The horrors of the USSR’s ‘Road of Bones’ (PHOTOS)
Whenever I hear the inevitable that someone's death was faked, I think about stories like this, which show that our enemy really does not have a problem with killing people.
I wonder too, since so many of us, including myself, believe that to be famous you must make a deal with the devil. Do we really think that the devil won't come for your soul one day if you do?
The human mind has a hard time comprehending large numbers, so for perspective 125,000 people is about two full NFL stadiums of people. That's the number of people who died to build a dirt road in Siberia, the road is mostly bypassed now, what a waste.
https://www.rbth.com/history/333033-road-bones-kolyma-gulag
This is one of the most terrifying pages in Soviet history, devoted to the forced industrialization and remote lands’ development at the expense of human lives.Winter landscape of the Kolyma Highway (Road of Bones)
Getty Images
R504 Kolyma Highway isn’t a popular destination on Russia’s map, which attracts mostly only thrill-seeking tourists. The highway is covered with a mix of dirt and gravel, so traveling here is only feasible in dry summer or during winter, when it gets frozen and covered with ice. In other seasons it’s hardly accessible and completely covered with mud.
The Olchansky Pass near the village of Ust-Nera, Oymyakon District, Sakha Republic, one of the most infamous places of the Kolyma highway
Getty Images
In winter, local drivers never switch off their car’s ignition, because there is a chance that they won’t ever be able to start it up again - and will literally freeze to death in the surrounding wilderness. But the highway got its nickname ‘Road of Bones’ not because of many drivers failing to stick to this rule. As usual, it has far more sinister roots in history.
Gulag prisoners build a bridge across Kolyma river
Legion Media
The word ‘Kolyma’ in the Russian language is strongly associated with the harshest Gulag camps. In the faraway northeast lands of Russia, there was a ‘Sevvostlag’ (“North-East”) Gulag branch. It consisted of several labor camps along the Kolyma riverbed, thus the unofficial name ‘Kolyma’.
Workers of the North-East Gulag branch
Archive photo
The dark history of this place was immortalized by a former Kolyma prisoner and writer named Varlam Shalamov. His ‘Kolyma tales’ is probably the most striking and terrifying book about Stalin’s camps ever written.
The Kolyma Road in 1938
Legion Media
He described how the prisoners had to survive in the harshest possible conditions. With frosts hitting -50°C (-58°F) they worked outside - mostly extracting iron ores and even mining radioactive uran.
Miners of Kolyma camps, circa 1937-1938
Legion Media
One of the most difficult labor was gold mining - workers had to wash up gold in water, even in the coldest days. They were not fed enough, they didn’t have proper clothes for such frost and their gloves (if they ever had ones) didn’t dry out. They constantly got frostbites and suffered from a range of illnesses, from dystrophy to tuberculosis, which they couldn’t get treatment for.
Read more: 7 quotes from Varlam Shalamov’s ‘Kolyma Tales’ that will give you chills
Workers extract gold at Kolyma
TASS
To make access to the mines easier, prisoners had to build the infrastructure, including roads and railway tracks in these wild places. They built more than 3,000 km of roads, including a more than 2,000 km (1,864 mi.) route from the city of Magadan to Yakutsk. Officially, this route is called ‘The Kolyma tract’, but the nickname ‘Road of Bones’ quickly stuck.
Goldmine at Kolyma
Central Russian Film and Photo Archive
Prisoners spent 20 years building the road, from 1932 to 1952, and after that the camp was closed. According to official data, there were roughly 700 thousand prisoners working in this Gulag branch during these years, peaking in 1940, when 190 thousand men worked there in mining and construction works. It’s estimated that more than 125 thousand people perished during the camp’s existence.
If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.
It doesn’t look like Kirk was any threat to the Judeo-Bolshevik regime, so why was he killed? On the contrary, it looks like he was part of their regime. However, the Communists routinely purge party members. Was this an opportunistic purging?
I dont think Kirk was a sanctioned hit, doesn't make sense. I think it was local radicals acting independently when the opportunity presented itself.
1: there was no narrative lined up
2: b/c theres no narrative is using it for their own purpose. I've seen people say Kirk died because of we dont care about the "gaza genocide" - how dumb.
3: There seems to be legitimate shock and backlash on both sides.
4: a public shooting is very risky. things like plane crashes, or drug overdoses are easier to conceal IMO.
5: The idea that Kirk was killed because he might have started criticizing Israel is pretty laughable. everyone is criticizing Israel.
It is pretty weird that Ukranian girl was killed then two days later Kirk gets shot. I had a much stronger reaction to the girl getting stabbed. maybe spiritual forces are at work?
Edit: we are starting to see a lot of people getting fired for "hate speech" maybe this is how they backdoor social credit?
2nd edit: Getting people worked up over the Iryna Zarutska stabbing (happens everyday, just need to pick one to publicize) then cashing in with assassinated Kirk so emotionally overloaded maga's start calling for social credit score does have a certain logic to it, but I still think the Kirk assasination wasn't planned. At least not outside the pits of hell.
I tend to agree, Ryan.
It would also explain the scrambly co-opting of the fallout on both sides. There is nothing smooth about this.
To your fifth point, exactly. There are plenty of huge influencers criticizing Israel. And why is Israel doing nothing about all the Gazatarding going on in every major Western city?
I, too, also felt a much deeper reaction to Iryna’s death. That, to me, is the more significant death.
I try to cover point five more on my latest forum post Random thoughts 2