Dalstroy

Dalstroy

Дальстро́й
Emblem of Dalstroy
Agency overview
Formed	13 November 1931; 92 years ago (1931-11-13)
Dissolved	29 May 1957; 66 years ago (1957-05-29)
Type	Special type (комбинат особого типа)
Headquarters	Dalstroy General Directorate Magadan, U.S.S.R.
Agency executives	Eduard Berzin (1931–1937), Director Karp Pavlov (1937–1939), Head director Ivan Nikishov (1939–1948), Chief Ivan Petrenko (1948–1950), Chief Ivan Mitrakov (1950–1956), Chief Yuri Chuguyev (1956–1957), Chief

Dalstroy^[1] (Russian: Дальстро́й, IPA: [dɐlʲˈstroj]), also known as Far North Construction Trust,^[2] was an organization set up in 1931 in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Russian Far East, including the Magadan Region, Chukotka, parts of Yakutia and parts of present-day Kamchatka Krai.

Initially it was established as General Directorate of Construction in the Far North (Главное Управление строительства Дальнего Севера) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union.^[3] In 1938 it was placed under the NKVD and in 1945 it was reorganized and renamed. After the 1952 reorganization it was known as Main Directorate of Camps and Construction of the Far North.^[4]

Dalstroy oversaw the development and mining of the area. Over the years, Dalstroy created some 80 Gulag camps across the Kolyma region. As a result of a number of decisions, the total area covered by Dalstroy grew to three million square kilometers by 1951. The town of Magadan was the base for these activities.