JOINT COMMISSION SUPPORT DIRECTORATE
(JCSD) U.S. - Russia 
Joint Commission  on POW/MIAs

"The Gulag Study"

Introduction

     The accompanying text represents a compilation of reports which assert that US Servicemen were held in Soviet camps and prisons during the Cold War. Prepared as a working document by the US side of the US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, the reports collectively have become known as "the Gulag Study," a copy of which was submitted to the Commission's Russian membership in April 2000.

     The study draws upon accounts from a wide range of sources, many of whom themselves claim to have been incarcerated in the Soviet Gulag system. In releasing the study, we caution against drawing conclusions about the factual accuracy from any single component. Judgments in that regard will be possible only after the Commission has had a chance to conduct a methodical inquiry of its own. It is with that objective in mind that the US side undertook the study in the first instance.

     Given its status as a working document, the Gulag Study will presumably undergo changes as additional information is acquired and specific reports are further evaluated. To advance the process of validating individual accounts, the Commission expects to pursue a series of site visits intended to identify additional sources of information. In tandem with an active interview program, efforts are being made to intensify the search for historical documentation through a broad-based research initiative. Recent contact with archival repositories in the Komi Republic serves as a first step in establishing a diversified research program predicated on access to, and a careful review of, all relevant historical records throughout the Russian Federation.

     In defining the Gulag Study's scope and content, we have concentrated on those accounts which make clear reference to American servicemen reportedly sighted in the Russian Republic of the former Soviet Union. Information about US civilian personnel or pertaining to any area of the former USSR other than Russia, will be pursued outside the Commission's bilateral framework.


Robert L. Jones
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense)
(POW/Missing Personnel Affairs)

February 7, 2001 Report

Camps in the area of: Moscow

Lubyanka
In 1947 at the inquiry prison in Potsdam, a Polish witness stayed in one cell together with a U.S. Army sergeant, reportedly a gunner. The witness believed he had probably unintentionally entered the Soviet zone in Berlin by a car and was arrested immediately. The source described the American as a sturdy fellow, whose father was a farmer. The American gave the source an overcoat. They spoke German, but both knew it very poorly. They met again at the Lubyanka prison in Moscow at the turn of 1948.

unk
During a series of interviews in 1996, a Soviet veteran who lived in Minsk claimed to have seen a U.S. POW in May or June 1953. The POW was a Korean War F-86D pilot whose plane had been forced to land. The pilot landed his plane undamaged, was then captured, and his aircraft was taken to Moscow. The incident occurred in late Spring 1953. According to the witness--who served in An Dun, North Korea, from December 1952 through February 1954--the pilot was sent to Moscow the day after the forcedown, "because Stalin wanted to speak with him." The witness said that the pilot was interrogated by his commander, Colonel Ivan Nikolayevich Kozhedub. Upon capture, he believed the U.S. POW was not injured. He said that the U.S. POW depicted in a picture he saw was white, with light brown hair and blue or light brown eyes. He stated that the U.S. POW was about 5'7" tall, and had a 2 •" scar above the right eye. The witness said that the late General Vasiliy Kuzmich Sidorenkov had a picture of the American POW which he had seen when Sidorenkov showed it to him years ago, declaring, "that's our American." 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 had 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. The U.S. POW primarily taught air battle techniques and tactics, and assisted the Soviets in figuring out a U.S. radar sight (radio-lokatsionniy pritsel).

Krasnia Prest Prison [?]
Repatriated American John Noble reported that inscribed in the wall of Krasnia Prest Prison [?] in Moscow, he saw the name of Major Roberts or Robbins, with his American address and the inscription, "I am sick and don't expect to live through this...." [MAJ Frank A. Roberts is missing from WWII, as well as CAPTs Robert Roberts and Edward Robbins. These three are among the 125 missing servicemembers from WWII with the last name of Roberts or Robbins.]

Camps in the area of: Vladimirskaya

Vladimir
A United Press release, dated 1 September, 1955, reported that nine Austrians and one Italian were released from a Russian prison camp. The returnees said, Wilfred Cumish (returned), Sidney Sparks (returned), Frederick Hopkins (returned), and Grisham (not returned) were in the same camp. [CAPT David Howard Grisham, USAF, went missing from the Korean War on September 3, 1950.]

Camps in the area of: Mordovska

Dobrovlag
Several repatriated Iranian witnesses claim they knew of an American, Colonel Jackson, at this location in 1953, who had been kidnapped by the Soviets in Berlin.

Potma Camp #18
An Estonian witness met a U.S. POW from Korea in 1952. The POW's first name was Gary or Harry. The POW was still in camp when the witness left in the Autumn of 1953.

Potma Camp #19
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.

Yavas
A former German POW met an American prisoner, John Hansen (5' 6", med build, brown hair), in August 1955, after having previously heard about him from another prisoner as early as 1953. Hansen spoke German and Russian. [SGT John Hansen, GM2C John Hansen, and 1LT John Hanson are missing from WWII. These three are among the 88 servicemembers missing from WWII with the last name of Hansen or Hanson.]

Camps in the area of: Rostov

Novocherkassk Camp #1/421
During a 1947 interview, a former German POW reported meeting 2 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 5 other sources who would be able to verify this information. One of these was contacted, and did verify such.

Camps in the area of: Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk Transit Prison
During an interview in 1993, a witness in Lithuania described an encounter with Americans at Novosibirsk transit prison about June 1952. The witness said there were two American pilots in the group of prisoners brought into his small room. The other prisoners brought in (two or three others) were German. The Americans told him that they had been shot down in Korea. They were dressed in Khaki shirts and trousers with no belts. The first American told the source that he was a captain in the Air Force. The source remembered only that he was tall and had a red beard. He could recall no details about the second pilot.

Camps in the area of: Kirov

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

Camps in the area of: Komi

Inta
A Ukrainian witness in Topol-3 near Dneprpetrovsk stated that he was interned in Inta Camp #6 from 1949 through 1955. During that time, the camp held many foreigners of various nationalities. In 1952, a man who claimed to be an American, referred to as Leonid Teryashchenko (a pseudonym) was transferred to Inta. Teryashchenko's real name was never disclosed. His prisoner number had an additional slash and digit following the usual letter and three-digit sequence of the other prisoners. The witness frequently talked to Teryashchenko, who told the witness that he was imprisoned for political reasons. The witness described Teryashchenko as an athletic man, approximately 30-33 years old, with a large frame who had been a boxer. According to the witness, Teryashchenko, to avoid further torture, committed suicide sometime in late 1953 or early 1954. 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).

Inta
A Polish witness recalled meeting two Americans in Camp #3 in Inta in 1954. They worked in his brigade, which was led by Wladyslaw Szyszko. He related that while they were building a bridge one of the Americans jumped into the Kosju river and drowned.

Inta
A Russian witness claimed that from 1956 until 1975, the KGB maintained a facility on the shore of the river Inta. In 1965, people were brought to Inta from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they were imprisoned and killed, and their records burned in the boiler room in the eastern suburb on Shakhtnaya Street. More than 1000 people ended up in Inta prison, both American soldiers and officers. The witness claims that this information can be confirmed by Petr Ivanovich Kuznetsov, who worked as a driver for the MVD for twenty years. (He lives on Mir Street in Inta.)

Inta
A Polish witness reported two Americans in a camp in 1949-1950.

Inta Minlag
A Russian witness indicated that she had spent four years in the Inta "Minlag" camp complex (1952-1956). During that time, she heard reports of two American flyers in the Inta camp complex in the early 1950s, although she did not see them herself. Some of the women who worked in the central hospital there said that there were a lot of foreigners in the camp, including two American pilots. According to these reports, the two men had either been shot down or forced down over Germany after having strayed over Soviet-occupied territory. One of the two was white, while the other had black skin (chernokozhiy). The witness said that these women told her that they had been imprisoned since 1946.

Pechora
A Lithuanian witness claimed to have met an American major or colonel on February 15-16, 1950. The American, who had been captured in the Ukraine during WWII, was seen on two occasions before being sent into exile.

Pechora Koschwa
A German POW reportedly had direct contact with an U.S. Air Force captain (5'11", 28-33 yrs old, reddish hair) until 5 Jan 50. The American was supposedly sentenced to 10 yrs for his part in an altercation in a Moscow restaurant at the end of WWII. The American spoke broken German.

Vorkuta
A witness met and spoke with a group of eleven American prisoners in December 1946, at Vorkuta. All were flyers, one was black, and they included both officers and enlisted men. They were kept in a small barracks separate from the rest of the camp and surrounded by barbed wire. The witness claims these may have been part of a group of American pilots coerced into staying in the Soviet Union after WWII. These pilots had regularly flown missions against Nazi targets, and had used airfields in the Soviet Union.

Vorkuta
Repatriated American John Noble reported that shortly after his arrival at Camp #3 he had spoken with a Yugslavian national who told him that several months before, an American Navy Reconnaissance plane had been downed by the Soviets over the Baltic Sea and that eight of the ten crew members had survived. The survivors were being held in the Vorkuta area. However, they were told the official Soviet statement declaring them dead had been accepted by the United States government. This effectively doomed their chances of ever returning to America. Noble was never able to identify the survivors by name. However, he heard repeatedly from other inmates who were transfered from one camp to another that Americans were held in the same camps from which the transferees had come.

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, Pennsylvannia, and spoke only English. Bob was 30-35 years old, 5' 8", and had dark hair.

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.

Vorkuta
A Lithuanian witness in Vilnius stated that while a prisoner in a camp in Vorkuta, he had met a U.S. WWII pilot named John who was also being held prisoner.

Vorkuta
A woman from Kiev reported that during interviews she had conducted with witnesses from Soviet camps, some claimed to have seen American pilots shot down in Korea while imprisoned at Vorkuta and Berlag.

Vorkuta
The son of a Soviet engineer stationed at Vorkuta stated that of the several thousand persons in in that camp complex, there were two black American soldiers, an American major, and several British citizens, as well as "other Europeans."

Vorkuta Camp #6
A German witness reported that he met a U.S. Major Schwartz from 1951 until 1952. Schwartz had been stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, and was kidnapped by Soviet Security police in Kassel, West Germany, in 1949. The American, last seen by the witness in 1952, spoke Russian and English.

Vorkuta Camp #9
An Austrian journalist imprisoned in various camps from 1948 until 1954, claimed to have observed a naturalized American, Colonel Brandenfels, in Vorkuta in 1951. (Brandenfels was reportedly the name he used before becoming an American citizen.) The American had been stationed in Berlin after WWII and was picked up in a bar in the Soviet zone.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #1
A Polish witness arrived at Vorkuta Coal Mine #1 in 1950. Other prisoners showed him an American colonel, who looked about 60 years old, was quite tall, broad shouldered, and was a pale man. He wore a quilted jacket and did not converse with other prisoners. After some time the colonel was summoned by the camp's administration, received his gold ring and watch back, and was lead out to Vorkuta.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #1
A Polish witness claimed to have met an American pilot in the summer of 1946. They couldn't understand each other but the witness was able to understand that the pilot "fell down" from a plane. He was tall (180 cm high), fine-figured, dark-skinned, and of oval face. He looked to be robust. The witness saw him in the camp only for a few days, and didn't know what became of the American.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #1
A Polish source who was at this camp in 1954 heard that an American colonel downed over East Germany (near Berlin) was among a group of prisoners brought that year.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #6
A Polish witness recalled that an American came to the camp in about June 1953. The other prisoners told the witness that the American was a pilot from a spy plane downed by the Soviets. The American was about 40 years old, over 180 cm high, of oval face, had a shaved head, and wore a quilted jacket (like everybody else). His Russian was very poor. The witness saw him while the Polish prisoners were being prepared for release.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #6
In 1954 this Polish witness came into contact with an American and had a short conversation with him (in as much as the source's poor English permitted--the American couldn't speak Russian). The American stated that he was a colonel in the U.S. Army, captured in Vienna by Soviet agents. He looked about 40 years old, of medium height, thickset, with dark or auburn hair. The witness left the camp in 1953 and didn't know what happened to the American.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #7
A Polish witness reported that he met an American colonel, kidnapped in Berlin. The American recounted that he had been sent first to Moscow (Lubyanka prison). He was originally sentenced to death, but the sentence was somehow commuted to 25 years. He was sent to Vorkuta and worked in Coal Mine #7, where the source first met him. The witness met him a second time in prison in Taishet (between May and June 1954), while being moved from Taishet to Krasnoyarsk. The American told the witness that after the uprising in Coal Mine #7 in Vorkuta in 1953, he had been sentenced to death (because of his participation in the uprising) once again, but had - once again - had the sentenced communted to 10 years in a camp somewhere in Irkutsk District. The American was of average height, had blond hair, and was about 45 years old.

Vorkuta Mine #9
A German witness met a U.S. Navy ensign named Sobeloff [Sobelev?], reportedly captured in China in 1948, when Communist forces took control of the country. Sobeloff claimed to have been the captain of US vessel at the time of his capture. He was Russian by birth, but a U.S. citizen. He was last seen at Mine #9 at Vorkuta in November 1955.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #11
A Polish witness was moved from Coal Mine #9-10 to Coal Mine #11 in Vorkuta. While at Coal Mine #11, he came into close contact with an American officer named Langier, who had been captured by the Soviets somewhere in Eastern Asia and sentenced for espionage. Langier worked at the baths. He spoke Polish a little, and claimed he had some Polish friends in the USA. The source believed Langier was from Alabama. He was tall, fair-haired and very friendly. Langier sometimes shared food with the source. He also helped him transfer back to Coal Mine #9-10 (Langier had a good relationship with camp doctor). When the witness was released in 1954, the camp at Coal Mine #11 didn't exist, and he supposed that Langier had been moved somewhere else earlier. [There are 39 servicemembers missing from WWII with the last name of Lang, Lange, or Langer.]

Vorkuta Coal Mine #16
A Polish witness remembered a young American (20-25 years old), thin, medium sized, from 1951 or 1952, who spoke Russian and worked at the baths. The witness believed he had been captured in Germany. The witness also heard rumors about an American plane downed over Latvia near the town of Limbava, and that the crew was imprisoned in one of the camps.

Vorkuta Coal Mine #40
A Polish witness recalled that in early September of 1951 or 1952--after some kind of Russian-American incident in Berlin--a large number of Germans were brought to Vorkuta. They came mostly from Berlin (from East and West as well) and about 20 persons wound up in camp at Coal Mine #40. One German from this group was about 45 years old, a doctor and disabled soldier who had platinum plate implanted in his skull. He related that during a rail trip to Vorkuta he had met in the carriage an American major who had been captured in Berlin in the street near the East-West border. He believed there were a total of three Americans in this ,transport and that at a transfer point they were directed to other coal mines in Vorkuta.

Vorkuta Pit #40
Austrian witnesses reportedly met an American who immigrated to the U.S. as a child. Bizet was his adopted name. The Soviets referred to him by his birth name, Wasiljevski. He was supposedly taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1945 in Korea where he was serving with the U.S. Navy. The Soviets reportedly did not recognize him as a U.S. citizen.

Vorkuta Transit Camp #58
A former German POW claimed to have had direct contact with an Army or Air Force colonel (5'11'', dark blond) during the week of 21-25 August 1949. The U.S. colonel spoke perfect German, claimed to have been dropped behind German lines during WWII for the purposes of espionage, and was captured in East Germany.

Vorkuta Distribution Camp #61
A former German POW reported direct contact with a U.S. major (5'9'', blue-grey eyes, moustache, slim build) who claimed he had been kidnapped in 1945 while the Americans were still at the Elbe River. He was sentenced by the Russians to 25 years for espionage. He wore an American uniform.

Camps in the area of: Krasnoyarsk

Kirovskiy
In his memoirs (provided to the Russian Side in November 1999), this former Soviet citizen quoted seven people who claim to have seen Americans in Kirovskiy. Excerpts from his memoirs:

1. [In the] Fall, 1951, a group of American POWs from Korea arrived in a camp by the town Kirovsk, in the Krasnoyarsk area. However, in the beginnning of 1952, they disappeared. In any case, during the liquidation of the prison camp during the winter of 1951 and into 1952, they were not part of the prisoners who were transferred to Motygino (to the south)....

2. A worker from Kirovskiy, witnessed how late at night, during Russian Christmas, a group of 20, maybe slightly more were led from the camp along the Veniaminovky Road.

3. Another witness and her friend claimed that during the last days of December 1951 more than 20 prisoners, wearing bare threads and half frozen, were moved along the road to Veniaminovsky.

4. A witness in Veniaminovky, stated that on Christmas "we had a present which the NKVD delivered to the town (half frozen prisoners). They did not speak Russian. They only said 'American, American,' and 'eat, eat.' ... Then in the morning, around 6 am, they were taken and marched further."

5. A hunter and driver, from the town of Chinuel, saw from his car, a number of prisoners who did not speak Russian, being marched along the road...this was early in the morning, around Christmas...The next day, around 7 am, he was going back to Kirovsk and saw the prisoner column moving toward the town of Kamenka (and the lake).

6. One more witness worked in the town of Kirovsk. In February 1952, while hunting, in the area where the Kamenka and Porenda rivers meet, he came across an area where he suspected people were buried. The ground was overturned and his dogs were picking up strange scents.

7. A list of 22 names of citizens of the USA who were in the camp by Kirovsk during the winter of 1951 to 1952 was put together by a cleaning lady in the camp. She was able to take a pencil to the Americans and have them record their names and addresses on pieces of newspaper. She smuggled these pieces out of the camp, put them in a can and buried them. [Many names on the list match those of missing servicemembers from the Korean War.

These include

Foster (1LT Robert Foster,SGT Elmer Foster, and PFC Robert Foster are missing)

Hatch (SFC Robert Hatch is missing)

Leon (PFC Chan Jay Park Kim assumed the name "George Leon" upon his capture in order to disguise his Korean heritage...he remains missing)

Miller (There are 42 missing Millers)

Davis (There are 39 missing Davises)

Johnson, Hubert (CPL Herbert Johnson is missing)

Morin (CAPT Arthur Morin and CPL Fernand Morin is missing)

Larson (PFC Gerald Larson is missing)

Boyar (Cpl Andrew Boyer and CPL William Boyer are missing)

Fisher (There are 8 missing Fishers)

Helfand(PFC Osvaldo Galvan is missing)

Kaiser (MSGT George Kyzer is missing)]

Camps in the area of: Krasnovarsk

Norilsk
A Polish witness heard from fellow prisoners that two Americans, probably pilots, were in the camp, and were about 30-35 years old.

Norilsk Camp #4
A Polish witness claimed to have worked with 36-38 American POWs from the Korean War (pilots shot down near Vladivostok) in the early 50s. He recalled the name of one of the prisoners, Scott, but was unsure if this was the first or last name. [There are 96 servicemembers missing from WWII with the last name Scott. Many others have a first name Scott.]

Norilsk Camp #4 or #5
A Polish witness stayed in the same camp for about one year with an American who didn't speak Russian. The American was pudgy and fair-haired.

Norilsk Camp #5
A Polish witness met an American or English pilot, probably a captain, in Norlisk in the first half of 1953. This pilot carried out reconnaissance flight during the Korean War, and due to bad weather and instrument failure he had to land in Dalny, USSR. At once he was arrested and sentenced under the espionage charge to imprisonment in the camp. According to the witness the pilot was a man about 30 years old, tall, dark haired, and looked healthy. Under the prison clothes he wore an "English" military blouse. The source didn't know the pilot's eventual fate. In May-June 1953 the camp inmates staged an uprising, and in July, the witness, as one of the revolt's leaders, was transported to Kolyma where he stayed until 1956.

Norilsk Camp #9, cement plant#5
A witness in Lithuania said that he was working with the third camp division near Cement Plant #5 at Norilsk Camp #9 in 1953. Camp gossip alleged that a heavily guarded corner facility in the camp was for American POWs from Korea. The witness observed these prisoners from a distance of about 100 meters. They were young white males dressed in prison garb. He felt it was significant that during the prison uprisings in May-June 1954 these special prisoners were quickly removed. He had no idea what happened to them.

Norilsk Dudinka Transit Camp
A Lithuanian witness reported seeing American WWII officers at the Norilsk Dudinka transit camp in August of 1946.

Rybak
In his memoirs (provided to the Russian Side in November 1999), a source wrote that in the very beginning of 1953, he was sent to handle an emergency situation at the Northern mining enterprise called Rybak. One of the technical experts that he worked with was a demolition-qualified inmate: tall, exhausted by hunger and the Arctic, with a very characteristic, slightly elongated artistic face on which the unnatural protrusion of gray eyes in sockets sunken from emaciation revealed someone ill with exophthalmic goitre. In an accent clearly that of an English speaker, he also openly identified himself as a citizen of the United States of America, Allied Officer Dale.

In Noril'sk, many years later, a geologist, who had worked with the witness in Udereya at the time in question, related that many of the Americans "who had fallen into our hands in 1945 from the liberated Fascist camps" were held in Rybak and probably perished there...." [LT Harvey Dale and LT William Dale are both missing from WWII.]

unk
While serving his sentence in the Krasnoyarsk Kray in 1949-1950, a Russian witness met with Japanese and Korean prisoners of war and conversed with them. They told him that along with them, several Americans arrived at the labor camp (Lagpunkt) who had been prisoners of war of either the Japanese or the Koreans, and then they (Americans, Japanese, Koreans) all became prisoners of the Russians.

Camps in the area of: Irkutsk

Camp #19
A Ukrainian witness was sent to the Irkutsk Oblast in 1959. During a brief stay in Camp #4, he heard rumors that Americans were being held in Camp #19, about eight kilometers away. He said that he heard that the part of Camp #19 which housed the Americans was a particularly high-security zone, surrounded by a seven-meter fence, and several meters of barbed wire.

After having been caught stealing bread, he was sent to Camp #19 in March 1959, and was immediately thrown into the "BUR" (Barak Usilennogo Rezhima - Reinforced Security Barracks), located near the bathhouse and guard tower. Inside he was thrown on top of the badly bloodied bodies of two men lying on a makeshift table. He said that lying next to the bodies were seven gold teeth, and part of an artificial jaw. It was obvious that the men had been beaten and had their teeth knocked out. He said that he could not recall whether the teeth were completely covered with gold, or just the crowns. The guards told him that the bodies were those of American officers and that the same would happen to him if he did not obey the rules. The witness said that it was impossible to discern the color of their skin or even guess at their age, due to the ferocity of the beatings. He said that he was sent off to wash up and that when he returned, the bodies were no longer there. He later heard that the bodies were buried by the fourth guard tower, and the prisoners' clothes were doused with gasoline and burned. The witness added that he had heard rumors that there were another 18 Americans housed in the camp, aside from these two. He said that these prisoners were gradually killed off between May and July 1959. He claimed that approximately once a week, one of these prisoners was taken out, forced to dig his own grave, stripped, and then shot. The camp guards told him that these victims were also US aircrews which had been taken prisoner in Korea. They were buried outside the camp, near the guard tower, separately from the other prisoners. He added that this was not in the local cemetery, which was also located just outside the camp.

The witness said that he could not recall the camp commandant's name. He recalled the surnames of two camp guards - Popov and Ivanov, but could not remember their names or patronymics.

Taishet
A former German POW reported direct contact with U.S. Army Captain Johnny Anderson from 1951-1953. Captain Anderson was reportedly stationed in Berlin in 1946, and was arrested while drunk in the Soviet sector. The source believed he may have been in the air corps. [CAPTs John R. Anderson and John A. Anderson are missing from WWII. There are an additional four captains missing with the last name of Anderson.]

Taishet Camp #20, Farm #25
A Japanese returnee reported that in the period of 1949-1950 he had direct contact with an American flyer, about 40 years old, tall, with a ruddy complexion. The flyer was shot down over the Baltic states while on an aerial reconnaissance mission and sentenced to 20 yrs. He was burned in the crash, leaving scars on his right cheek and left leg, necessitating the use of a cane. He spoke some Russian.

Taishet Special Camp #6
A Latvian witness said that he had knowledge of three U.S. POWs in Taishet camps from the period 1949-1951.

He met the first American in 1950, in Taishet Special Camp #6, where he worked as a barber. This camp held primarily French, Indians, and people from the Baltic. The American was a U.S. military officer taken in 1949 from Austria. During his capture, he had been hit on the head, resulting in a skull fracture. He was Caucasian, about 5'9" tall, had light brown hair, blue eyes, was 30 years old and from New Jersey. He was at the camp until 1951, when he was released to exile in Krasnoyarskiy Kray.

The witness saw a second Caucasian American in Special Camp #6 during the Summer of 1951, but does not know if he was civilian or military. This individual was brought in either blind, or simulated blindness, and was approximately 30 years old. The American escaped, and his fate is unknown.

The witness saw a third American in Special Camp #6, who was Caucasian, around 40 years old, and sent to another camp. The new camp and the fate of the American are unknown. The witness also cited rumors at the time of his captivity to the effect that at least some of the crew from the U.S. aircraft shot down on 8 April, 1950, were taken alive and sent to camps.

Taishet-Bratsk
A Polish witness claimed that at the end of the summer of 1951 or 1952, an American escaped from Camp #19 at Czuna, on the Taishet - Bratsk railway, 141 km from Taishet. unknown A resident of Irkutsk claimed his mother had seen an American prisoner in March 1946, while working as a porter on a train carrying NKVD prisoners from the Far East. The porters were ordered to bury eight of the prisoners who were believed dead, but one of the eight was still breathing so she took him in. He died a week later, but before he died he indicated he was an American.

The source believed his name was something like, "Fred Kolin or Kollinz." The American drew a picture indicating an aircraft being shot down and three people, possibly bailing out of the aircraft. [There 3 Fred Collinses missing from WWII. There are an additional 89 servicemembers with the last name of Collins.]

Camps in the area of: Yakutsk

Bulun
A Polish witness reported seeing the following Americans:
Watson, an American professor of Physics captured in Vienna, Dick Rozbicki, an American Soldier captured during the Korean War, Stanley Warner, an American Soldier captured during the Korean War, and Jan Sorrow, an American Soldier captured during the Korean War.

Bulun Camp #307
A Polish witness reported seeing two U.S. Army personnel captured in Korea: Ted Watson, an infantry lieutenant, and Fred Rosbiki, a commando or paratroop sergeant.

Bulun Camp #315
A Catholic priest visited the U.S. Embassy in Paris on 11 July 1958 to report an interview he had recently conducted with a former Gulag prisoner. The prisoner told the priest that he had recently escaped from North Siberia where he had been held in Bulun Camp #315. He claimed to have been acquainted with two Americans in the same camp, a chaplain, John Westley, captured in Korea in 1952, and a lieutenant, Stanley Rosbicki, from New York. The witness further advised the priest that the two Americans, who appeared to be in good health, had requested that he convey this information to the American authorities for transmittal to their families.

Camps in the area of: Magadan

Magadan Berlag
A Ukrainian witness from Gribenko was transferred from Vanino Bay to Magadan Berlag in 1950, where he remained until his release in 1960. The witness stated that in the summer of 1954 a large group of foreign prisoners, perhaps as many as 2000, were brought to Magadan prison. This group included three Americans. When asked how he knew they were Americans, he replied that it was common knowledge, and everyone knew it. The Americans were in regular prison garb, but upon arrival at the Berlag were ordered to remove their prison numbers from their shirts and hats. While working as a medic in the camp, he was asked to examine one of the Americans for tropical skin ulcers. Due to the color of the man's skin and the thickness of his lips, the witness thinks this American was a Mulatto. When asked if he had talked with the individual, the witness stated that he had not because it was strictly forbidden. He went on to say that the three prisoners were young, all had brown hair, and all appeared to be in good health.

Mokhoplit village
On 29 March, an interview was conducted with a Russian living in Yekaterinburg, who spent from 1952-1970 in various Gulags to include Kolomna, Indigirka, and Chukhotka. He claimed to have seen an American citizen in 1956/57 in the Magadan Oblast, at Mokhoplit village, in the Tentiskiy gold mine region. This US citizen, Azat Tigranovich Petrosian, was born in Armenia in the 1920s, and somehow wound up in a Nazi POW camp that was liberated by the Soviets. The Soviets refused to repatriate him, and sent him to the Gulag. The source did not know Petrosian's eventual fate.

Myaundzha (near Susuman)
On 12 August 1996, a witness living in Moscow delivered a written response to the Radio Liberty program, "Americans in the Gulag," being played on Radio Liberty/Voice of America. She had worked at the Directorate of the PTU (Professional Technical Academy) Energostroy for the electricity generating station in Myaundzha, Magadan Oblast, from 1955-63, then in Magadan until 1965, when she moved to Moscow. The witness's letter, told of a Rudolf Martinovich Benush (1917-1995), who allegedly served as a U.S. Army Captain during the Nuremberg Trials. The witness worked with Benush, who was referred to as the American spy, "either in derision, or in reference to the article under which he was convicted" (Article 58), when he was a "trustee" prisoner in the Myaundzha camp in Magadan Oblast near Susuman in 1955, until his release in 1956. The camp had 3,000 prisoners, mostly Baltic and Ukrainian nationalists. Benush spent the majority of his remaining years in Magadan.

unidentified hospital
A Japanese witness saw and spoke for about 20 minutes with an American in room #2, first medical section, at a hospital in Magadan. A hospital attendant named Nikolai told him the American was a captain who had crashed in the vicinity of Kamchatka. During the converstaion, the American stated "I cannot accept the sentence of being a spy. The sentence of 15 years based on item 6 of artial 58 is unjust," or words to that effect. He appeared to be about 28 years old, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Camps in the area of: Khabarovsk

5M-Lagpunkt
A Russian living in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, reported that in November 1952, he saw three American prisoners at the "5M Lagpunkt" detention facility in Khabarovsk, Russia, where he was incarcerated. He went on a woodcutting detail with one of them. In December 1952 the Americans were transferred out of the camp for an unknown destination. The Americans were accompanied by a Russian female prisoner serving a sentence for "Betraying the Motherland." The camp commander was Lieutenant Kuzenkov.

Khabarovsk Prison
A Japanese repatriate who was in Khabarovsk Camp #21 from 1950-1953, heard from Soviet guards, prisoners, and laborers in April or May of 1953, that 12-13 Americans from a military plane shot down by the Soviets were in Khaborovsk prison.

Svobodnyi
In his memoirs (made available to the Russian Side in November 1999) a source quotes four people who claim to have knowledge of the June 1952 RB-29 crew and their incarceration in Svobodnyi. Exerpts from his memoirs:

A former fishing vessel radio operator related that the captain of his fishing vessel told him that "not all the crew members of the American [aircraft] had, in fact, died back then (in June) and that ten of those people were now in pre-trial solitary confinement in a prison in the city of Svobodnyi, near Blagoveshchensk."

A former Dal'stroi official "was not in the least surprised by [his] question. He replied at once: 'Yes, at first ten people were alive. Yes, first they were brought to Khabarovsk. But, then, of course, they were sent off to Svobodnyi...They were supposed to have been met by people from the Ministry of Defense...They were not met, though. You see, there was some screw-up in Moscow. Well, I can tell you that they were not met. What happened to them after that, I do not know. And I would advise you not to know as well...Let the leadership worry itself about it..."

A second former Dal'stroi official "repeated almost word-for-word the testimony of [the first Dal'stroi official] but went on to clarify: "The guys from within 'worked over' the Americans so badly that only eight were taken to Svobodnyi."

A construction official who worked extensively in the Far East and was also an advisor to a minister stated that "he did learn the names of two crewmembers of that aircraft, Bush and Moore, who will forever remain in the soil of the Khabarovsk Region." [Along with 10 other crewmembers, MAJ Samuel Busch and MSGT David Moore were shot down by Soviet fighters on 13 June 1952. The entire crew remains missing.]

Verkhniy
According to a Ukrainian citizen who lives in Kiev, seven American servicemen - three of them pilots whose plane had strayed into Soviet territory because of mechanical difficulties - were incarcerated in 1952, in a prison camp called "Verkhniy" in the town of Iultin in Khabarovsky Kray. The prisoners' primary contact was with a Japanese doctor named Matsuoko. During their detention, three of them were killed in a mining accident, and the four others were transferred to another camp.

Camps in the area of: Primorsky Kray

Air Force Hospital 404
While training for parachute duties in 1951, a witness broke his leg and was sent to an Air Force hospital, number 404, in the small town of Staraya Sysoyovka, Primorsky Kray, between Arsenyev and Novosysoyevka. Due to lack of space, he was given a bed on the second floor in the corridor next to a room with four American patients. One was able to walk, the second was in traction and the third was burned. He clearly remembered the face of one of the Americans who was a blond, no younger than 25 years of age. He thought the blond person was the pilot. The witness was able to talk to and see the patients, as well as listen to their dialogue during questioning. He stated that patient number one was between 22 and 27 years of age, had light colored hair, was thin, had blue eyes, and bent over with a visible limp. His height was 1.68-1.7 meters. Patient one said he was from Cleveland and had two children. The witness said patient two and three appeared older. He had no other description, other than to say that they were from San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. He could not say which patient was from which city.

Vanino Bay
In 1947, a Ukrainian witness from Gribenko was moved from Lvov to the Vanino Bay transitional prison in the Soviet Far East where he remained for about two years, 1948-49. He claimed that there were numerous American prisoners there, awaiting movement to other prisons. He believed the Americans were from WWII. The witness described the layout of the Vanino Bay transitional prison as consisting of 15 separate zones, each zone containing 5000-7000 prisoners, and that the Americans were housed in zone #2. He said all prisoners were moved to Kolyma by the ships: "Felix Dzerzhinski," "Nagin," "Dyurma," and "Dal'stroi." He said that whenever these ships passed by Hokkaido, the crew put on civilian attire so the Japanese would not know they were prison ships.