American plane downed over 

Latvia near the town of Limbava and that the crew was imprisoned in one of the 

camps.62

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 29—In 1955, a German source imprisoned in Vorkuta 

from September 1950 to June 1953 reported meeting an American citizen 

named Harry. Harry’s last name sounded like “Waterwolf”, but he was 

always addressed or referred to as “Ami”. Harry spoke almost fluent 

Russian and some German. The source spoke some English allowing the 

two to communicate. Harry claimed to be a member of a control board 

which examined an air crash between an American and a Soviet aircraft in 

the Soviet Zone of Germany near Berlin. Source could not recall the 

circumstances of Harry’s arrest. He was transported from Berlin to Moscow 

where he was placed on a transport to Vorkuta with the source. In July 

1951, Harry transferred to the camp that served Coal Mines No. 12, 14, and 

16. In 1953 while in Moscow, source heard from a fellow prisoner that Harry 

was still in Vorkuta. Harry’s parents were Americans living in Japan when 

he was born. He was described as 28 years old, six feet one inch tall, dark 

blue eyes, thin blond hair, very slender with tattooed arms and chest. The 

left side of his face appeared paralyzed with the skin hanging loose. The 

red of his left eye was visible. He stated this was the result of an air crash.63

Vorkuta Coal Mine No. 40—A Polish witness recalled that in early September of 

1951 or 1952--after some kind of Russian-American incident in Berlin--a large 

number of Germans were brought to Vorkuta. They came mostly from Berlin 

(both East and West) and around 20 ended up in Coal Mine No. 40. One German 

from this group was about 45 years old, a doctor and disabled soldier who had a 

platinum plate in his skull. He related that during a rail trip to Vorkuta he had met 

in the carriage an American major who had been captured on the street in Berlin 

near the East-West border. He believed there were a total of three Americans in 

this convoy, and that, at a transfer point, they were directed to other coal mines 

in Vorkuta.64

Vorkuta Pit No. 40—Austrian witnesses reportedly met an American who 

immigrated to the U.S. as a child. His adopted name was Bizet. The Soviets 

referred to him by his birth name, Wasiljevski. He was supposedly taken prisoner 

by the Soviets in 1945 in Korea where he was serving with the U.S. Navy. The 

Soviets reportedly did not recognize him as a U.S. citizen.65

 

62 KARTA, 1998, p. 4.

63 Forced Labor Camp in Vorkuta, 52HD-55-29A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 11 January 1955, Wringer 

Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

64 KARTA, 1998, p. 5.

65 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZF000004W, p. 4-94.
23

Vorkuta Transit Camp—A German source reported that in August 1949 he 

met an individual who claimed to be a U.S. Army colonel. This individual 

claimed to have been on a secret mission in the Soviet Zone of Germany 

when arrested. He was described as between 44-45 years old, five feet 

seven to five feet nine inches tall with dark hair and a slender build. He 

claimed to have been a spy in Germany during World War II. He spoke 

fluent German with no accent and was never heard to speak English.66

Vorkuta Transit Camp—A German source reported that between 4 and 18 

October 1949, he saw an alleged U.S. Army colonel. He was in U.S. uniform 

without insignia, stout, five feet nine inches, 40-45 years old with dark 

blond hair. Source did not speak with the alleged American; however, 

German Lt. General Schartz spoke with him in English. General Schartz 

later told source that the man had claimed to be a U.S. colonel arrested in 

the Soviet Zone of Vienna. General Schartz did not believe the man was 

really an American but was an informer posing as one.67

Vorkuta Transit Camp No. 58—A former German POW claimed to have had 

direct contact with an Army or Air Force colonel (five feet eleven inches tall with 

dark blond hair) during the week of August 21-25, 1949. The U.S. colonel spoke 

perfect German. He claimed to have been dropped behind German lines during 

WWII to conduct espionage and was captured in East Germany.68

Vorkuta Distribution Camp No. 61—A former German POW reported direct 

contact with a U.S. major (five feet nine inches tall with blue-gray eyes, 

moustache, and slim build) who claimed to have been kidnapped in 1945 while 

the Americans were still at the Elbe River. The Soviets sentenced him to 25 

years for espionage. He wore an American uniform.69

 

66 Area of Vorkuta, 56A-5120-A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 30 June 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, 

NACP.

67 Source’s Experience in Penal Labor Camps in Vorkuta, 51-B-13376-H, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 26 March 

1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

68 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 

11 December 1953.

69 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, 

11 December 1953.
24

Vorkuta OLP 8—While in the hospital of separate labor camp sub-sector 

“OLP 8” from September 1949 to March 1950, a German source was in the 

same ward as an American citizen. The American’s last name ended in 

“ich”. He was 58-60 years old, slender with black hair, between five feet 

nine and five feet eleven inches tall. The alleged American was born in San 

Francisco of Yugoslavian decent. He was employed on an American vessel 

as chief engineer. In 1946, while on a trip from Port Duna, Soviet authorities 

arrested him in Vladivostok. When source was released from the hospital 

the American had recovered considerably and was expecting to be 

repatriated.70

Vorkuta OLP 9—While detained in separate labor camp sub-sector “OLP 9” in 

1953, a former German POW heard from a driver that approximately 19 miles 

north of Vorkuta was a Camp of Silence (the inmates of the camp did not have to 

work, and were not eligible for mail privileges). According to the driver, who was 

an ex-prisoner engaged in hauling supplies to various camps, this Camp of 

Silence held Americans and British captured in Korea.71

 

70 U.S. Citizen in Hospital at Vorkuta, 51B-13892A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 1 July 1954, Wringer Reports, 

ODI, RG 341, NACP.

71 Urban Area of Vorkuta, 51A-10623, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 12 July 1954, Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 

341, NACP.
25

Area of Molotov (Perm)

Molotov (Perm)—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of 

Soviet transit camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Following are excerpts 

from the 1952 report: 72

1. Since July 1951, according to new information, several transports of Korean 

POWs passed through the ports of Bukhta (near Vladivostok), Okhotsk and 

Magadan. Each ship contained 1,000 or more prisoners. Between the end of 

November 1951 and April 1952, transports of POWs were sent by rail from the 

Poset railway junction on the Chinese-Soviet frontier. Some were directed to 

Chita in Eastern Siberia and some to Molotov, European Soviet Russia, west of 

the Ural Mountains.

2. Information about non-Asiatic POWs was received on April 30, 1952 from the 

Gubakha railway station in the Komi-Permyak National District, in Northwestern 

Siberia. According to this information, about 300 POWs were transported by rail 

from Chita to Molotov in February 1952. The prisoners were clothed in Soviettype cotton padded tunics with no distinctive marks. They were first transported 

from the railway station to the MVD prison and then sent by rail, in a train 

consisting of 9 wagons, to Molotov on or about April 5, 1952. The train was 

heavily guarded by railway guards of the MVD.

3. In March this year transports of POWs passed through from Khabarovsk to 

Chita and from Chita to Molotov roughly every fortnight. They were in small 

groups of up to 50 persons. According to latest information, dated 30 June 1952,

the prisoners, after arriving in Chita, were first sent to the local MVD prisons, and 

then, after a sufficient number of them had been assembled, were sent further to 

Molotov. It is most probable that POWs are undergoing some sort of investigation 

and selection process while in the MVD prison in Chita. Some of them are 

retained in prison in Chita for a long time, while others are sent directly by rail to 

Molotov and other industrial regions in the Ural Mountains.

4. From December 1951 up to the end of April 1952, several railway transports

of American and European (probably British) POWs were seen passing at 

intervals of 10 to 20 days through the Komi-Permyak National District in 

Northwestern Siberia. These transports were directed to Molotov, Gubakha 

(Northeast of Molotov), Kudymkar (Northwest of Molotov), and Chermos on the 

Kama River North of Molotov. The prisoners were clad in cotton-padded gray 

tunics and pants and wore civilian caps, so-called “Sibirki”. They had no military 

insignia. They spoke among themselves in English, and they knew no other 

languages, except a few words of Russian. During the journey they remained 

locked in heavily guarded wagons and were not allowed to leave them. They 

 

72 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952.
26

received their meals from MVD guards. Each wagon had small windows on two 

levels. Each window was barred and covered by opaque glass.

5. According to information gathered between April 1 and 20, a certain number 

of American POW officers, among whom was a group referred to as the 

“American General Staff”, were kept at that time in the Command of the Military 

District of Molotov. Some of the POWs were accommodated in the building of the 

MVD in Molotov, having been subjected most probably to interrogations. They 

had been completely isolated from the outside world.

6. In the town of Gubakha and in the industrial regions of Kudymkar and 

Chermos there were three isolated camps and one interrogation prison for 

American POWs from Korea, according to information dated February and April 

1952. Prisoners kept in the three labor camps were employed on the construction 

of a new railway line. In one of these camps, called GAYSK about 200 

Americans were kept. They were employed in workshops assembling rails and 

doing various technical jobs. These camps were completely isolated from any 

civilian camps located in neighborhood. Political control was carried out by the 

local Party organization, headed by (first name unknown (fnu)) Edovin, a 

delegate from the Obkom of the Komi-Permyak National District. All these camps 

were under the charge of (first name unknown) Kalypin, a Soviet officer of 

unknown rank who was sent from Molotov in February 1952.

7. In some camps situated near the Gubakha railway, which are called

“Zapretchdelanki”, [Russian term difficult to translate - means “isolated plots”] 

about 150 Americans were kept, probably soldiers and NCOs. An interesting 

thing was that from these camps one to three POWs were taken every few days 

by officers of the MVD for transportation to Gubakha or Molotov. They never 

returned to their camps and their fate remained unknown. According to the 

supposition of persons acquainted with MVD methods, these POWs had been 

observed in the camps by specially assigned agents of the MVD, who knew the 

English language and thus were able to identify those individuals who were very 

hostile to the Communist regime and ideology and those who could be 

considered sympathetic. Those belonging to the first group were most probably 

sent either to prison or to especially hard labor camps for extermination; the 

others were probably sent to special political courses in Molotov.
27

Solikamsk—A stateless refugee who was detained by the Soviets from 14 

February 1950 until 18 May 1955 reported meeting five American 

servicemen. In June of 1954 Source was in a camp near Kirov when a 

fellow inmate informed him that five Americans were being held in a cell 

near by. A few days late, source was transferred by train to the Central 

Dispensary at Solikamsk. The train arrived in Solikamsk at 4:30 pm on 19 

June 1954. The prisoners were ordered to disembark and line up by 

nationality. Source noticed five men to his right and began speaking to the 

closest in German. The man told source his name was Room or Rum and 

that he and the other four men were Americans. He was wearing an

American or British army uniform without insignia or devices. He was 28 to 

33 years old, approximately six feet two inches tall, dark eyes, and brown 

hair. He had a bad case of eczema on his head. He spoke excellent 

German. The other four had common faces, wore prisoner clothes, and 

spoke poor German. Source stated they used German words peculiar to 

Berlin. Source had the impression Room was the leader of the group. 

Source spoke with Room for approximately five minutes before the Guard 

told them to be quiet and marched the five Americans away separately from 

the group. Room told source that they were being taken to camp in the 

Molotov area, Gardinsky region, postal district Bondiuk, post office box AM 

244 9/2. He requested source notify American authorities if he was ever 

released.73 (Note: AM 244 was the postal code for Usol’skii Corrective 

Labor Camp “Usol’lag” in Solikamsk.)74

 

73 U.S. Personnel Imprisoned by the Soviet Forces, D-30477, Headquarters 66th Counter Intelligence Corps 

Group, 13 June 1955.

74 M.B. Smirnov, Spravochik Sistema Ispravitel’no-Trudovykh Lagerey V SSSR,(Moskva,Rossia: Zven’ya, 

1998), p.p. 433-434.
28

Area of Chelyabinsk

Verkhne-Uralsk—An Italian returnee reported meeting an American Army 

major in a camp in Verkhne-Uralsk in 1953. The American’s parents were 

Hungarian; he was born in the United States. At the end of World War II the 

major was in Hungary and later was present at the Nurenberg trials. He 

returned to Hungary as a civilian and was arrested by the Soviet Secret 

Police. He was sent to prison in Baden, Soviet Zone of Austria, where he 

spent three years. He was transferred to Verkhne-Uralsk in 1951, remaining 

there, in poor health, until May 1953, when he was transferred to Moscow.75

Verkhne-Uralsk—An Austrian woman detained in the Soviet Union from 

1946 until 1956 reported meeting two American officers in Verkhne-Uralsk. 

One gave his name as Captain Peterson who was approximately 30 years 

old, and claimed he had been kidnapped in Vienna while working at 

General Mark Clark’s headquarters in 1946. Source first met Captain 

Peterson in 1953 and last saw him in 1955 at Vladimir Prison. The second 

individual she alleged to have met was Captain Sing Oisman, who was 

approximately 30 years old at the time and had supposedly been kidnapped 

in Vienna in 1949. Source last saw Captain Oisman in September 1953 at 

Verkhne-Uralsk. Both Peterson and Oisman allegedly told source that 27 

Americans were being held in the Krasnoyarsk region.76

 

75 Amembassy Vienna to State, Alleged American in the USSR, 6 December 1954, 261.1111/12-654, 

Prisons and Camps USSR No. 3, Operations Section Files, 1949-54, Operations Section (POW Desk), 

Office of Naval Intelligence, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Record Group 38, 

NACP.

76 Amembassy Vienna to State, American Citizens Detained by the Soviet Union, 20 October 1955, 

611.61241/10-2055, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.
29

Area of Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk Transit Prison—During an interview in 1993, a witness in Lithuania 

described an encounter with Americans at the Novosibirsk Transit Prison around 

June 1952. The witness stated there were two American pilots in the group of 

prisoners brought into his small room. The other prisoners (two or three others) 

were German. The Americans reportedly told him that they had been shot down 

in Korea. They were dressed in khaki shirts and trousers with no belts. The first 

American told the source that he was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. The source 

could only remember that the Captain was tall and had a red beard. He could not 

recall any details about the second individual.77

 

77 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 070842Z Jul 93.
30

Area of Krasnoyarsk

Kirovskiy—In his memoirs (provided to the Russian Side in November 1999), a 

former Soviet citizen quoted seven people who claim to have seen Americans in 

Kirovskiy. Excerpts from his memoirs:78

1. [In the] fall, 1951, a group of American POWs from Korea arrived in a camp by 

the town Kirovsk, in the Krasnoyarsk area. However, in the beginning of 1952, 

they disappeared. In any case, during the liquidation of the prison camp during 

the winter of 1951 and into 1952, they were not part of the prisoners who were 

transferred to Motygino (to the south)....

2. A worker from Kirovskiy witnessed how, late at night, during Russian 

Christmas, a group of 20, maybe slightly more, were led from the camp along the 

Veniaminovky Road.

3. Another witness and her friend claimed that during the last days of December 

1951, more than 20 prisoners, wearing bare threads and half frozen, were moved 

along the road to Veniaminovsky.

4. A witness in Veniaminovky, stated that on Christmas "we had a present which 

the NKVD delivered to the town (half frozen prisoners). They did not speak 

Russian. They only said 'American, American,' and 'eat, eat.' ... Then in the 

morning, around 6 am, they were taken and marched further."

5. A hunter and driver, from the town of Chinuel, saw from his car, a number of 

prisoners who did not speak Russian, being marched along the road...this was 

early in the morning, around Christmas...The next day, around 7 am, he was 

going back to Kirovsk and saw the prisoner column moving toward the town of 

Kamenka (and the lake).

5. One more witness worked in the town of Kirovsk. In February 1952, while

hunting, in the area where the Kamenka and Porenda rivers meet, he came 

across an area where he suspected people were buried. The ground was 

overturned and his dogs were picking up strange scents.

 

78 The Memoirs, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission Support 

Directorate, pp. 7-11.
31

7. A list of 22 names of citizens of the USA who were in the camp by Kirovsk 

during the winter of 1951 to 1952 was put together by a cleaning lady in the 

camp. She was able to take a pencil to the Americans and have them record 

their names and addresses on pieces of newspaper. She smuggled these pieces 

out of the camp, put them in a can and buried them.

Many names on the list match those of missing service members from the 

Korean War. These include

Foster 1LT Robert Foster,SGT Elmer Foster, and 

 PFC Robert Foster are missing

Hatch SFC Robert Hatch is missing

Leon PFC Chan Jay Park Kim assumed the name 

 "George Leon" upon his capture in order to

 disguise his Korean heritage...reported 

 to have died in a POW camp in Korea.

Miller There are 42 missing Millers

Davis There are 39 missing Davis

Johnson, Hubert CPL Herbert Johnson is missing

Morin CAPT Arthur Morin and CPL Fernand Morin is 

 missing

Larson PFC Gerald Larson is missing

Boyar Cpl Andrew Boyer and CPL William Boyer are 

 missing

Fisher There are 8 missing Fishers

Helfand PFC Osvaldo Galvan is missing

Kaiser MSGT George Kyzer is missing

Norilsk—A Polish witness heard from fellow prisoners that two Americans, 

probably pilots, were in the camp. They were described as being around 30-35 

years old.79

Norilsk Camp No. 4—A Polish witness claimed to have worked with 36-38 

American POWs from the Korean War (pilots shot down near Vladivostok) in the 

early 50s. He recalled the name of one of the prisoners, Scott, but was unsure if 

this was the first or last name.80 [There are 21 service members missing from the 

Korean War and 96 service members missing from WWII with the last name 

Scott. Many others have a first name Scott.]

Norilsk Camp No. 4 or No. 5—A Polish witness claimed to have been in the 

camp with an American for about one year. The American was pudgy and fairhaired, and did not speak Russian.81

 

79 KARTA, 1998, p. 7.

80 Trip Report for TDY to Poland, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission 

Support Directorate, 1998.

81 KARTA, 1998, p. 7.
32

Norilsk Camp No. 5—A Polish witness met an American or English pilot, 

probably a Captain, in Norilsk in the first half of 1953. This pilot carried out 

reconnaissance flights during the Korean War, and due to bad weather and 

instrument failure, landed at Dalny, USSR. He was arrested and sentenced on 

espionage charges. According to the witness, the pilot was approximately 30 

years old, tall, dark- haired, and looked healthy. Under his prison clothes he wore 

an "English" military blouse. The source did not know the pilot's eventual fate. In 

May-June 1953 the camp inmates staged an uprising, and in July, the witness, 

one of the revolt's leaders, was transported to Kolyma, where he stayed until 

1956.82

Norilsk Camp No. 9, Cement Plant No. 5—A witness in Lithuania said that he 

was working with the third camp division near Cement Plant No. 5 at Norilsk 

Camp No. 9 in 1953. Camp gossip alleged that a heavily guarded corner facility 

in the camp was for American POWs from Korea. The witness observed these 

prisoners from a distance of about 110 yards. They were young white males 

dressed in prison garb. He felt it was significant that during the prison uprisings in 

May-June 1954 these special prisoners were quickly removed. He had no idea 

what happened to them.83

Norilsk Camp No. 11—A French doctor who was incarcerated in various 

camps in the Soviet Union from June 1941 until February 1957 reported 

hearing about an American Air Force officer imprisoned in Camp No. 11 of 

the Norilsk camp complex near Dudinka. The alleged American officer was 

attached to the United States Military Aid Group training Turkish pilots in 

Turkey. In 1951, he made a forced landing inside the Soviet Union near 

Erevan. The American was still in Norilsk as of September 1953. Source 

never personally saw this individual.84

Norilsk Dudinka Transit Camp—A Lithuanian witness reported seeing 

American WWII officers at the Norilsk Dudinka transit camp in August of 1946.85

 

82 KARTA, 1998, p. 6.

83 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 070752Z Jul 93.

84 Amembassy Paris to State, Report of U.S. Air Force Officer in Soviet Prison Camp, 9 April 1958, 

611.61241/4-958, , Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

85 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 070752Z Jul 93.
33

Rybak—In his memoirs (provided to the Russian Side in November 1999), a 

source wrote that in the very beginning of 1953, he was sent to handle an 

emergency situation at the northern mining enterprise called Rybak. One of the 

technical experts he worked with was a demolition-qualified inmate: tall, 

exhausted by hunger and the Arctic, with a very characteristic, slightly elongated 

artistic face. His unnaturally protruding gray eyes in sockets sunken from 

emaciation revealed someone ill with exophthalmic goiter. In an accent clearly 

that of an English speaker, he identified himself as a citizen of the United States 

of America, Allied Officer Dale. 

In Norilsk, many years later, a geologist, who had worked with the witness in 

Udereya at the time in question, related that many of the Americans "who had 

fallen into our hands in 1945 from the liberated Fascist camps were held in 

Rybak and probably perished there...."86 [LT Harvey Dale and LT William Dale 

are both missing from WWII.]

During a visit to Krasnoyarsk in September 2001, the Director of the humanrights organization “Memorial” confirmed the existence of Rybak. He commented 

that Rybak was a top-secret uranium mine located on the Leningradskaya River. 

Unlike the majority of Gulag camps, Rybak was not subordinate to the MVD. It is 

not known what entity controlled Rybak, but it is known that several Soviet 

geologists worked at the camp. The camp was centered on a mining shaft, and 

the uranium ore was placed into river ships for transport. Because the camp 

produced very little uranium it was eventually destroyed and traces of the camp 

removed. No known archival records or memoirs of the camp exist. The 

Memorial director knew of the camp only through acquaintances that served as 

geologists for the Soviet Union.87 

Unknown location—While serving his sentence in the Krasnoyarsk Kray in 

1949-1950, a Russian witness met with Japanese and Korean prisoners of war 

and conversed with them. They told him that, along with them, several Americans 

arrived at the labor camp sub-sector (Lagpunkt) who had been prisoners of war 

of either the Japanese or the Koreans; later they (Americans, Japanese, 

Koreans) all became prisoners of the Russians.88

 

86 The Memoirs, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission Support 

Directorate, pp. 2-3.

87 Trip Report for TDY to Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk, Russia, 9-26 September 2001, Defense 

Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission Support Directorate, Gulag Research Team, 9 

November 2001.

88 TFR 14, Task Force Russia, pp. 11-12.
34

Area of Irkutsk

Irkutsk Camp No. 19—A Ukrainian witness was sent to the Irkutsk Oblast in 

1959. During a brief stay in Camp No. 4, he heard rumors that Americans were 

being held in Camp No. 19, about five miles away. He said he heard the part of 

Camp No. 19 which housed the Americans was a particularly high-security zone, 

surrounded by an eight-yard fence, with several feet of barbed wire. 

After having been caught stealing bread, he was sent to Camp No. 19 in March 

1959, and was immediately thrown into the "BUR" (Barak Usilennogo Rezhima -

Disciplinary Barracks), located near the bathhouse and guard tower. Inside he 

was thrown on top of the badly bloodied bodies of two men lying on a makeshift 

table. He said that lying next to the bodies were seven gold teeth and part of an 

artificial jaw. It was obvious that the men had been beaten and had their teeth 

knocked out. He said that he could not recall whether the teeth were completely 

covered with gold, or just the crowns. The guards told him that the bodies were 

those of American officers and that the same would happen to him if he did not 

obey the rules. The witness said that it was impossible to discern the color of 

their skin or even guess at their age, due to the ferocity of the beatings. He said 

that he was sent off to wash up and that when he returned, the bodies were no 

longer there. He later heard that the bodies were buried by the fourth guard 

tower, and the prisoners' clothes were doused with gasoline and burned. The 

witness added that he had heard rumors that there were another 18 Americans 

housed in the camp, aside from these two. He said these prisoners were 

gradually killed off between May and July 1959. He claimed approximately once 

a week, one of these prisoners was taken out, forced to dig his own grave, 

stripped, and then shot. The camp guards told him these victims were U.S. 

aircrews that had been taken prisoner in Korea. They were buried outside the 

camp, near the guard tower, separately from the other prisoners. He added this 

was not in the local cemetery, which was also located just outside the camp. 

The witness could not recall the camp commandant's name. He recalled the 

surnames of two camp guards, Popov and Ivanov, but could not remember their 

first names or patronymics.89

Tayshet—A former German POW reported direct contact with U.S. Army 

Captain Johnny Anderson from 1951-1953. Captain Anderson was reportedly 

stationed in Berlin in 1946, and was arrested while drunk in the Soviet sector. 

The source believed he might have been in the Air Corps.90 [Captains John R. 

Anderson and John A. Anderson are missing from WWII. There are an additional 

four Captains missing with the last name of Anderson.]

 

89 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 291316Z Dec 98.

90 POW Returned from USSR, MI OPS 69, Commanding Officer, 532d Mil Intel Bn, 12 December 1955.
35

Tayshet—A female German prisoner detained in Irkutsk Prison Camp No. 9 

from September 1949 to May 1953 reported that a female Lithuanian 

prisoner told her about a prison camp in Tayshet that contained 

approximately seven hundred male American, British, and French 

prisoners. These prisoners did not work. The female Lithuanian prisoner 

had spent time in Tayshet, but did not know where or how these men were 

taken prisoner.91

Tayshet Camp No. 20, Farm No. 25—A Japanese returnee reported that in the 

period of 1949-1950 he had direct contact with an American flyer, about 40 years 

old, tall, with a ruddy complexion. The flyer was shot down over the Baltic States 

while on an aerial reconnaissance mission and sentenced to 20 years. He was 

burned in the crash, leaving scars on his right cheek and left leg, necessitating 

the use of a cane. He spoke some Russian.92

Tayshet Special Camp No. 6—A Latvian witness reported he had knowledge of 

three U.S. POWs in Tayshet camps from the period 1949-1951. 

He met the first American in 1950, in Tayshet Special Camp No. 6, where he 

worked as a barber. This camp held primarily French, Indians, and people from 

the Baltic States. The American was a U.S. military officer taken in 1949 from 

Austria. During his capture, he had been hit on the head, resulting in a skull 

fracture. He was Caucasian, about five foot nine inches tall, had light brown hair, 

blue eyes, was 30 years old and from New Jersey. He was at the camp until 

1951, when he was released to exile in Krasnoyarskiy Kray. 

The witness saw a second Caucasian American in Special Camp No. 6 during 

the summer of 1951, but does not know if he was civilian or military. This 

individual was either brought in blind, or simulated blindness, and was 

approximately 30 years old. The American escaped, and his fate is unknown. 

The witness saw a third American in Special Camp No. 6, who was Caucasian, 

and around 40 years old. The American was transferred to another camp. The 

new camp and the fate of the American are unknown.

The witness also cited rumors at the time of his captivity that at least some of the 

crew from the U.S. aircraft shot down on 8 April 1950, were taken alive and sent 

to camps.93

Tayshet-Bratsk Chuna Camp No. 19—A Polish witness claimed that at the end 

of the summer of 1951 or 1952, an American escaped from Camp No. 19 at 

Chuna, on the Tayshet - Bratsk railway, 90 miles from Tayshet.94

 

91 MVD Penal Camps in the Irkutsk Area, E-56B-B-4959A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 11 February 1954, 

Wringer Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

92 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZF000004W, p. 4-41.

93 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 250540Z Nov 96.
36

Unknown location—A resident of Irkutsk claimed his mother had seen an 

American prisoner in March 1946, while working as a porter on a train carrying 

NKVD prisoners from the Far East. The porters were ordered to bury eight of the 

prisoners who were believed dead, but one of the eight was still breathing so she 

took him in. He died a week later, but before he died he indicated he was an 

American. The source believed his name was something like, "Fred Kolin or 

Kollinz." The American drew a picture indicating an aircraft being shot down and 

three people possibly bailing out of the aircraft.95 [There are three Fred Collins 

missing from WWII. There are an additional 89 service members with the last 

name of Collins.]

Tayshet Labor Camp No. 4—In February 1954 a repatriated German 

commented during a U.S. Air Force debriefing that he met four U.S. servicemen 

in the summer of 1947 at a sub-camp of Tayshet Labor Camp No. 4.96

 For two days in July 1947, the source was billeted in a sub-camp of Tayshet 

Labor Camp No. 4. The camp was located in the forest 34 miles east of Tayshet, 

and consisted of two 2.5 by 1.5 mile compounds which housed thousands of 

penal laborers of various nationalities. While there the source met four 

Americans between the ages of 28 and 36. He described them as over five feet 

nine inches tall and broad-shouldered with close-cropped hair. They wore khaki 

denims with a pocket on the trouser. The Americans, the source and some 

Latvian prisoners were all able to communicate with one another through their 

broken German. The Americans told the source that they were members of the 

American Air Force who had been stationed in Vienna. In 1946 Soviet soldiers 

arrested them at the Vienna Prater Park. They were transported to Moscow and 

tried for espionage. While in Moscow they where kept in underground cells, 

repeatedly beaten, and interrogated. The Soviets sentenced them to 25 years in 

a labor camp. At the end of 1946 they were transferred to Tayshet Labor Camp 

No. 4. The source was unable to give any names but made it a point to keep 

track of the Americans through fellow prisoners who worked on the TayshetBratsk railroad line. He was certain that the Americans were still working on the 

railroad line when he left Tayshet in February 1950.

 

94 KARTA, 1999, p. 4.

95 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 181401Z May 95.

96 U.S. Nationals in Penal Labor Camp No. 04 in Tayshet 58-B-3004-B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 18 

February 1954, (“Wringer Reports”), (ODI), (Air Staff), (RG 341), (NACP).
37

Tayshet Camp No. 26—A German civilian returnee reported meeting U.S. 

Air Force Major William Thompson. According to the source, Major 

Thompson made a forced landing, and was arrested by the Russians, who 

sentenced him to twenty five years for espionage. He spent the years 1944 

to 1948 in Budenskaya Prison in Moscow. He was transferred to Tayshet 

Camp No. 26. Major Thompson was approximately 38 years old, six feet 

one inch tall, slim, fair hair, and had blue eyes. His home was in San 

Antonio, Texas.97 [ Major Wirt Elizabeth Thompson, U.S. Air Force, departed 

Myitkyina, Burma 4 December 1944 on a mission to Kunming, China. He 

was reported shot down and is listed as missing in action. Major 

Thompson, also known as Worth and William, was born in Italy, Texas and 

attended high school in San Antonio.]

Vikhorevka (southwest of the city of Bratsk)—A former Gulag prisoner and 

ethnic Estonian source reported that while detained in the village of Vikhorevka in 

the zone reserved for foreigners, he met an American serviceman named 

Thomas (last name unknown). Thomas said that he was a U.S. pilot from the 

Korean War. The source reported that Thomas was 35 years old when he met 

him in 1953. Thomas was five feet five inches to five feet seven inches tall and 

walked with a limp. Thomas was assigned to work on the camp water tower.98

 

97 Political Adviser, Headquarters, U.S. Army, Europe, Heidelberg to State, Report of Americans 

Imprisoned in USSR, 18 February 1954, 611.61251/2-1854, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

98 U.S. and British Citizens in Prison Camp in Eastern Siberia, Central Intelligence Agency, 29 September 

1958.
38

Area of Yakutsk

Bulun—On 15 October 1957, a Polish witness visited the American Consulate in 

Strasbourg, France. He stated he was held in a prison camp in Bulun until July 

1957 and reported seeing the following Americans: 

Watson, an American professor of physics captured in Vienna,

Dick Rozbicki, an American soldier captured during the Korean War,

Stanley Warner, an American soldier captured during the Korean War, and

Jan Sorrow, an American soldier captured during the Korean War.99

Bulun Camp No. 217—On 20 September 1957, two Polish witnesses visited the 

American Consulate in Genoa, Italy. Both men claimed to have been WWII 

POWs held captive in Bulun Camp No. 217. They had escaped on 6 May 1957. 

They claimed to have made their way across the USSR, Rumania, and 

Yugoslavia, entering Italy on 18 September 1957. They reported that two men 

who claimed to be American army officers captured during the Korean War had 

been transferred to Bulun Camp No. 217 from another camp on 24 July 1955.

The men were: Stanley Rosbicki, approximately 24 years old, of Buffalo, New 

York and Jack Watson, 38 or 39, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both were 

infantry Lieutenants.100

Bulun Camp No. 307—On 5 September 1960, a Polish witness visited the 

American Embassy, Brussels, Belgium. He stated he had been imprisoned in 

Bulun Camp No. 307 for seven and a half years and was released on 1 May 

1960. He reported seeing two U.S. Army personnel captured in Korea: Ted 

Watson, an infantry lieutenant, and Fred Rosbiki, a commando or paratroop 

sergeant.101

Bulun Camp No. 315—A Catholic priest visited the U.S. Embassy in Paris on 11 

July 1958 to report an interview he had recently conducted with a former Polish 

Gulag prisoner. The prisoner told the priest that he had recently escaped from 

North Siberia where he had been held in Bulun Camp No. 315. He claimed to 

have been acquainted with two Americans in the same camp: a chaplain, John 

Westley, captured in Korea in 1952, and a lieutenant, Stanley Rosbicki, from 

New York. The witness further advised the priest that the two Americans, who 

appeared to be in good health, had requested that he convey this information to 

the American authorities for transmittal to their families.102

 

99 AmConsulate, Strasbourg, France to The Department of State, Washington (State), Information 

Regarding Americans Allegedly Detained in Soviet Union, 21 October 1957, 611.61341/10-2157, 1910 to 

1963 Decimal File (Decimal), Records of the State Department Central Files (Central Files), Record Group 

59 (RG 59), National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD (NACP).

100 AmConGen, Genoa to State, Peripheral: Alleged Escapees from Soviet Camp Give Names of Possible 

American Prisoners, 24 September 1957, 76100/9-2457, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

101 Amembassy, Brussels to State, Korean War Prisoners Reported In Soviet Union, 8 September 1960, 

611.61241/9-860, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

102 State to Amembassy, Paris, Welfare-Whereabouts: Report of American Prisoners in Soviet Union, 16 

July 1958, 611.61251/7-1658, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.
39

Yakutsk—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of Soviet 

transit camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Excerpts from the 1952 report:103

1. Those POWs who arrived by ship in the ports of Bukhta, Okhotsk and

Magadan were then transported by train, or by trucks or by motor-driven barges, 

to Vaikaren on the Chukotsk Sea, to Ust Maisk on the river Aldan and to Yakutsk 

on the river Lena.

2. POW camps of Koreans in the Yakutsk A.S.S.R. are situated between Ust 

Maisk and Yakutsk. Prisoners there are employed in building new shafts for coal 

mines, earthworks and dams. The camps are situated 30 to 125 miles from one 

another and contain 500 to 1,000 prisoners each. Soldiers of the MVD guard 

them. The camps and inmates are under the supervision of the Ministry of Coal 

Production or the Ministry of Forests. The chief over all camps in this region was, 

in April 1952, a civilian functionary (fnu) Andreev. The commandant of the MVD 

units assigned to guard the camps was Col. (fnu) Vassilevsky. The prisoners are 

doing very heavy physical work and are living under primitive conditions. In one 

of the camps in this region, called AMGA, about 300 POWs died in February and 

April 1952 as a result of serious illnesses and overwork. Over 400 of them were 

placed in very crude barracks for the sick. 

Bulun—A Sakha-Yakutian government representative reported that her 

grandmother lived in Bulun at the end of World War II and worked as a 

seamstress in the Bulun Gulag. In the late 1940’s, her grandmother routinely met 

American, Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, and Finnish prisoners of war. The source 

reported that her grandmother kept a diary, which documented her time in the 

Gulag and her acquaintance with Americans. The Bulun Gulag, located at the 

mouth of the Lena River (N 70° 44.280' E 127° 21.281') was a fishing camp—

male prisoners worked in the fishing industry and female prisoners sewed clothes 

and prison uniforms. Today nothing is left of the camp except for an underground 

fish storage cell. The source’s grandmother died in 1996.104

 

103 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952.

104 Trip Report for TDY to Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk, Russia, 9-26 September 2001, Defense 

Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission Support Directorate, Gulag Research Team, 9 

November 2001.
40

Topolinyy—On 13-14 November 1997 a JCSD team traveled to Taganrog to 

conduct an interview with a source who claimed to have personal 

knowledge of a U.S. Korean War POW living in Yakutiya (now officially 

called The Sakha Republic) as late as 1983. Source had contacted the U.S.-

Russia Joint Commission through a journalist, who in November of 1997 

wrote an article in the Russian newspaper Sovershenno Sekretno based on 

the source’s story.105

 Source told the team that in 1975 he traveled to Yakutiya, in Northeast 

Siberia, as part of a scientific expedition. He and some other comrades 

returned the next year to the village of Topolinyy to earn some extra money 

as seasonal laborers, building a boarding school for local children. There 

he met an individual known only as “Kolya”, also nicknamed “ Kon’ ” (“The 

Horse”). Local rumor had it that Kolya was a former prisoner who had been 

sent to Yakutiya, after being convicted as an American spy. At the time, 

Kolya was around 50 years old and in excellent physical condition, 

although he was unsociable and drank heavily. 

 Some foreign-language students from Yakutsk State University came to 

the area that summer and would sometimes practice English among 

themselves. One time Kolya, having drunk heavily, began to use a number 

of what the source described as English words. (Note: source admitted that 

he does not know English himself, other than the phrase, “the best,” which 

Kolya taught him. Kolya himself spoke excellent Russian, but with a slight 

accent.) One of the Yakut students learned from Kolya that his real name 

was “Oscar”. 

 Kolya gradually opened up to the source and, during the course of 

several talks, stated that he was born in a midwestern state in the USA. The 

source could not remember which one in particular but recalled that it was 

neither a northern nor a southern state and definitely not Texas. His father 

was a prosperous farmer, who had a wife and three children: Kolya, and 

two older sisters. Kolya was the first in his family to choose a military 

career, having completed a military high school. He entered the U.S. 

Military Academy at West Point, then transferred to the Naval Academy at 

Annapolis. After graduating, Kolya attended courses at Quantico, Virginia, 

and was commissioned a 2d Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1949.

 

 

105 Kolymskiy Plennik, Taisiya Belousova, Sovershenno Sekretno No. 11, November 1997.
41

 Kolya told the source that he had served in the Korean War in the 3d 

Company, 2d Battalion, 1st Marine Division, assigned to the U.S. Army X 

Corps. The source was unable to remember the designation for Kolya’s 

regiment. Kolya said that he took part in the Inchon landing on 15 

September 1950. (Note: the 1st Marine Division was assigned to the U.S. 

Army’s X Corps during the Inchon landing on 15 September 1950. Marine 

companies are alphabetically designated, not numerically. The three Marine 

infantry regiments assigned to the 1st Marine Division were the 1st, 5th, and 

7

th Marines, and the division artillery regiment carried the designation of 

the 11th Marines). Kolya stated that he was supposed to have been 

decorated and promoted prior to his capture in November 1950. Kolya 

blamed General Ridgeway for his capture. (Note: Ridgeway assumed 

command of the 8th Army on 26 December 1950).

 Kolya stated that on the night he was captured, his company was located 

next to the 1st British Battalion. Two other Americans were captured along 

with him, one of whom was black. They were taken to Mukden, China. He 

never saw the other two again. In Mukden he was kept in solitary 

confinement and tortured for 20 months by his Chinese captors. The 

source later said that he saw numerous scars on Kolya’s legs. 

 Kolya was then transferred to Khabarovsk, USSR, where his captors 

again kept him in solitary confinement and unsuccessfully tried to recruit 

him as a spy. After seven months he was transferred to Yakutiya and 

forced to sign a statement promising not to reveal any details of his 

captivity, upon pain of death. He was amnestied in 1956, but forced to 

remain in the area in permanent exile. Afterwards, Kolya made his living 

working odd jobs. He even “married” twice to two local women—one who 

drowned in the Tompo River, and a second, who bore him a daughter. 

 The source said that Kolya became especially attached to him when he 

found out that the source’s father had served in Washington, D.C. As the 

source was preparing to return to Kiev, Kolya asked him to pass a letter on 

to the U.S. Embassy, since he knew that the source would be returning 

through Moscow. It was at this point Kolya admitted that he was an 

American citizen. 

 However, instead of handing over the letter at the American Embassy, the 

source showed the letter to his father, who became quite angry. The 

source’s father had a lifelong hatred of Americans and pointed out the 

danger in which the source was putting his family. The source said that his 

father tore the letter up and told him not to get involved in such matters 

anymore. He added that his father could read English but refused to tell 

the source Kolya’s real name from the letter. 
42

 The source saw Kolya several more times over the years during 

subsequent trips to Yakutia. The last time was in 1983, in the village of 

Teplyy Klyuch. When source traveled to Teplyy Klyuch in 1986, he was told 

that Kolya had returned to Topolinyy. 

 Kolya reportedly left a glass jar with several letters in English, explaining 

who he was. The source admitted to the team that he had not seen Kolya

write nor bury these letters. He explained they had agreed beforehand that 

Kolya would leave behind some sort of evidence in a mutually agreed upon 

place in the event that anything should happen to him. 

 Source had planned to return to Yakutiya on 25 November 1997 to 

attempt to determine Kolya’s fate.106

 From 14-22 August 1998 a JCSD investigator, accompanied by the 

source, traveled to Sakha-Yakutiya in Northeast Siberia, to investigate the 

reports of the U.S. Korean War POW. The team was unsuccessful in 

developing significant information on the case of the individual known as 

“Kolya the Horse”. 

 On 19 August the team finally reached the confluence of the Tompo and 

Deline Rivers. This was the spot, according to the source, where Kolya

buried a jar, allegedly containing a written description of his identity. The 

source immediately spotted a wooden shack situated on the far bank and 

announced that this was the spot. However, he quickly determined that the 

hiding spot no longer existed because the bank had obviously suffered 

considerable erosion during the spring thaw. He rechecked his bearing 

several times, but always with the same conclusion. At this point there was 

nothing left to do, and the team returned to Teplyy Klyuch. 

 One rumor had placed Kolya in the Ust-Nera area as of 1983, from where 

he had supposedly gone to work in the mines at Sarylakh. This was well to 

the northeast of the team’s present location and even further into the Taiga. 

A later rumor placed an apparently intoxicated Kolya loitering at the 

Yakutsk airport in 1985. 

 Another rumor placed Kolya in Yakutsk two years after the reported UstNera sighting. The team decided the best course of action was to return to 

the city of Yakutsk, which they did. They talked to several people in the 

area but could find no further information about Kolya.107

 

106 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 251422Z Nov 97.

107 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 8 August 98.
43

 In March of 2002, the JCSD Gulag Research Team traveled to Yakutsk, 

Tiksi, and Bykovskiy in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia. They interviewed 

numerous villagers, long-term residents, government officials, human 

rights workers, and members of the media. During a meeting with highlevel members of the government, media, and several representatives of 

the human rights organization Memorial in Yakutsk, the story of Kolya was 

broached by a senior member of the government who had come to the 

meeting with a copy of the Sovershenno Sekretno article. The Russian 

Memorial Society representatives present noted that Kolya had a daughter. 

They were familiar with the area where Kolya had lived and volunteered to 

attempt to find Kolya’s daughter. This effort is continuing. 

 While conducting interviews in Tiksi, a local native and long-time 

resident of Kyusyur ( a town located across the Lena River from the 

remains of Bulun) provided a map and detailed information of a system of 

secret camps that existed along the left (west) bank of the Lena in the 

1950s. These camps were said to have held Caucasian prisoners, were off 

limits to the local indigenous tribal people and had fences. The camps on 

the right bank of the Lena were Special Resettlement Camps and did not 

have fences. The most secret of the left-bank camps was nicknamed 

“Kazarma” [“Barrack” in Russian] and designated No. 315. It was located a 

few miles south of Bulun. A local anthropologist independently confirmed 

that a secret camp known as “Kazarma” had previously existed south of 

Bulun.
44

Area of Chita

Chita—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of Soviet transit 

camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Following are excerpts from the 1952 

report:108

1. There were previous transport of POWs from Chita between August and 

November 1951. These were directed to Kotlas on the Northern Dvina and to 

Lalsk, southeast of Kotlas, both in the Archangelsk Oblast. The total number of 

POWs transported in this direction amounted to about 6,000 at the end of 1951. 

Their fate is not known.

2. In March of 1951, transports of POWs passed through from Khabarovsk to 

Chita and from Chita to Molotov roughly every fortnight. They were in small 

groups of up to 50 persons. According to latest information, dated 30 June 1952, 

the prisoners, after arriving in Chita, were first sent to the local MVD prisons, and 

then, after a sufficient number of them had been assembled, were sent further, to 

Molotov. It is most probable that the POWs were undergoing some sort of 

investigation and selection process while in the MVD prison in Chita. Some of 

them are retained in prison in Chita for a long time, while others are sent directly 

by rail to Molotov and other industrial regions in the Ural Mountains.

 

108 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952.
45

Area of Magadan

Magadan Berlag—A Ukrainian witness from Gribenko was transferred from 

Vanino Bay to Magadan Berlag in 1950, where he remained until his release in 

1960. The witness stated that in the summer of 1954 a large group of foreign 

prisoners, perhaps as many as 2000, were brought to Magadan Prison. This 

group included three Americans. When asked how he knew they were 

Americans, he replied that it was common knowledge, and everyone knew it. The 

Americans were in regular prison garb, but upon arrival at the Berlag were 

ordered to remove their prison numbers from their shirts and hats. While working 

as a medic in the camp, he was asked to examine one of the Americans for 

tropical skin ulcers. Due to the color of the man's skin and the thickness of his 

lips, the witness thinks this American was a Mulatto. When asked if he had talked 

with the individual, the witness stated that he had not because it was strictly 

forbidden. He went on to say that the three prisoners were young, all had brown 

hair, and all appeared to be in good health.109

Mokhoplit Village—On 29 March 1996, an interview was conducted with a 

Russian living in Yekaterinburg, who spent from 1952-1970 in various Gulags, to 

include Kolomna, Indigirka, and Chukhotka. He claimed to have seen an 

American citizen in 1956/57 in the Magadan Oblast, at Mokhoplit Village, in the 

Tentiskiy gold mining region. This U.S. citizen, Azat Tigranovich Petrosian, was 

born in Armenia in the 1920s, and somehow wound up in a Nazi POW camp that 

was liberated by the Soviets. The Soviets refused to repatriate him and sent him 

to the Gulag. The source did not know Petrosian's eventual fate.110

Myaundzha (near Susuman)—On 12 August 1996, a witness living in Moscow 

delivered a written response to the Radio Liberty program, "Americans in the 

Gulag," being played on Radio Liberty/Voice of America. She had worked at the 

Directorate of the PTU (Professional Technical Academy) Energostroy for the 

electrical power station in Myaundzha, Magadan Oblast, from 1955-63, then in 

Magadan until 1965, when she moved to Moscow. In the letter, the witness told 

of a Rudolf Martinovich Benush (1917-1995), who allegedly served as a U.S. 

Army Captain during the Nuremberg Trials. The witness worked with Benush, 

who was referred to as the American spy, "either in derision, or in reference to 

the article under which he was convicted" (Article 58), when he was a "trustee" 

prisoner in the Myaundzha camp in Magadan Oblast near Susuman in 1955, until 

his release in 1956. The camp had 3,000 prisoners, mostly Baltic and Ukrainian 

nationalists. Benush spent the majority of his remaining years in Magadan.111

 

109 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 251431Z Nov 94

110 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 090806Z Apr 96.

111 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 260757Z Aug 96.
46

Chukotskaya Kult'haza —A returned German POW stated that when he 

arrived at a forced labor camp near Chukotskaya Kult'haza in April 1948, he 

met a man who claimed to be a U.S. national. The source said the man 

spoke German with an accent and was fluent in Russian. He claimed to 

have been born in the United States, and was a pilot sentenced to 20 years’ 

hard labor for espionage. The alleged American was 30 years old, 

approximately five feet nine inches tall, broad-shouldered, oval-faced, with 

brown hair. The man wore prison clothes with a brown uniform jacket. He 

often spoke of escaping to Alaska across the Bering Straits. The source 

lost track of the man when the source was transferred in May 1949. In 

February 1950, he heard fellow prisoners that the alleged American was 

working in a tungsten mine near Chukotskaya Kult'haza.112

Unidentified hospital—A Japanese witness saw and spoke for about 20 

minutes with an American in room No. 2, first medical section, at a hospital in 

Magadan. A hospital attendant named Nikolai told him the American was a 

captain who had crashed in the vicinity of Kamchatka. During the conversation, 

the American stated, "I cannot accept the sentence of being a spy. The sentence 

of 15 years based on Item 6 of Article 58 is unjust." He appeared to be about 28 

years old, with blond hair and blue eyes.113

 

112 U.S. National in Soviet Custody, E-58-B-3395 C, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 30 April 1954, Wringer 

Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

113 Information on Probable U.S. Air Force Officer Detained in Soviet Russia, IR-960-54, 6004th Air 

Intelligence Service Squadron, 27 July 1954, AIR, DDCD, RG 341, NACP.
47

Magadan—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of Soviet 

Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Following are excerpts from the 

1952 report:114

1. In December it was known that transit camps for prisoners of war captured by 

the Communists in Korea had been established in Komsomolsk on the Amur, 

Magadan on Bogaeva Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk, Chita and Irkutsk. Through 

those transit camps were passing not only Korean POWs but also American 

POWs.

2. Since July 1951, according to new information, several transports of Korean 

POWs have passed through the ports of Bukhta (near Vladivostok), Okhotsk and 

Magadan. Each ship has contained 1,000 or more prisoners. Between the end of 

November 1951 and April 1952, transports of POWs were sent by rail from the 

Poset railway junction on the Chinese-Soviet frontier. Some were directed to 

Chita in Eastern Siberia and some to Molotov, European Soviet Russia, west of 

Ural Mountains.

3. Those POWs who arrived by ship in the ports of Bukhta, Okhotsk and 

Magadan were then transported by train, or by trucks or by motor driven barges, 

to Vaikaren on the Chukotsk Sea, to Ust Maisk on the river Aldan and to Yakutsk 

on the river Lena.

4. POWs shipped to Vaikaren were sent to a network of camps in the Nizhni 

Kolymsk region on the East Siberian Sea, to be employed building roads, electric 

power plants and airfields. Their number varies considerably due to high mortality 

and to transfer to other camps on the Chukotski Peninsula. All these camps are 

under supervision of MVD and are entirely isolated. There were about 12,000 

Korean POWs in April 1952 in the Nizhno Kolymsk camp network. The camps 

were under the charge of (fnu) Sorotchuk, a Major of MVD and (fnu) Chimbo, a 

civilian Party functionary, probably an employee of MGB. Chimbo was in charge 

of education and political indoctrination.

Arkagala—A Polish source stated that in 1955 he saw an alleged UkrainianAmerican soldier who was allegedly captured in North Korea and 

transferred to the Soviet Union by the Intelligence Services. The man wore 

civilian clothes and was the only American in the camp. The source was 

released in 1956.115

 

114 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952.

115 Joint Commission Support Directorate Phone Interview, 4 October 2001.
48

Area of Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk Sub-camp 5M—A Russian living in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, 

reported that in November 1952, he saw three American prisoners at the "5M 

Lagpunkt" detention facility in Khabarovsk, Russia, where he was incarcerated. 

He went on a woodcutting detail with one of them. In December 1952 the 

Americans were transferred out of the camp for an unknown destination. A 

Russian female prisoner serving a sentence for “Betraying the Motherland” 

accompanied the Americans. The camp commander was Lieutenant 

Kuzenkov.116

Khabarovsk Prison—A Japanese repatriate who was in Khabarovsk Camp No. 

21 from 1950-1953, heard from Soviet guards, prisoners, and laborers in April or 

May of 1953, that 12-13 Americans from a military plane shot down by the 

Soviets were in Khabarovsk Prison. Source heard from a Soviet guard in 

October 1952 that two Americans had been brought to Khabarovsk Prison 

and were being investigated as spies. In June 1952, source heard from 

prison train guard at Khabarovsk Station Number 2 that there was a prison 

camp in the USSR solely for American prisoners.117

Khabarovsk—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of Soviet 

Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Following are excerpts from the 

1952 report:118

 In March this year transports of POWs passed through from Khabarovsk to 

Chita and from Chita to Molotov roughly every fortnight. They were in small 

groups of up to 50 persons. According to latest information, dated June 30, 

1952, the prisoners, after arriving in Chita, were first sent to the local MVD 

prisons, and then, after a sufficient number of them had been assembled, were

sent further, to Molotov. It is most probable that POWs are undergoing some 

sort of investigation and selection process while in the MVD prison in Chita. 

Some of them are retained in prison in Chita for a long time, while others are sent 

directly by rail to Molotov and other industrial regions in the Ural Mountains.

 

116 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 241319Z Jul 92.

117 American-Prisoners-of-War Held in the USSR, Information Report, Central Intelligence Agency, 29 

December 1953.

118 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952. 
49

Svobodny—In his memoirs (made available to the Russian Side in November 

1999) a source quotes four people who claim to have knowledge of the June 

1952 RB-29 crew and their incarceration in Svobodny. Excerpts from his 

memoirs:119

A former fishing vessel radio operator related that the Captain of his fishing 

vessel told him that "not all the crew members of the American [aircraft] had, in 

fact, died back then (in June) and that ten of those people were now in pre-trial 

solitary confinement in a prison in the city of Svobodny, near Blagoveshchensk."

A former Dalstroy official "was not in the least surprised by [his] question. He 

replied at once: 'Yes, at first ten people were alive. Yes, first they were brought to 

Khabarovsk. But, then, of course, they were sent off to Svobodny...They were 

supposed to have been met by people from the Ministry of Defense...They were 

not met, though. You see, there was some screw-up in Moscow. Well, I can tell

you that they were not met. What happened to them after that, I do not know. 

And I would advise you not to know as well...Let the leadership worry itself about 

it..."

A second former Dalstroi official repeated almost word-for-word the testimony of 

[the first Dalstroi official] but went on to clarify: "The guys from within ‘worked 

over' the Americans so badly that only eight were taken to Svobodny.

A construction official who worked extensively in the Far East and was also an 

advisor to a minister stated that "he did learn the names of two crewmembers of 

that aircraft, Bush and Moore, who will forever remain in the soil of the 

Khabarovsk Region." [Along with 10 other crewmembers, Major Samuel Busch 

and Master Sergeant David Moore were shot down by Soviet fighters on 13 June 

1952. The entire crew remains missing.]

Verkhniy—According to a Ukrainian citizen who lives in Kiev, seven American 

servicemen - three of them pilots whose plane had strayed into Soviet territory 

because of mechanical difficulties - were incarcerated in 1952, in a prison camp 

called "Verkhniy" in the town of Lultin in Khabarovsky Kray. The prisoners' 

primary contact was with a Japanese doctor named Matsuoko. During their 

detention, three of them were killed in a mining accident, and the four others 

were transferred to another camp.120

 

119 The Memoirs, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, Joint Commission Support 

Directorate, pp. 4-5.

120 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 261301Z Feb 94.
50

Area of Primorskiy Krai

Air Force Hospital 404—While training for parachute duties in 1951, a witness 

broke his leg and was sent to an Air Force hospital, number 404, in the small 

town of Staraya Sysoyovka, Primorskiy Krai, between Arsenyev and 

Novosysoyevka. Due to lack of space, he was given a bed on the second floor in 

the corridor next to a room with three American patients. One was able to walk, 

the second was in traction and the third was burned. He clearly remembered the 

face of one of the Americans. He was blond, no younger than 25 years of age. 

He thought the blond person was the pilot. The witness was able to talk to and 

see the patients, as well as listen to their dialogue during questioning. He stated 

that the first patient was between 22 and 27 years of age, had light colored hair, 

was thin, had blue eyes, and bent over with a visible limp. His height was about 

six feet tall. Patient one said he was from Cleveland and had two children. The 

witness said the second and third patients appeared older. He had no other 

description, other than to say that they were from San Francisco, Chicago, and 

Los Angeles. He could not say which patient was from which city.121

Vanino Bay—In 1947, a Ukrainian witness from Gribenko was moved from Lvov 

to the Vanino Bay Transit Prison in the Soviet Far East where he remained for 

about two years, 1948-49. He claimed there were numerous American prisoners 

awaiting movement to other prisons. He believed the Americans were from 

WWII. The witness described the layout of the Vanino Bay Transit Prison as 

consisting of 15 separate zones, each holding 5,000-7,000 prisoners, and that 

the Americans were housed in zone No. 2. All prisoners were moved to Kolyma 

by the ships: "Felix Dzerzhinski," "Nagin," "Dyurma," and "Dalstroi." Whenever 

these ships passed by Hokkaido, the crew put on civilian attire so the Japanese 

would not know they were prison ships.122

Artem—A Russian stated that an acquaintance of his who lived in Artem, a 

northern suburb of Vladivostok, said that as a little boy in the early 1950’s, he 

saw a column of about 100 American POWs marching near the town. When

asked how he knew they were Americans, he stated that it was "well-known" (in 

the village.)123

 

121 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 011207Z Jun 95.

122 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 251431Z Nov 94.

123 Trip Report for TDY to Moscow and Perm, Russia, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, 

Joint Commission Support Directorate, Gulag Research Team, June 2001.
51

Vladivostok—A CIA report dated 2 September 1952 cites the location of Soviet 

transit camps for Prisoners of War from Korea. Following are excerpts from the 

1952 report:124

1. Since July 1951, according to new information, several transports of Korean 

POWs have passed through the ports of Bukhta (near Vladivostok), Okhotsk and 

Magadan. Each ship has contained 1,000 or more prisoners. Between the end of 

November 1951 and April 1952, transports of POWs were sent by rail from the 

Poset railway junction on the Chinese-Soviet frontier. Some were directed to 

Chita in Eastern Siberia and some to Molotov, European Soviet Russia, west of 

Ural Mountains.

2. Those POWs who arrived by ship in the ports of Bukhta, Okhotsk and 

Magadan were then transported by train, or by trucks or by motor driven barges, 

to Vaikaren on the Chukotsk Sea, to Ust Maisk on the river Aldan and to Yakutsk 

on the river Lena.

 

124 Location of Certain Soviet Transit Camps for Prisoners of War from Korea, Information Report, Central 

Intelligence Agency, 2 September 1952.
52

Area of Kazakhstan

Karaganda Camp No. 4718/19—A German returnee who was interned in a 

prisoner of war camp from February 1947 to May 1950 reported meeting 

two U.S. citizens. Both Americans were reportedly members of the 

occupation forces, spoke German fluently with accents and claimed their 

parents were born in Germany. In late 1945, they crossed into the Eastern 

Zone of Germany to visit relatives, were arrested, and transported to the 

Buchenwald camp. Following a conviction for espionage they were 

transferred to Karaganda, USSR. The source described them as follows:

One American had the first name “Pit”. He was born in the United States; 

parents from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He wore a U.S. Army khaki 

uniform without insignia. He was approximately 18-20 years old. He was 

five feet seven inches tall, brunette hair, sharp pale slim face, and had a 

strong slender build.

The next American had the first name “Tom”. He was born in United States; 

parents from Rhine region of Germany. He wore a U.S. Army khaki uniform 

without insignia. He was five feet three inches tall, fair hair, blue eyes, 

round pale face, and had a strong build. Tom worked in the camp hospital 

and was known as a good surgeon.

Pit escaped in the winter of 1947. He was captured and returned to camp 

two days later, badly beaten. Both men were continuously interrogated. In 

the winter of 1948 (probably February) they were transferred to an unknown 

location. The source later heard they were taken to a forced labor camp in 

Siberia.125

Churba Nura—A CIA source reported in 1956 the presence of two American 

citizens in the “Camp of the Sands” (Note: this is Peshchanlag, one of the 

Special Camp Systems) between November 1954 and September 1955. 

One of the Americans, who was reportedly named Derry, was sent to 

Hungary.126

 

125 U.S. Nationals in PW Camp in Karaganda, 58-B-3331 A, 7050 AISW (USAFE), 8 April 1954, Wringer 

Reports, ODI, RG 341, NACP.

126 American Prisoners in Churba Nura, Information Report, Central Intelligence Agency, 2 November 

1956.
Memorial to the Victims of Political 

Repression in Perm, Russia