Front cover: cell door, Perm' -36 Strict-Regime Camp.

Back cover: a panel from the Memorial to Victims of the Gulag, Syktyvkar, Komi Republic.

The Gulag Study

This study was prepared by:

Michael E. Allen

CPO, USN

"One big, dirty, hungry prison place."
American merchant seaman Delvio Senna describing the USSR
after his release from Soviet detention in 1921.

February 11,2005

To Our Readers:

After a hiatus of nearly three years, we resume our series of updates on the work being done to verify reports alleging that American servicemen were taken into the Soviet prison camp system during W orId War II and the Cold War period. However, before we look at the distinctive features of the fifth edition of the Gulag Study that you will find in the pages that fo llow, a word or two about the report's origins and historical antecedents is in order.

The quest for information that would allow the U.S. Side of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs to determine whether and which American servicemen were transferred to, and detained in, the former Soviet Union is an integral part of the Commission's nearly thirteen-year history. As early as 1993, then U.S. Commission CoChairman, Ambassador Malcolm Toon, provided his counterpart, the late General Colonel Dmitrii Volkogonov, a compendium of accounts from multiple, disparate sources claiming that Soviet forces, particularly during the Korean War, were involved with the treatment and disposition of captured American servicemen, a number of whom were believed to ha ve been forcibly taken into the former USSR. The promised response to that compendium has never been received from the Russian Side. More recently, in November 1999, Ambassador Toon's immediate successor, retired Major General Roland Lajoie, furnished tre current Russian Co-chairman, General-Major Vladimir Zolotarev, with a personal memoir of a former Soviet citizen containing numerous references to American servicemen taken prisoner by Soviet authorities during W orId War II and the Cold War. The memoir, which has triggered considerable public interest, was met by an outpouring of skepticism and suspicion when presented to Russian commissioners. A written Russian response to the document challenged the accuracy of its claims and the motives of its author without attempting to verify the specific incidents it addressed. A proposed bilateral investigative approach that would have allowed Commission researchers to visit sites noted in the memoir and speak with possible respondents never came about. All this has left the question of the transfer of U.S. service members into the former USSR unresolved and, by default, has made it a distinctly unilateral U.S. pursuit.

In scope and detail, the Gulag Study's fifth edition is a more ambitious work than its predecessors. Its principal drafter, Chief Petty Officer Michael Allen, draws upon a number of published works to offer a close look at the Soviet prison-camp matrix, its elaborate structure and vast reach. Using specific case studies, he then presents the process by which reports about Americans in the gulag have been analyzed to assess their credibility. Joined by others, past and present, from DPMO's Joint Commission Support Directorate, CPO Allen has himself participated in trips to remote sites that ha\e generated some of the investigative leads appearing in the study.

The work of the U.S. Side of the Commission to resolve the transfer issue continues. Hopefully, at some point, circumstances will change to allow for a thorough, bilateral inquiry into this elusive question. In the meanwhile, we proceed with our efforts to examine the data we have, pursue new leads, and make our findings known through reports such as this. In a sense, we are not unlike the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Russian citizens who have embarked on a similar quest to learn the facts about their own relatives who disappeared in the gulag. Ultimately, for them as for us, it is persistence which will shape the outcome of this often frustrating, occasionally promising, and always daunting enterprise.

Norman D. Kass Executive Secretary, U.S. Side

Contents

Executive Summary                                                                                                               1

Who We Are                                                                                                                          2

US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's Joint Commission Support Directorate

What We Do                                                                                                                           3

How We Do It                                                                                                                                    4

Sources and Methods

Source Descriptions

State Archives of the Russian Federation Russian State Military Archives

National Archives and Records Administration The Library of Congress

Verification Process

Analytic Process

Case Studies                                                                                                                           15

What We've Found                                                                                                                             17

"Gulag" versus "gulag"

Former Soviet Law Enforcement and Security Services Prison Agencies of the Former Soviet Union

The Camps

Special Camps and the "Sharashka" System

V orkuta- V orkutlag- Rechlag

Britanka

Americans in the Gulag

Sightings by Geographical Location                                                                                                  34

Moscow                                                                                                                                  35

Vladimirskaya                                                                                                                        37

Mordovska                                                                                                                             38

Rostov                                                                                                                                    41

Kirov                                                                                                                          42

Komi                                                                                                                          43

Molotov (Perm)                                                                                                                                  57

Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg)                                                                                                   60

Chelyabinsk                                                                                                                            61

Novosibirsk                                                                                                                            62

Krasnoyarsk                                                                                                                           63

Irkutsk                                                                                                                                    67

Sakha - Yakutia                                                                                                                                  71

Chita                                                                                                                           77

Magadan                                                                                                                                 78

Khabarovsk                                                                                                                            81

Primorskiy Kray                                                                                                                                 83

Kamchatka Peninsula                                                                                                             85

Kazakhstan                                                                                                                             86

Ukraine                                                                                                                                   88

Byelorussia and Germany                                                                                                      89

Executive Summary

Since it was established as a distinct component of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in the fall of 1994, the Joint Commission Support Directorate has carefully examined a series of reports and sightings of U.S. servicemen held in the Soviet gulag, a network of penal camps that crisscrossed the former Soviet Union. Several points have become clear.

First, Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union. The Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies even transferred some of these Americans from satellite states such as the German Democratic Republic, to the Soviet Union, where they were detained. However, despite our extensive efforts, we have not yet acquired definitive, verifiable information that would allow us to determine the scope of such transfers or the ultimate fates of those whose lives were directly affected by them.

Secondly, sightings of Americans in the gulag vary by level of detail and clarity of circumstance. While there are numerous accounts of "American servicemen" who can be clearly identified as U.S. or non- U.S. nationals, most reports we have received lack the specificity needed to correlate them to individuals still listed as missing.

Thirdly, resolving the questions raised by reports of American servicemen in the Soviet Union will remain an elusive task. We continue to pursue permission from the Russian government for U.S. investigators to have greater access to former Security Service and Military Intelligence officers. To date the results of these efforts have been less than encouragmg.

Lastly, immersing oneself in memoirs or anecdotal accounts can never substitute for

unfettered access to historical records. It is these records, after all, which tell the story of those foreigners who became part of the deep abyss known as the Soviet wlag. No search for the facts about American servicemen in the Soviet prison camp system can be considered truly productive or even completely credible unless such access is provided.

Who We Are

US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs

In March 1992, the Presidents of the United States and Russian Federation joined together to establish the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC). The work of the Commission focuses on three primary objectives:

To determine if any American POW/MIAs are being held against their will on the territory of the former Soviet Union and, if so, to secure their immediate release and repatriation;

To determine the fate of unaccounted-for members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were located on the territory of the former Soviet Union or about whom the Russian Government may have information; and

To clarify facts pertaining to Soviet personnel mIssmg from their war m Afghanistan, from Cold War-era loss incidents, and from World War II.

Over the course of the past twelve years, it has embarked on a number of initiatives of which the present study is but an example.

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's Joint Commission Support Directorate

The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) provides direct analytical, investigative, and administrative support to the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC) As one of its principal tasks, JCSD has undertaken a in-depth review of the Soviet prison camp system as part of its mission to determine the fates of missing American service members.

What We Do

Our research covers the entire history of the former Soviet Union. The earliest known sightings of American servicemen held in the Soviet Union occurred in the 1920's following the Allied Intervention of 1918-1920. The greatest numbers of reported sightings occurred during World War II and through the mid-1950s.

The search for answers involves extensive, on- the- ground field investigations in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, an oral-interview program, archival research, and collaboration with experts in all pertinent disciplines. Our analysts routinely conduct research at the United States National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, and the Russian State Military Archives, as well as many other institutions throughout the world. They have conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed thousands of documents, and spent months traveling at times, to some of the most remote places on the Earth-searching for clues and evidence. Much of what we have discovered-however fragmentary and inconclusive it at times has been-appears in this study. It has been carefully examined, using \arious disciplines and techniques, in order to guide our research and provide answers to our questions: Were American servicemen transferred to the former Soviet Union, particularly during the wars in Southeast Asia and Korea? Were American servicemen detained in the former Soviet Union? Are there live American servicemen being held in the former Soviet Union?

How We Do It

Sources and Methods

The four previous editions of the Gulag Study have provided a compendium of reported sightings primarily arranged by geographical location. These sightings were of individuals purported to be American citizens, specifically, American servicemen who were detained in the former Soviet Union. We have conducted on-the-ground investigations and archival research around the world in an effort to verify and, where possible, draw informed analytical conclusions. Much of the information in the Gulag Study is derived from sources outside the Russian Federation. Research in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as the Baltic States and Ukraine, has, in a number of instances, been encouraging. Our research is ongoing in all of these nations and elsewhere, as appropriate.

One of the greatest impediments to resolving the questions raised by the Gulag Study is the lack of documentary evidence, with incomplete or anecdotal accounts frequently serving as the sole basis to generate investigative leads. Names, or the lack thereof, remain a problem. Many of the accounts lack any associated name, let alone full names, of the individuals reportedly encountered. The majority of full names that are available do not match the names of any known missing U.S. servicemen. Problematic as it may be, this fact, however, does mt rule out the possibility that an individual may be a missing U.S. serviceman. A source, after all, could have remembered a name incorrectly, or the individual sighted may have been using an alias. The latter was the case, for example, with Russell R. Pattinger, a soldier from the American Expeditionary Force, who was imprisoned in Moscow until 1921. Pattinger used the alias Thomas Hazelwood until his repatriation on August 10, 1921. 1

Additionally, eyewitness accounts, especially of events that are years in the past, have been shown by scientific investigation to be generally unreliable. 2 Imagine asking the faculty and student body of a school to write down detailed descriptions of all the foreign exchange students who had attended that particular institution during a ten-year period which ended 20 years prior to an interview. The range of descriptions would be vast, with varying degrees of accuracy. This is not unlike the situation we have encountered while investigating eyewitness accounts of Americans in the Gulag.

Reported accounts can be grouped into categories based on the source of the information and the identity of the supposed American service member.

1 Americans in Prison in Moscow; Military Observer, Baltic Provinces, Riga to Director of Military Intelligence, War Department, Washington, DC, May 3, 1921, Military Intelligence Division (MID), Record Group (RG) 165, National Archives, College Park (NACP).

2 Elaine Cassel, "Behavioral Science Research Leads to Department of Justice Guidelines for Eyewitness Evidence." Virginia Lawyer 48, no. 7 (February, 2000), http://www . vsb.org/publications/valawyer/febOO/casse1.pdf.

Sources usually obtained information through various forms of contact.

            Direct personal contact with the individual.

            Visual contact with the individual identified.

            Indirect or second-hand accounts.

The determination of identity as an American or an American serviceman is usually made in one or more of the following ways.

            An individual told a source that he was an American and/or an American serviceman.

            A source deduced through his own means that an individual was an American or an American serviceman.

            A third party told a source that an individual was an American or an American serviceman.

These possibilities, in turn, give rise to a number of variations. For instance, an individual may have told a source he was an American citizen and the source may have deduced on his own or was told by a third party that the individual was not only American, but was also a soldier.

Individuals reported to be American servicemen typically fall into one of the following categories:

                        Former POWs held by the Germans, liberated, and later imprisoned by the Soviets. They are often of Slavic or Germanic decent..

            Members of the Constabulary, Counter-Intelligence Corps, or an intelligence agency arrested or kidnapped by the Soviets, usually in Germany or Austria, between 1945 and 1960.

            Soldiers stationed in Germany or Austria arrested or kidnapped after inadvertently crossing into the Soviet zone.

            Crewmembers of an aircraft, usually a reconnaissance plane, shot or forced down over or near Soviet territory.

            Korean- or Vietnam- War POWs transferred to the Soviet Union. 3

            Defectors or deserters.

Sightings, however, are only one piece of the puzzle. By using a fusion of all-source information, JCSD analysts continue to work on resolving the questions central to the Gulag Study in as complete and accurate a manner as possible.

3 Reports of Vietnam War sightings are less common than those received for other periods being reviewed.

A native Yakutian during an interview in Tiksi, Yakutia

Source Descriptions

Gulag Study Support Document Database

JCSD analysts have combed through U.S. diplomatic and military archives to collect as many contemporaneous reports of American servicemen in the former Soviet Gulag as possible. These include numerous accounts of U.S. POWs reportedly shipped into the former Soviet Union, as well as sightings of missing servicemen who were observed at camps and other former Soviet detention facilities.

The documents contained in the Gulag Study Support Document Database are a selection of declassified U.S. government documents that have provided JCSD researchers with key information to support and focus their on- the- ground research and investigations. The Library of Congress's Federal Research Division maintains the database. It is located on the W orId Wide Web at the following URL:

http://lcweb2.1oc. gov/frd/gulag/gulaghome.html

A subset of the Gulag Study Support Document Database is the Wringer Database. It is located at:

http://lcwe b2.1oc.gov/frd/wringer/wringerhome.html

Further information about DPMO, the USRJC, and JCSD can be found on DPMO's website:

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo

p>

CPO Dennis Friedbauer interviews a Hungarian survivor of the Gulag

Interviews-The Oral History Program

One of the most important tools JCSD analysts have is the interview or "oral history" program. Analysts interview Soviet military and security service veterans, local inhabitants, former prisoners, subject-mater experts, and other individuals of interest.

JCSD has also established contractual relationships with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) such as KART A, headquartered n Poland, and Memorial, based in Russia, to assist in interviews and archival research. Besides providing primary-source material, archival research in the United States, Russia, and elsewhere is essential for identifying and locating individuals for inclusion in the interview program

Archives and Libraries

JCSD analysts carry out archival research throughout the United States, Russia, and various East European nations, most notably Hungary and the Czech Republic. The following highlights key archival collections where we have carried out research to date.

State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF)

JCSD analysts have been conducting research at GARF, located in Moscow, for a

number of years. GARF is the main repository for Gulag-related records, and those of the Main Administration of Camps, and its successor organization, the Main Administration of Places of Confinement (GUMZ). In addition, GARF maintains the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs up to the year 1960. Equally important are the records of the various national-level entities such as the Main Administration of Railroad Construction, which were responsible for the Gulag's industrial productivity.

Russian State Military Archives (RGV A)

RGV A, also located in Moscow, has several collections of particular documentary importance to our Gulag Study, specifically: the records of the Main Administration of Prisoners of War and Internees and the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Convoy Troops. The latter were responsible for escorting prisoners throughout the Soviet Union. RGV A also maintains a large collection of "trophy documents," i.e., captured foreign documents that are of interest to our researchers.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

JCSD analysts conduct research at NARA facilities throughout the United States, including the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, and the various presidential libraries. The bulk of JCSD's research is carried out at the NARA II building in College Park, Maryland, where, our researchers have access to vast amounts of classified and declassified U.S. Government documents, as well as captured foreign documents.

The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., is an invaluable source of hard-tofind books, newspapers, periodicals, and unpublished manuscripts. JCSD analysts routinely work in the library's European Reading Room. In addition, JCSD has a partnership with the library's Federal Research Division (FRD), which was mentioned earlier in this section.

Project Wringer

One collection of documents that deserves special mention are the "Wringer" documents, which have provided several new investigative leads.

In the late 1940's, the United States Air Force established Project Wringer. Primarily aimed at developing target folders for strategic bombing in the event of a future war against the Soviet Union, Wringer reports obtained strategic intelligence information on Warsaw Pact nations through overt interviews with former defectors, refugees, and paws held in the former Soviet Union. The Wringer reports contain large amounts of detailed information specific to the Soviet infrastructure. Of particular interest is the unique and extensive look they provide into the vast, industry-based prison empire that has become known as the "Gulag." Wringer reports cover the period from the early 1940's until the late 1950's.

Project Wringer, now declassified, is stored in some 1,350 boxes at the National Archives and Record Administration. In early 2001, JCSD initiated a concerted effort to exploit the Wringer reports for references to, and sightings of, known and purported U.S. servicemen. Material gained through this effort is routinely incorporated into the Gulag Study

Project Wringer received its name in 1949, during a briefing: "I had always described what we were after as 'wringing out' every last bit of usable data fro ill every single person who had been inside the USSR..."

The Verification Process

A subsection of a larger analytical process, the sighting verification schematic shown on this page, allows analysts to determine whether a reported sighting warrants further

investigation. During their review of existing documentation am interviews with new sources, Investigators come across references to possible American servicemen in the

Gulag system in three ways. References may appear in reports of direct contact personal interaction between the source and a possible American serviceman; through indirect contact - visual contact with amplifying data as mentioned above, or through second- hand accounts of possible Americans.

Analysts usually differentiate sightings by the type of information available in a given report. The best reference, for analytical purposes, is a complete name. If a reference contains a full name, the analyst is able to compare a name with lists of known missing servicemen. If a correlation can be made, then the analyst must create a priority file and refine the search to determine if this is an actual missing serviceman and, if so, what further action must be taken.

If the full name is not within existing databases, the analyst attempts to determine if the referenced person may be an American civilian. To do this, the analyst refers to existing lists within U.S. Government and other data sources. If the full name appears in these lists, the analyst annotates this, determines if the individual is one and the same and, if so, the matter is referred to the State Department for further resolution.

If a full name cannot be identified, a review is conducted at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis to locate existing records that might match the full name. In the case of a potential match, the analyst attempts to refine the NPRC query by researching any relevant corollary information.

Reference data, when available, exists, is correlated with appropriate records to determine whether a match exists. If a correlation is made, the analyst may say with some confidence that the status of the referenced full name is known. The name may then be added to the sightings list for further investigation.

When a complete name cannot be verified with any level of confidence during the NPRC research process, the analyst returns the name to JCSD's data sources as undefined and awaits the discovery of other, clarifying information.

In those instances where only a partial name is provided, supplemental data such as hair color, identifying marks, or rank takes on particular importance. If such data exists, analysts follow the same procedure as used to verify a full name reference.

When no amplifying information exists, a partial name and reference document are recorded in JCSD' s data sources. In cases where amplifying information is available, it is examined against other similar data on file. When a match occurs, the new information is added to the existing entry. If not, a new entry is created in JCSD's recorded holdings.

Analytic Process

The analytical approach we use examines the data acquired against the full spectrum of resources available. Sightings are identified and verified through our sighting verification process described above. Essential to the process is a comparison of sightings with US Government lists of missing American servicemen and other DPMO databases and sources. Once a sighting is received, the analyst then verifies the incident using documents and data from seven primary categories:

            Transcripts and notes from interviews conducted by NGOs

            Internet

            Foreign documents and databases

            Unclassified US Government documents and databases

            Classified US Government documents and databases

Books (including published and unpublished memoirs) and periodicals

             JCSD-conducted interviews

Case Studies

The following actual case studies are given as examples of the analytical process. We have attempted to present sightings from a wide range of sources, with varying degrees of available detail, resulting in different outcomes.

The initial step in our analytical process is what we term "sighting verification"

In our first example, Gulag Study analysts, while performing archival research, discovered a declassified US Government document from the 1950's. The document contained a full name (withheld here because this case is still under investigation) with detailed amplifying information relating to a possible W orId War II missing service member. Analysts first ran the name through DPMO's databases. These databases and DPMO's other data sources, generated 15 names identical to that in this case study.

Through further research, we found that eight of the 15 are known to have been Killed in Action and are buried in US military cemeteries overseas. The remaining seven are listed as missing; however, only one of these seven is missing from the European theatre. The amplifying data provided in the sighting report closely matches that associated with that one missing American

Once verified as a possible missing American serviceman, a more extensive analysis begins, as described in the Data Collection and Data Analysis sections. In this case, the analyst's next step was to go to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in search of any pertinent Missing Air Crew Report (MACR). The MACR is a declassified US Government document that details the crew list and technical details of aircraft lost during combat operations in W orId War II.

During our research, we have come <cross inconsistencies between data found in the MACRs and that contained in other sources. When this happens, we continue to consider the case as "Open" and continue to review our existing sources, looking for new data to move the case from "Open" or "Inconclusive" to "Resolved."

In this instance, Gulag Study analysts have requested the individual's personnel records to compare them with the reported sighting. We have sent a request for information to the Russian Military Medical Archives.

Our second example centers on a declassified CIA document from 1954, which was found at NARA. In it was a sighting of an American soldier with no name or rank given, located in Tayshet Camp 20 during the 1949-1950 time frame. A clear physical description was given, as well as mention of a shoot-down during a reconnaissance mission over the Baltic Sea. Most importantly, the sighting report mentioned burn scars on the American's right cheek and his use of a cane.

In performing the sighting verification, Gulag Study analysts determined that this may be related to a PB4Y-2 shot down over the Baltic on April 4, 1950.

At first glance, it would appear logical to conclude that this was a crew member from the April 1950 shoot-down. However, since the report fails to mention a specific date of loss, it is by no means certain that it unequivocally relates to that incident.

The large amount of clear amplifying data in this case allowed us to refine the list of possib Ie servicemen by comparing specific data points - physical description, date/time of sighting, etc. - to other cases in the data sources. To do this we looked for other sightings in the same time frame in Tayshet Camp 20. This significantly narrowed our search. Source materials revealed a declassified diplomatic cable from 1956 that states that, in 1950, a debriefed Austrian national and former Russian prisoner in Tayshet Camp 20 met an American named Jim Fabian. Fabian claimed to have been a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. One half of his face was scarred from a plane accident during the war, and he walked with a cane. He claimed to have been arrested in 1947-48 while visiting a relative in Prague.

With a full name and a plausible explanation of his burns and cane, we then began to research Jim Fabian in more detail. Fabian is described in many source documents as having had burns or a birthmark on his face. During the 1950's, the FBI and the State Department both investigated the reports about Mr. Fabian. Through researching case specifics within the United States, they determined that there was no US citizen matching the names or aliases surrounding James Fabian.

Finally, we found an unclassified US document in NARA that related news that Eugene Jan (Jimmy) Fabian had been repatriated to Czechoslovakia as a Czech citizen in August of 1955, and was residing there as a Czech national. Descriptions and other amplifying information confirmed that Jan Fabian was the "American soldier" reported in the various sightings. In this case, we state that this report is most likely "Closed" or "Resolved" and have recorded that in DPMO's source records.

What We Have Found

Terms of Reference: "Gulag" versus "gulag"

The word "gulag" became a familiar term in the West with the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's epic novel, The Gulag A rchipe lag, in 1973. A Russian acronym for Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerey (Main Administration of Camps), "Gulag," is often used to mean any oppressive penal system.

The former Soviet Gulag, as an administrative organization, did not come into being until the 1930's. Prior to its establishment and during its tenure, other detention facilities also existed within the former Soviet penal system. Because of the complexities of these systems and the all- inclusive connotation of the word, "gulag,''---with a lower-case "g"has been used in this volume as a general term to describe all places of confinement within the former Soviet penal system.

A basic understanding of that system, as well as the law enforcement and security services that controlled it, is necessary to put into context, understand, and analyze sightings of Americans in the gulag.

Former Soviet Law Enforcement and Security Services

The two primary Soviet organizations responsible for maintaining detention facilities were the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Committee of State Security, hereafter referred to by the Russian abbreviations MVD and KGB, respectively. The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the NKVD, preceded the MVD; the Ministry of State Security, or MGB, preceded the KGB.

As law enforcement agencies, the MVD controlled the police, the convoy troops (responsible for prisoner transport), and internal troops. The KGB maintained responsibility for state security, including: border guards, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and the political police. The names, structure, and authority of these agencies changed numerous times between 1917 and 1991 because of internal power struggles and administrative realignments.4 In addition to their presence at the federal level, these agencies existed on the republic, regional, and municipal levels. 5

Military Intelligence, the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense (GRU), which was founded in 1926, did not playa role in the Soviet penal system; however, it was involved in prisoner-of-war debriefing and processing and would more than likely have played a key role in any possible transfer of American POWs to the Soviet Union or its satellite states.

Prison Agencies of the Former Soviet Union

Between 1917 and 1936, the predecessors of the MVD and KGB, as well as the Ministry of Justice, shared responsibility for operating all places of confinement located in the former Soviet Union. Each entity had its own prison agency responsible for managing these facilities. In 1934, with the creation of the Main Administration of Camps, the NKVD gained primary responsibility for the majority of places of confinement. 6 The security services retained certain of their own places of confinement, primarily prisons such as the infamous Lubyanka in Moscow. Republics and regions maintained their own departments of Corrective Labor Colonies (OITK) and administrations of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies (UITLK) separate from, yet loosely tied to, the Main Administration of Camps. The Soviets utilized these camps and colonies for individuals who were serving out terms of three years or less and who were not convicted of state cnmes.

In addition to the camps and colonies, the MVD and KGB maintained their own jails and prisons. The MVD had a Directorate of Prisons responsible for maintaining prisons and jails. In 1953 the MVD maintained 587 prisons with a 249,000 prisoner capacity: two

4 The predecessors of the NKVD and MGB were the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage (VCHK or Cheka~ the State Political Administration (GPU), the Unified State Political Administration (OGPU), and the People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB). The NKVD became the MVD in 1946; the MGB, the KGB in 1953.

5 See A. 1. Kokurin and N. V. Petrov, Lubyanka: Organy, VCHK -OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB-MVD-KGB, 1917-1991, Spravochnik, [Lubyanka; Organs, VCHK-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB-MVD-KGB, 19171991, a Guide] (Moskva; Mezhdunarodnyy Fond "Demokratiya," Materik, 2003).

6 Originally the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Labor Settlements (GU1TLTP), it was changed to Gulag in 1936 for reasons of simplification.

central prisons: Butyrskaya and Lefortovskaya; three special-regime prisons "osobye tyur'my': Vladimirskaya, Aleksandrovskaya, and Verkhneural'skaya; two special prisons "spetstyu'rmy" (names and locations are unavailable for these); three psychiatric prison hospitals: Kazanskaya, Chistopol'skaya and Leningradskaya; 437 routine prisons, and 140 internal prisons.7 These figures do not include KGB detention facilities.

Jails were primarily small places of confinement for individuals convicted of minor

offenses and held for short periods of time, or for those awaiting transfer to a larger, more secure facility. A special-regime prison, such as Vladimir Prison, served the purpose of detaining especially dangerous or special categories of prisoners, such as enemy generals, SS dIicers, high-profile prisoners such as Francis Gary Powers and possibly Raoul Wallenberg, or anyone else who needed to be segregated and kept in a maximum-security facility with highly controlled access. 8 Psychiatric prison hospitals, later known as special prison hospitals, were punitive medical facilities controlled by the MVD and KGB. The security services would commit enemies of the state to these facilities, sometimes indefinitely. Two of the most infamous of these facilities are The Leningrad Special Psychiatric Hospital of the MVD and The V. P. Serbsky Central Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Psychiatry of the Ministry of Public Health.9 In 2000,

Andras Toma, a former Hungarian POW of the Soviets, returned to Hungary after 56 years, most of this spent in the psychiatric facility in Kotel'nich, Russia.10 Special prisons were intended for specific purposes as in the case of the sharashka prisons described later in this section.

From 1939-1956, the NKVDIMVD also maintained the Main Administration of Prisoners of War and Internees (GUPVI), possessing a similar structure to the Gulag. Occasionally GUPVI prisoners' and Gulag prisoners' paths would cross while working on the same labor project. Prisoners of war who were not returned to their homelands by 1956, when the MVD shut down the GUPVI, were declared criminals and transferred to camps controlled by the Main Administration of Camps, or to special-regime prisons. These were usually members of the SS, high-level officers, or POWs who had violated a regulation while under the control of the GUPVI.11

The Gulag was not only a system of confinement; it was a massive industrial complex spread out across the entire former Soviet Union. The MVD established several departments within the Gulag to manage specific types of industry and production in the

7 M.B. Smimov, ed., Spravochnik: Sistema Ispravitel'no-Trudovykh Lagerey v SSSR 1923-1960, [The System of Corrective Labor Camps in the USSR, 1923-1960, a Guide] (Moskva, Rossiya; Zven'ya, 1998), p. 539. The two special prisons are unidentified in the text.

S Michael R. Beschloss, Mayday: the U-2 Affair: the Untold Story of the Greatest US -USSR Spy Scandal, (New York: Perennial Library, Harper and Row, 1987), p. 343, and Marvin W. Makinen and Ari D. Kaplan, Cell Occupancy Analysis of Korpus 2 of the Vladimir Prison: an Examination of the Consistency of Eyewitness Sightings of Raoul Wallenberg with Prisoner Registration Cards from the Prison Kartoteka, (Report submitted to the Swedish-Russian Working Group on the Fate of Raoul Wallenberg, 2000).

9 Alexander Podrabinek, Punitive Medicine, (Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers INC, 1980), pp. 145-147, 151154.

10 Laszlo Erdos, The Last Prisoner of War, (Zrinyi: 2002).

11 See M. M. Zagorul'ko, ed., Voennoplennye v SSSR 1939-1956: Dokumenty i Materialy, [Prisoners-ofWar in the USSR, 1939-1956: Documents and Materials] (Moskva: Logos, 2000).

labor camps and prisons. These departments later became main administrations directly subordinate to the MVD. For instance, Vyatlag, 12 an industrial (logging) camp located in the Kirov Region possessed this dual chain of command: the Main Administration of Camps maintained responsibility for all the day- to-day aspects and logistics of running the camp, while the Main Administration of furestry Camps (JULLP) of the MVD maintained responsibility for labor use and production, i.e., running the camp's logging business. Another example is that in 1950, the Head of the Vorkuta COlTective Labor Colony, a Colonel Fadeev, was also the Head of tre Vorkuta Coal Combine. The Head of Special Camp Six (which was also located in Vorkuta and provided labor for the Vorkuta Coal Combine), a Lieutenant Colonel Shun' kin, was subordinate to Colonel Fadeev concerning industrial matters.13 At its peak, there were approximately twenty- three main directorates and directorates of the MVD responsible for various aspects of Soviet industrial and economic productivity. The Gulag ran everything from potato and sheep farms to coal and uranium mining camps. Prisoners built highways and railroads across vast tracks of the steppes and taiga, high- rise apartments in Moscow, and the White Sea Canal. Prisoners not only worked on Gulag-sponsored projects, but were also contracted out to other state enterprises. 14

The Camps

There are approximately 476 camps listed in M.B. Smirnov's guide, System of Corrective Labor Camps in the USSR 1923 -1960. This does not include GUPVI camps, prisons, or OITK and UITKL facilities. A camp, or lager' in Russian, was usually a massive complex covering a relatively large geographical area. These camp complexes consisted of a headquarters unit (upravlenie) and various subunits, including hospitals, factories, mines, logging camps, road and railway construction sites, etc. The primary subunits of a camp complex included: a camp section [lagotdelenie (UO)]; an independent camp section [otdel'nyy lagpunkt (OLP)]; a camp sub-section perpunkt (UP)], and a transit camp (perpunkt).15 Occasionally sub-units would have a remote or temporary camp assignment (komandirovka) and a remote or temporary camp sub-assignment (podkomandirovka). Because the majority of these subordinate units do not have any ready English equivalents, they will be refelTed to primarily in Russian.

A camp complex usually had several camp elements/components (lagotdeleniya) subordinate to the camp's headquarters (HQ) unit, which was frequently located in a town or city. Some elements/components, in turn, were comprised of several sub sections. A number of camp sections had additiornl facilities such as a hospital (sanitarnyy gorodok or sangorodok), which sometimes operated within its own camp structure. The camp's HQ component had a number of directly subordinate elements. This was the result of geographical, politicaL security, or economic reasons. These elements usually had better facilities than those at a regular camp section. Examples of

12 Vyatskiy Corrective Labor Camp (ITL).

13 Fond 9414, opis' 1, delo 1869, GARF.

14 Galina Mikhailovna Ivanova, Labor Camp Socialism: The Gulag in the Soviet Totalitarian System, ed. Donald J. Raleigh, trans. Carol Flath (Armonk, New York; London, England: M. E. Sharpe, 2000), p. 98.

15 peresyl'nyy punkt or peresyl'ka, a transit point used to sort and distribute prisoners.

komandirovki and podkomandirovki include groups of prisoners sent out for short periods of time to log or to establish and maintain a rail line. Such activity was carried out with a minimum amount of supervision, temporary or semi-permanent shelter, and dry prOVISIOns.

[Alliance Note: Chart in this locatin world not format for html file]

Sample Camp Organizational Chart

A lagotdelenie or a lagpunkt is what people normally think of when they hear the term "prison camp." They usually consisted of several prisoner barracks, a dining facility, bathhouse, and an exercise yard, all within a fenced- in compound zone (zona) surrounded by guard towers. Separate areas were set aside for administrative buildings, warehouses, possibly a clinic, and barracks for the guards. A prisoner's place of work might be in "the zone," an area nearby, or, possibly, a distant location, depending on the type of industry. Also located in or near the zone \\ere disciplinary barracks (baraki usilennogo rezhima or BUR), and penalty or solitary- isolation cells (shtrafnoy izolyator or SHIZO). Many camp complexes had an entire penalty or disciplinary sub-section.

Camps and their subunits were named in a variety of ways using numbers, geographical names, or industrial designators. Camps were assigned code names, code letters, and alphanumeric postal codes by which they, even now, are often referenced, especially in the accounts of former prisoners. Camp structures continually changed. They grew or shrank like a living organism. One camp would absorb all or parts of another camp. Lagotdeleniya would be restructured, lagpunkty added or removed. Designators and names changed. GUPVI camps were similarly arranged. All of this adds to the difficulty of researching accounts of Americans held in the gulag. 16

16 For instance in September 1949, Vorkutlag OLP 54Zh was transferred to Rechlag and was redesignated VO lOZh. Fond 9414, opis' 1, delo 1869, GARF.

Special Camps and the "Sharashka" system

Two more aspects of the gulag deserve mention: special camps and the so-called "Sharashka" camps and prisons.

Special camps ~sobye lagerya) were strict-regime camps established to hold political prisoners and individuals categorized as especially dangerous criminals. In general, these camps were similar in structure and operation to other camps in the Gulag. There were twelve special camps-Coastal, Far, Lake, Meadow, Mineral, Mountain, Oak Forest, Reed, River, Sands, Steppe, and Watershed 17 -which were eventually subsumed into the regular camp system in the mid-to-Iate 1950's. 18

"Sharaga" or "Sharashka" is a Russian slang term with various definitions. In the context of the gulag, a sharashka is a "secret project, designers' office, etc., manned by specialists subjected to repression.,,19 These were prisons or camps where Soviet and foreign scientists and technicians, including prisoners of war, were forced to work on

military and industrial projects. These prisons were part of the Special Technical Bureau (OTB), also known as the Fourth Special Department of the MVD. 20 The MVD would select prisoners with special technical skills or knowledge and transfer them from their place of confinement to a sharashka, where their abilities could be exploited. Prisonertechnicians worked in all fields of military- industrial research, including aviation, electronics, rocketry, and nuclear weapons. Generally, prisoners in a sharashka received better food and treatment than prisoners in a camp or prison. Andrei Tupolev, the great aviation designer, and Sergei Korolev, father of the Soviet space program, were prisoners in a Sharashka.21 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel The First Circle is based on his experiences in the Marfino sharashka, formerly located in the Moscow suburbs. 22 As highly secret facilities, their records remain largely classified. These facilities are of particular interest because of their use in scientific and technical exploitation of prisoners of war. If U.S. personnel with knowledge of advanced weapons systems were transferred to the former Soviet Union, these prisons were a likely place of confinement for them. 23

17 Berlag, Dal'lag, Ozerlag, Luglag, Minlag, Gorlag, Dubravlag, Kamyshlag, Rechlag, Peschanlag, Step lag, and Vodorazdel'nyy Lager'.

18 M.B. Smimov, Spravochnik: Sistema Ispravitel'no-Trudovykh Lagerey v SSSR 1923-1960; N. A. Morozov, Osobye Lagerya MVD SSSR v Komi ASSR (1948-1954 gody), [Special Camps of the MVD in the Komi ASSR] (Syktyvkar: Syktyvkaskiy universitet, 1998); andfond 9414, opis' 1, dela 1857 and 1869, GARF.

19 D.L Kvese1evich, Dictionary of Unconventional Russian, Russian-English, (Moskva: Astrel'; AST, 2002), p. 1069.

20 Osoboe Tekhnicheskoe Byuro. A. L Kokurin and N. V. Petrov, Lubyanka: Organy, VCHK-OGPUNKVD-NKGB-MGB-MVD-KGB, 1917-1991, Spravochnik, (Moskva: Materik, 2003), p. 201 and V. F Nekrasov, MVD Rossii, Ehntsiklopediya, [MVD of Russia: an Encyclopedia] (Moskva: MVD Rossii, OLMA-PRESS, 2002) pp. 371-374.

21 Central Design Bureau No. 21 (KV-21) formerly located in Moscow.

22 Special Prison "Spetstyur'ma" No. 220.

23 See Paul M. Cole and Theodore Karasik, The Sharashka System: The Link Between Specialized Soviet Prison Camps and American POW-MIAs in Korea? (RAND, 1993) and L. L. Kerber, Stalin's Aviation Gulag: a Memoir of Andrei Tupolev and the Purge Era (Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996).

The Komi Republic

V orkuta -V orkutlag-Rechlag

In the summer of 1932, an OGPU (a predecessor of the KGB) geological survey group, primarily made up of prisoners, set out to the north from Ukhtpeshlag and established Survey Mine Number 1h on the right bank of the Vorkuta River. Six years later, Vorkuta was one of the largest and most productive cities in the Soviet Union; it was also one incredibly large prison-Vorkutinskiy Lager', (Vorkulag)-built entirely with slave labor.

Vorkuta is etched in the mind of every student of repression and totalitarianism It is probably the most well-known Soviet-era penal colony, outside of Kolyma (just north of Magadan), and has, tre largest number of reported sightings of Americans of any location in the gulag.

By January 1 5t, 1941, there were 19,080 prisoners working ten hours a day, eight of those hours in coal mines, in Vorkutlag. 24

On August 27th, 1948, the Main Administration of Camps established Special Camp

Number Six (Osobyy Lager' Nomer Shest'), also known by its less prosaic title of Rechnoy Lager', (Rechlag)-River Camp, in the area ofVorkutlag. By January 15\ 1950, 13,465 prisoners from Vorkutlag, and 5,391 prisoners from other camps and prisons had been transferred to Rechlag. 25

An analysis of sightings in the Vorkuta area demonstrates that the majority of all Americans, especially American servicemen, imprisoned or said to have been imprisoned in Vorkuta between 1948 and 1954 ~re detained in camps and facilities subordinate to Special Camp Number Six-Rechlag.

The following map of the Vorkuta Region, circa 1951, depicts the vastness of that camp complex. The map is to the scale of 1=150,000 or 1 cm=1.5 km. Camps, mines, and other industrial facilities subordinated to Vorkutlag are displayed in magenta; those subordinated to Rechlag appear in yellow.

The two boxes outlined in red highlight the Rechlag facilities (symbols depicted in yellow) most frequently associated with sightings of Americans, especially American serVIcemen.

A brief case study of an American serviceman, Private Homer H. Cox, who was detained in Rechlag during this time period, is provided as well.

24 N. A. Morozov, Gulag v Komi Krae: 1929-1956, [The Gulag in the Komi Area, 1929-1956] (Syktyvkar.

Slktyvkarskiy Gosudarstvennyy Universitet, 1997), p. 49.

25 N. A. Morozov, Osobye Lagerya MVD SSSR v Komi ASSR (1948-1954 gody), (Syktyvkar. Syktyvkarskiy Gosudarstvennyy Universitet, 1998), p. 10.

Homer Harold Cox, AKA: Jim or Harold Cox, H. Cake, Cook, Sergeant Cox, and Lieutenant Cox, An American Military Policeman assigned to the 759th Military Police Service Battalion in West Berlin, was drugged and arrested while in the Soviet Sector of East Berlin on September 6th, 1949. He was sighted at Sverdlov No. 6118 in Shcherbakov (Rybinsk),26 Vorkuta Mine No. Four,27 Vorkuta Mine No. Seven 28 and Bautzen, East Germany.29 Soviet authorities returned him to U.S. custody in Berlin on December 29th, 1953 along with U. S. Merchant Marine Leland Towers. 30

Private Cox was carried as A WOL during his captivity. On January 21^st 1954, a board of inquiry determined Private Cox could not be held accountable for his absence. 31 He passed away of pneumonia in Lawton, Oklahoma on September 27th, 1954.32 Shortly after his death, Cox's fiance made a statement to the press that he was in very good health and that ". ..murder is the only explanation..." This has lead to persistent rumors that Mr. Cox was the victim of foul play and a KGB plot. 33

26 Moscow #164 to State, November 17, 1953

27 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).

28 Memorandum for the Record by Paul H. Vivian, Army Task Force Russia, January 6, 1993.

29 POLAD Heidelberg #SX-3361 to State, October 20, 1953,611.61251/10-2053, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP.

30 Moscow #782 to State, December 30, 1953,611.6125/12-3053, Decimal, Central Files, RG 59, NACP. 31 The New York Times, January 22,1954.

32 The Stars and Stripes, September 29, 1954.

33 "The Austrian sweetheart of Homer H. Cox, who fell in love with her at a Russian slave camp, sobbed today, that 'murder is the only explanation' for his death in a tourist cabin at Lawton, Okla." The Stars and Stripes, September 29, 1954.

Vorkuta-2000

Britanka

In the mid-1960's, a Soviet geologist was working near the village of Sed'vozh in the Komi Republic. Sed'vozh is located approximately 73 kilometers northeast of the city of

Ukhta along the main railroad line. During the course of his duties, he noticed the remnants of a former prison-labor camp north of Sed'vozh along the east side of the railroad tracks. When he asked about the camp, the local villagers told him that this former camp was known as "Britanka''---a former Gulag camp.

Local villagers recounted to him that the prisoners were brought to Britanka following the Second WorId War. Although supplies were taken to the camp, the locals never saw the prisoners leave the compound. He later reported this information to a local historian. Since the word Britanka has no connection to the region, the historian concluded that the camp name probably referred to British citizens who were detained there.

In August 2000, the historian's colleague, an archeologist, conducted an oral history program in Sed'vozh. During his visit, one of the locals related that she never heard of a prison zone named Britanka, but that there was a place the locals called the "English Colony.,,34

The location of the English Colony was in the same approximate area where the geologist reported the Britanka camp. According to tho se interviewed, a British firm was involved in logging in the area before and during the Russian Civil War. The archeologist

recorded a local legend that British workers from the logging firm were detained in the Britanka Camp following the Russian Civil War.

In addition, a local resident recalled a cemetery in the area of the Britanka zone. While visiting the cemetery, she saw rows of grave markers with foreign names on them. She believed that the remnants of the wooden crosses and nameplates have since been destroyed during a field fire in the early 1990's.

The historian sees the English Colony in a different light. According to his research, the British inserted hundreds of Special Forces into Nazi Germany to disrupt the German war

machine. Many of these Special Forces were arrested and detained in POW camps in Poland. He believes that when the Soviet Army liberated these camps, the British POW s were transferred to Britanka.

According to his archival research, 480 foreign internees were transferred from Poland to Camp 225 in the Sed'vozh region of the Komi Republic in 1946. By 1948, Camp 225 no longer contained the 480 prisoners, and the fate of the prisoners' is unknown. Archival documents examined to date do not provide an exact location of Camp 225, and he surmises that Camp 225 and Britanka are one in the same.

34 The colony of Americans working in Magnitogorsk in the 1930's was called "Amerikanka." Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization, (Berkley: University of California Press, 1997), p.125.

Moreover, he believes that Stalin detained the ftitish troops as especially dangerous forces, in preparation for a possible World War III scenario with the Soviet Union's former allies. During the years 1946 through 1948, the internees were reportedly detained in the camp and were not permitted to leave on work details. He posits the view that the British forces were starved and worked to death.

The reference to British prisoners from the Russian Civil War B, in his view, nothing more than a disinformation ploy designed to conceal the fact that British POW s from World War II were detained in Britanka.

In pursuing this matter at the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), JCSD's researchers requested access to a special fond concerning the location of Camp 225 in the Komi Republic.

During research trips to GARF in 2003, analysts discovered that there is apparently no documentation showing Camp 225 to have been a part of the Gulag. Further research in April of 2004 at the Russian State Military Archives in Moscow established that Camp 225 was part of the Main Administration of Prisoners of War and Internees (GUPVI) camp system.

Camp 225 was located in the Komi Republic and subordinated to the Administration of Northern Railroad Camps. These camps and their prisoners were responsible for building the rail line from Kotlas to Khal' mer- Y u and from Vorkuta to Labytnangi. The main administrative headquarters was located in Ukhta.

Of particular interest is the fact that numerous documents exist for most camps in the GUPVI system, but only two documents were found for Camp 225. Both of these documents were in a file that lists prisoners of war who had died in captivity. The first document was a list of 108 Germans; the second is a list of 670 Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians. Neither document cites an exact location for Camp 225, which was apparently liquidated in 1948.

In her book Gulag: A History author Anne Applebaum states that one researcher came across a reference at RGV A to "ten Scotsmen" in a prisoner-of-war camp located in the area, but that the actual document was missing. 35

In April of 2004 the historian informed our researchers that a colleague had recently written him stating he had found the names of several British citizens who were detained

in Labytnangi and Salekhard. The Administration of Northern Railroad Camps

controlled both of these camp locations.

He maintains that "Britanka/Camp 225" was lquidated and the prisoners transferred to Labytnangi and Salekhard. This theory has some merit. Because of the type of work involved, railroad camps tended to have shorter life spans than other types of camps. The

35 Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History, (Doubleday, 2003), pp. 463 and 628.

historian has promised to provide us with a list of the British citizens as soon as it is available.

Americans in the Gulag

There have been reported sightings of American citizens, civilian and military, imprisoned in the former Soviet Union since the Russian Civil War. 36 Most of these sightings remain substantiated. A number of these Americans returned home to the United States, often after years of imprisonment and exile. Others were executed; some remained in the former Soviet Union, never to see the United States again.37 Often these sightings, especially of U.S. military personnel, remain unsubstantiated. John Noble and Alexander Dolgun are two of the better-known American civilians who suffered in the gulag and eventually returned to the United States. Others are Victor Herman and Morris Hershman. 38 In the late 1940's and early 1950's, six U.S. servicemen are known to have been arrested in Germany or Austria and transferred to the former Soviet Union. 39 All six eventually returned to U.S. control after years in various prisons and camps in East Germany and the former Soviet Union.

On July 15\ 1960 a Soviet MIG fighter shot down a U.S. Air Force RB-47 reconnaissance

jet over the Barents Sea. Captains John R. McKone and Freeman B. Olmstead survived and were held in a Moscow prison until their release on January 24th, 1961. The Soviets shot down Francis Gary Power's U-2 on May 15\ 1960. He was held in Lubyanka and Vladimir prisons until his release on February 10th, 1962.

36 Decimal File 164-334; Department of State to War Department; May 24, 1921; MID, Records of the War Department, RG 165, NACP.

37 John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage, (San Franscico: Encounter Books, 2003) pp. 115-121.

38 All four men have published autobiographies.

39 Homer H. Cox, Wilfred C. Cumish, Murray Feingersch (Fields), William T. Marchuk, Sidney R. Sparks, William A. Verdine.

Sightings by Geographical Location

Sightings in this section are alTanged in geographical order from East to West. Locations are listed as referenced or spelled by the source. Sections dealing with regions outside the CUlTent Russian Federation have been added to provide a more comprehensive approach. Future additions may include other former Warsaw Pact nations.

Moscow

Krasnaya Presnya Prison-In a letter to President Nixon, repatriated American John Noble reported that, etched into 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      ".40 In 1958 Mr. Noble reported this incident had occurred in Orsha Transit Prison in Byelorussia (where he was imprisoned prior to his confinement at Krasnaya Presnya).41

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 1948.42

A follow-up interview with the source revealed that in the winter of 1948-1949, he saw the same American in tre Transit Prison at Sverdlovsk-na-urale. He waved at the American from afar and never saw him again. Some time after this encounter, source heard from a French officer that the American was shot and killed while attempting to escape.43

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 Mayor 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-a-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

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

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

42 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 I-October 30, 1998, p. 9.

43 Joint Commission Support Directorate Phone Interview, October 4,2001.

tactics and assisted the Soviets in figuring out a U.S. radar sight (radio-Iokatsionniy pritsel).44

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. 45

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

45 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 ofIntelligence (ODI), Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff), Record Group 341 (RG 341), National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD (NACP).

Vladimirskaya

Vladimir Central Prison--A United Press release, dated September 1, 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.46

Vladimir Central Prison-Source met a U.S. signals technician named Wallace while incarcerated in Vladimir Prison in 1948. Wallace was of average height with dark blond hair and brown eyes. He was approximately 50 years old. He studied radio technology in California, possibly at the California Institute of Technology. Later, he had worked for eight years, until 1946 or 1947, in Canton, China. He left Canton for Moscow, where he was arrested as a U.S. intelligence agent. While in Vladimir, Wallace wrote two papers on radio technology for the Soviets. In 1949 Source learned Wallace was transferred to Moscow, possibly to work for the Soviets in his field of expertise.47

Vladimir Central Prison-An Austrian returnee reported meeting a soldier from New York named George Dick some time prior to September 1,1955.48

Vladimir Central Prison-An Austrian returnee met an alleged American official of the U.S. Legation to Bucharest, Romania, named William C. Wallace. He was originally from New York City. 49

Vladimir Central Prison-A second Austrian returnee reported that he had met William C. Wallace of New York, the former American Commercial Attache to Bucharest. Wallace had been held in Aleksandrov Prison prior to 1953-54.50

Vladimir Central Prison-A German returnee reported meeting an American Army officer, Captain William Wallace, from San Francisco in Vladimir Prison. 51

46 United Press, UPR37, September 1,1955.

47 US Signals Technician Incarcerated in Vladimir Prison in 1948, RV-417-56, USAREURIC 513th MI Group,June 13,1956.

48 Alleged US Citizens Imprisoned in the USSR; HQ USFA, AC of S, G2 (SSB/CIB) APO 168, NY, NY; July 15, 1955.

49 Alleged US Citizens Imprisoned in the USSR; HQ USFA, AC of S, G2 (SSB/CIB) APO 168, NY, NY; July 15, 1955.

50 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOO04W Detention of American Personnel By Foreign Agency (ZFOOOO04W) pp. 4-76, IRR Case Files: Impersonal Files 1940-1976, Records of the Investigative Records Repository (IRR), Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC).

51 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOO04W, pp. 4-76.

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. 52

Dubrava Camp, Ust'. Tarna-A Ukrainian reported that in 1947 two disabled Americans were imprisoned here. 53

Pot'ma-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. dizens. 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 December 27, 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. 54

Pot'ma Camp I8-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 1953.55

Pot'ma Camp I9-A Polish witness was the chief of a work brigade in Camp 19 in Pot'ma, working primarily in the forest. He claimed there were a few Americans among the 17 nationalities in his brigade. 56

Pot'ma Camp 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 Pot'ma Camp 385, Sub-camp Eleven, and last saw him in the autumn of 1959 in Sub-camp Seven.

52 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOO04W, pp. 4-12.

53 KARTA Center's research project (KART A): Concerning Research in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union on the Fate of Missing Americans During and After the Second W orId War, Final Narrative Report for the Period September 17, 2002-September 16, 2003, p. 10.

54 Alleged Americans at PW camp at POTMA, 52HD-55-196B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), February 25, 1954, Wringer Reports, om, RG 341, NACP.

55 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 161156Z, Aug 93.

56 KARTA, 1998, p. 8.

The American was named Jack. He was alight-skinned African-American, 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 7^th Army patch and constabulary insignia. Source could not remember any insignia of rank. 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 Force in Europe (USAFE). He was stationed at CelIe 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 tre 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 to friends or relatives 57 .

Source met the second alleged American in Sub-camp 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.

Saransk (Zubovo-Polyanskiy) Camp 385/8-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. 58

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. 59

57 Prisoners of Special Interest at the Potma Rehabilitation Camp, MI-3640B-60 AEUMF-HM, USAREUR, September 1960.

58 American in Soviet Forced Labor Camp near Saransk, Central Intelligence Agency, May 1955 and American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOO04W, pp. 4-37.

59 Soviet Apprehension of U.S. Personnel, AEUC-GI D-30477, HQ 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, December 1, 1955.

Yavas-A Ukrainian witness stated that between 1950-51 he worked with a prisoner who claimed to have been in the U.S. Army. He was described as a tall Native American between 40-45 years of age. 60

60 KARTA, 2003, p.lO.

Rostov

Novocherkassk Camp 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 who he claimed would be able to verify this information. The one source contacted did in fact verify the account as provided by the witness. 61

61 Americans Held in Russian PW Enclosure, Office of Military Government of Bavaria Intelligence, Historical and Reports Branch, Ag 383.6MGBI, July 11, 1947.

Kirov

Kirov- Repatriated American William Marchuk received information from a German POW who was imprisoned in a camp in Kirov. The German stated that he was in the camp together with nine American POWs, all captains and majors, who were Korean War aviators. 62

62 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOOO4W, pp. 4-32.

Komi

Abe:h-A German source reported seeing an American pilot while in a prisoner of war camp in Abez from May to November 1949. The American, who was supposedly a pilot shot down in World War II, was still in Abez when the source left in November 1949.63

Inta-A Russian witness claimed that, from 1956 until 1975, the KGB maintained a facility on the shore of the river Inta. In 1965, ~ople were brought to Inta from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they were imprisoned and killed, and their records burned in the boiler room in an 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 Petr Ivanovich Kuznetsov, who reportedly worked as a driver for the MVD for twenty years, could confirm this information. The latter 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.] 64

Inta- A Polish witness reported two Americans in a camp in 1949-1950.65

Inta-In 1948, a reputed American soldier was kept here separate from the other

prisoners. 66

Inta-A CIA source reported that in 1948 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. 67

Inta Camp Three-A Polish witness recalled meeting two Americans in Camp Three 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 Kosyu River and drowned. 68

63 Area Description of Abez, 51-B-13074A, 7050 AlSW (USAFE), March 9, 1954, Wringer Reports, am, RG 341, NACP.

64 TFR 140, Task Force Russia, p. I.

65 KARTA, 1998, p. 3.

66 KARTA, 2003, p. II.

67 Alleged American Held in Soviet Prison, Information Report No. CS-79883, Central Intelligence Agency, December 8, 1955.

68 KARTA, 1998, p. 8.

Inta Camp Six-A Ukrainian witness in Topol-3 near Dnepropetrovsk stated that he was interned in Inta Camp Six 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 and was 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 given to 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).69

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 tre 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. O1e of the two was white, while the other had black skin (chernokozhiy). The witness said that these women told her that the reputed Americans had been imprisoned since 1946. 70

Inta Mining Camp, Section Five-A CIA source reported in 1957 that, while interred 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 Five, Barracks 27 hospital.71

Inta Mining Camp 15-A Russian source stated that he knew of two Americans in the Inta Gulag system detained at Mining Camp 15 (circa 1950). The two men were U.S. service members and went by the names of John and Michael. 72

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.73

69 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 181139Z Nov 94. 70 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 051347Z Nov 96.

71 American Held in Soviet Prison, Information Report, Central Intelligence Agency, May 30, 1957. 72 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 141940Z Jun Ol.

73 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 070842Z Jul93

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 han-. The witness last saw him on January 5, 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. 74

Pechora Kozhva (Koschwa}-A German returnee reported meeting an American soldier named Jack. Jack claimed the Soviets arrested him in 1945. Jack spoke fluent English, Russian, and German. He was approximately 29 years old, five feet ten inches tall, 180 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He had five tattoos on his arms including a navy anchor, right upper arm; English script, right forearm; an eagle, right wrist; and a half moon, left upper arm. In August 1949, Jack became ill with tuberculosis and was transferred to the prison hospital, where he died in August 1950. Source last saw Jack in August 1950. His body was lying on a table in the hospital following a post-mortem examination. 75

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, he was posted in 1939 to his first assignment as a radio technician in Spain. During W orId 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 W orId War II cover name Kurt Nisslone or Nissloni. The Russians kne w his American identity but sentenced him under the name Nissloni Stafford.

74 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, December 11, 1953.

75 (LNU) Jack, D-30477, HQ 66th CICG, October 5,1954.

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 the source was transported from the camp in February 1950. The day before source departed Stafford requested that, if source ever returned to West Germany, he contact the nearest American intelligence office and report that 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,,76

[An earlier report, most likely from the same source, c:ited almost exactly the same information about James Stafford with the additional detail that Stafford had worked in Helsinki as an American newspaper journalist and that his journalist ID card was number K-226.]77

Ukhta Camp 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 226/4 in July 1948. Source had occasional conversations with these individuals between January 16 and July 19, 1949. Source reported meeting a U.S. Army major named Bob, who previously resided in New York. While stationed in Berlin, Bob was lured 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. 78

Ust-Ukhta Camp Two, Three, and 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 Three, source heard two individuals speaking English and asked them who they were. They responded that they were Americans who had 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. silver 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

76 American National in Penal Camp at Ukhta, 51-B-13547-C, 7050 AISW (USAFE), May 11, 1954, Wringer Reports, om, RG 341, NACP.

77 Americans Imprisoned in the Soviet Union, III-33330, Region III 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group, December 11, 1953.

78 Members of the U.S. Army Interned in a Convict Camp at Ukhta, 49-D03-873/l-0554, Office of Special Investigations (USAFE), May 24,1954, Wringer Reports, om, RG 341, NACP.

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, broad- shouldered, 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 14. In March or April 1950 Harry Rosenberg escaped, making it as far as Kotlas before being caught and returned to Camp 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 14. Harry Rosenberg was transferred to the disciplinary barracks in Camp Two.

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 14. They placed a wooden cross with the letters U.S. made of copper on the grave. Soon after this incident the source was transferred to Camp Two, where he once again spoke with Harry Rosenberg.

In the fall of 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. 79

[In June 2002 Gulag researchers made a trip to Ukhta. Three possible sites for Camp 14 were determined. Two of these sites are now heavily industrialized areas. The third site is the least likely site based on its geographical distance from Ust-Ukhta. Interviews with local residents in the area and a search on foot by the team were unsuccessful in determining the location of the camp cemetery. Research is ongoing with the help of local specialists.]

V orkuta-An Austrian journalist met an American pilot while interned in Vorkuta some time prior to June 1954. The pilot was active in the Berlin airlift. He was the only crew member to bailout when his plane crashed in 1948 or 1949.80

V orkuta-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.

79 Americans Held Near Ust'-Ukhta, 59B-B-5865B, 7050 AISW (USAFE), May 18,1954, Wringer Reports, om, RG 341, NACP.

80 American Citizens Detained in the USSR, ZFOOOO04W, pp. 4-20.

These pilots claimed to have flown missions against Nazi targets using airfields in the Soviet Union. 81

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. 82

Vorkuta-A source who 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 1950.83

[Further investigation and analysis of the primary source document (NBG Team, 70515t Air INTSERON, 7050th Air INTSERGU Air Intelligence Information Report IR-255-56 dated 18 December 1956)84 indicated the source probably met 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 December 29, 1953.85 He returned to his home state of Oklahoma, and died of pneumonia in 1954.86

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.]

V orkuta-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. 87

V orkuta-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. 88

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

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

June 15, 1955.

83 American Prisoner at V orkuta Camp, USSR, Memorandum for the Record, Central Intelligence Agency, May 24, 1957.

84 Handling and Processing of Prisoners in USSR, IR-255-56, NBG Team, 7051st Air INTSERON, 7050 Air INTSERGU (USAFE), December 18, 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).

85 The New York Times, December 30, 1953.

86 The Stars and Stripes, September 29, 1954.

87 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 231127Z Jun 95.

88 JCSD-AMEMBASSY Moscow, 181139Z Nov 94.

V orkuta- 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.',89

Vorkuta-During a press conference in 1999, a Russian journalist stated that in 1962,

while living in Vorkuta, he conducted an expose on the KGB, presumably to highlight its good work at protecting the borders of the former 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. 90

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 prisorers, who spoke French and English, told this to source in March 1953 while working at an excavation site in