LABOR CAMP FOR SOVIET CITIZENS IN KUTIZHMA DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

The relevance of the study is determined by the conduct of a set of measures in Russia within the federalproject “Without a statute of limitations” and a special importance of preserving historical memory for the modernsociety. For the first time in domestic historiography, an attempt was made to use declassified documents introducedinto scientific circulation for the first time in order to examine the living and working conditions of the Soviet citizensin the Kutizhma labor camp on the territory of Soviet Karelia occupied by the Finnish forces. Comparing the informationfrom the personal sources and the official documentats it was possible resulted in reconstructing a picture of the camplife. The prisoners of the labor camp in Kutizhma, mainly logging-oriented, were the first Soviet prisoners of war. Laterthey were replaced with the civilian population sent in batches from the concentration camps in the city of Petrozavodsk. Extremely heavy physical labor, hunger, cold, illnesses, and abuse by the camp administration led to the death of a significant number of prisoners. The prisoners who returned from Kutizhma to Petrozavodsk were exhausted, sick, and devoid of their ability to work.

Great Patriotic War, Finnish occupation, Kutizhma, labor camp, crime, civilian population