The Maldyak open-cast goldmine came into existence in 1937 as part of the Dalstroi (Sevvostlag) western mining department. During the Great Terror there were repeated public shootings of prisoners. In particular, 159 prisoners were shot on 13 August 1938.
In June 1995, six skulls damaged by bullets were found during excavations at the 42nd testing range. A check by the Susuman district prosecutor’s office established that the burials were made from the 1930s to 1950s and were evidence of executions. In July 1999, heavy flooding led to the discovery of 35 bodies. Preserved in the permafrost, the mummified corpses had bullet holes in the skulls. The district prosecutor’s office refused to open a criminal investigation. The remains were reburied in a common grave [49-26] in the settlement cemetery.
The boats will come for us: A list of rehabilitated individuals, executed in the Magadan Region (vol. 1, 1999) includes biographical entries for 7,546 who were shot.
Drawing on that source and others, Memorial’s online database (2025) names 11,427 victims in the Magadan Region (BR 7,546).
7,456 were shot, 6,607 during the Great Terror: another 898 were shot in the 1940s. The Region’s police records, add 3,881 individuals to the list: they were either sent to special settlements from all over the USSR or or were born there (1,072). No dates are given but since many (1,175) were accused of supporting Vlasov they were despatched after 1945.
Drawing on all its sources the database names 1,833 who were sent to Sevvostlag (349 of whom died there).
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
Have not survived
|
not determined
|
not delineated
|
[ Original texts & hyperlinks ]
A. Kozlov, “An echo of Kolyma executions”, Vecherny Magadan, 27 August 1999 (No 35)
Materials of the “Remembering Kolyma” public museum (Yagodnoe settlement)
“Maldyak”, Remembering Kolyma. Website of Ivan Panikarov [retrieved, 28 May 2022]
*
“Burial and execution site near Maldyak mine”, Virtual Museum of the Gulag [retrieved, 28 May 2022; no longer accessible]
