1. YANTARNYY LABOR CAMPS AND SURROUNDING AREA 2. PRODUCTION OF INSULATORS FOR ATOMIC ENERGY PLANTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A049000250001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 16, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
USSR (Kaliningrad Oblast)
1. Yantarnyy Labor Camps and
Surrounding Area
2. Production of Insulators for
Atomic Energy Plants
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES
a report on the Yantarnyy N 54-52, E 19-577 labor camps, including
a sketch of the layout of the camps and vicinity. The report also
contains information on the town and the various plants of the
Yantarnyy Combine, including the amber plant which produced insulators
for atomic energy plants.
STATE X ARMY I X NAVY I X AIR
1 FBI
16 JUN 1959
Pic 2
INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
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YANTARNYY LABOR CAMPS AND SURROUNDING AREA
Location
1. The Yantarnyy Combine (Kombinat) (N 54-55, E 19-55), called Palmaicken
until its occupation by German troops in 1944, was comprised of two
labor camps, one for men and one for women. The Combine was located
65 kilometers northwest of Kaliningrad. The women's camp lay about
30 kilometers south of Krasnoarmeysk (formerly Telsit, N 57-37, E 34-27)
The Combine area was a tract
o about, ten ve kilometers.. The soil was sandy and the
terrain was flat with gentle undulations; there were no trees and
very little other vegetation. The closest rive
was a small one
ten kilometers southeast of the men's camp and about three kilo-
menters south of Sovkhoz No. 3.
2.
Spring, lasting from March to June, was characterized by gentle north
winds, light rains, and generally good weather. The maximum temperature
was 250 C. the minimum was 100 C., and the mean was 180 C. In simmer,
from June to September, there were gentle, dry, south winds and rain-
storms. The maximum temperature was 350 C., the minim= was 20o C.
and the mean was 300 C. The fall season, from September to December,
had gentle north winds with abundant rain, sometimes accompanied by
hail. The maximum, temperature was 200 C., the minim was 100 C.,
and the mean was 150 C. Winter, from December to March, was
variable with gentle moist winds, showers, and li ht snows. The
max3amAU temperature was 180 C., the minim= was 5 C., and mean was
10? C.
DemograplV
3. The women's camp contained about 400 prisoners, among whom were Germans,
Poles, Soviets, Estonians, Lithuanians, and Latvians. Most were
political prisoners although there were also some ordinary prisoners.
No distinctions based on nationality, religion, or politics were made.
The camps and the work area were guarded by 250 MVD troops, commanded
by a colonel named Boechin (fnu), who was assisted by Commander
Filipenki (lnu) and other commissioned and non-commissioned officers.
Construction
The two labor camps were built in 1947 by the prisoners who were to
occupy them. Two years later, barracks were still under construction
in order to house camp employees who lived in the town 6f Yantarnyy
(N 54-52, E 19-57) about 500 meters southwest of the women's camp.
CON' IDENTIAL
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5.
The town, of 3,000 inhabitants, covered a wide area. The houses, usually
of two to four stories, were built of brick and stofse. Private dwell-
ings and the camp barracks had wooden walls about 20 centimeters
thick, filled with pressed sawdust. The stoves in the kitchen and
in the barracks were made of red and white brick. The camp factories
were also built of red brick.
Public Utilities
A water tank, located near the town, serviced the labor camps, its
factories, and the town. It was built of red brick and was about
30 meters high. The water was pumped from an artesian well into
the tank.. The pipeline measured about 250 millimeters. There was
no purifying station or any other water tank in the axe a.
6. The town of Yantarnyy and the two camps were supplied with electricity
by a powerhouse located near the town which reduced alternating
current of 220 watts and 380 volts.
The machtnei
before orl ar U. F
7.
8.
9.
In 19 , a 5,000 volt high-tension line was
strung from Yantarnyy to Kaliningrad.
The camps and the town had dial telephones.
Garbage from the camps and town was collected in boxes-
Con iunicatiens
Yantarnyy had a radio station broadcasting from 0700 to 2.00 hours
to ships, the camps, and the town. This station connected with
Radio Moscow fordomestic
Each camp had two or three
loudspeakers placed on posts outside and a loudspeaker in each
barracks. Only the barracks chief could touch the loudspeaker.
10. A first-class, asphalt highway, about nine meters wide and in
excellent condition, led from the town of Yantarnyy to Kaliningrad.
Road signs written in Russian and German were located at forks.
the highway had many curves. There were also dirt
reads inter-connecting the camps, factories, town, and other parts
of the area; these joined the highway.
11. There were several bridges in the 65-kilometer stretch between
Yantarnyy and Kaliningrad. they were of reinforced
concrete
12. A double-track broad-gauge raili'cad :for~transperting ,both.'pasaengers
and*friei9bt Van'ffrom Yantarnyy to Krasnoarmeisk and Kaliningrad.
The Yantarnyy station was about six kilometers southwest of the
Combine. It was a one-story brick building about 30 by ton meters.
The station had about eight or ten sidings. A single, standard
(Soviet) gauge led from the station to the camp area producing sand
from which amber was extracted (see paragraph 24+ below) and passed
through the Amber Plant area. There was a double track beginning
at the electric powerhouse. Goods shipped on the railroad were
transported from the town to the carps in 1,500, 3,000, and 10,000-
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13. There was a bus service twice daily betwen the Combine and the town.
14. There were no airports in the area.
Security
15. To enter the Combine area, it was essential that the ordinary passport
right.
16. Only MVD personnel guarded the camps and the town. There were no
militia forces in the town. Special restricted arees(see below)
were guarded by naval garrison troops who were dark. uniforms with
vertical brown stripes. The MVD personnel and sailrre had numerous
fights when on liberty. On Soviet holidays, the guard was rein-
forced and machine guns were mounted in the watch towers. The
barracks housing the 250 MVD troops was a three- or four-story
red brick building with a red tile roof and a jail in the basement.
The building measured about 40 by 15 meters and was located to the
north of the outskirts of the town.
17.
there was a firehouse in the town.
Military Restricted Areas
18. A naval base and barracks were located to the west of the Yantarnyy
station, next to a small wood. The base had been constructed by
Soviet technicians:
19. Combined air and naval maneuvers, in which about 60 vessels and
400 Jet and conventional aircraft participated, were held in
the Baltic Sea about August 1947, lasting from 0900 to 1300 or 1400
hours. The ships included seven or eight cutters, a great number of
torpedo launches, and other types of beats
Live ammunition was used. All planes towed a white cloth target
with black strips; ships towed a light target barge.
20. Batteries of long-range, 250- to 300-millimeter, heavy artillery
were emplaced on the coast, about seven kilometers northwest of
the women's camp.
There were powder magazines and barracks for servicemen;
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Medical Facilities
21. Each camp had an infirmary acccmmnodating between 15 and 20 persons,
attended by two health officers and two doctors. one of the doctors
was a prisoner. Patients requiring surgery or those seriously ill
were sent to the town of Yantarnyy which had a three-story hospital;
The most common illnesses among 25X1
the prisoners were grippe, pneumonia, and dysentery.
I I ENhIAL
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Recreation and Sports
22. The only sports were soccer and six man handball; participation was
voluntary. A Soviet woman gave talks on 'international politics
based on daily reading of Pravda; attendance was voluntary. Each
camp had a small library. Movies on all subjects except politics
were shown daily and prisoners paid admission except on two days
a week when they were free.. Tyre was no military training.
Work. Performed by Prisoners
23. Prisoners in the Yantarnyy Combine were engaged wither in extracting
amber, working in the Amber Plant, Machine Plant, Varnish Plant,
Lumber Mill, or Garage. Following is a description of the various
installations and of the work performed.
Extraction of Amber
24. About 200 male prisoners, all Soviets, were engaged in the extraction
of amber from sand in a small area, about five by seven kilometers,
located between the men's and womebts ".0 ulha had
been employed on the Volga Don canal eft
=supervised the work which was done by means of six excavators, 25X1
eacn with 24 scoops having a one-cubic-meter capacity, made mobile
by four double tracks or standard gauge. Two of the tracks were
50 meters below sea level. During the eight-hour work day, six
18-ton railroad cars were loaded every ten minutes.
25. Three high-pressure water pumps, capacity unknown, were used to
wash out the amber which appeared in veins and the water was then
drawn off by means of three or four extraction pumps. The amber
which floated because of its low density was removed with the
sand, lea+drd into cars. and sent to be washed and seyarated from
the sand.
The pieces of clean amber were taken to the ago nays ant
to be ground to powder, then formed into bars of different colors,
about 50 centimeters long and four or five centimeters wide. This
operation was carried out in a two-sto brick building equipped
with a freight elevator. Three electric furnaces,
equipped with adaptable metallic molds, were used to change
the amber powder to a solid and give it the desired form. Each
furnace had a diameter of about l.5 meters and was about three
meters long.
Amber Plant (Yantarnyy Fabrika)
26. About 250 women prisoners and 20 non-prisoners worked at this plant
which was a two-story red brick building with basement, about 50
by 20 meters. The basement contained ten ordinary lathes and there
were 20 lathes on the group
offices and storage space.
Fifteen of them were used to make the insulators for atomic energy
plants (see Figure No. 1 on page---in). The insulators were a light,
transparent yellow, estimated to resist 2,000 volts. They were seven
millimeters wide, 30 millimeters high, and seven millimeters thick.
with an inside diameter of three millimeters. (See Figure No. 2
on page 10.) They were shipped to Moscow and were packed Vith'.fine
wiaaw and tissue paper in pinewood boxes, measuring 30 x 30 x 30.
F ENTIAL
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In addition to producing insulators, work. at the plant consisted
of the selection of amber for making jewelry, such as necklaces,
bracelets, clasps, and chains.
Machine Plant (Mekbanichesk8B Fabrika)
27. Parts for excavators, cars, and all types needed by the other plants
in the Combine, were made at the Machine Plant which employed the
following prison labor: about 100 lathe operators, 26 fitters,
30 electricians, 20 forge operators, four fitters, two inspectors,
and six office workers. In addition, 26 non-prisoners worked at
the plant. The work. day was eight hours. The plant was a one-
story red brick building, about 125 x 30 x 20 meters, equipped
with about 60 metal working lathes of Soviet make, types DIP-200
and DIP-300, and the following German machinerys
10 milling machines
10 drill presses
2 power saws
6 drop hammers - 3 of 300 kg pressure
2 of 150 kg pressure
1 of 1,500 kg pressure
3 electric furnaces to make blocks of amber
2,000 lathes for the production of rifle, pistol, and cartridge
cases, contained in the storehouse.
10 special lathes, about eight or ten meters long, used for
the turning of cannon barrels, located in the street in
front of the plant.
1,000 new antiaircraft cannon of about 84- and 86-millimeter
caliber, which were stored in the open air; a thick. layer
of protective grease kept the cannon in good condition.
Varnish Plant (Lakoyyy Zayod),
28. This plant had three laboratories in which amber was melted and
acids, alcohol, and liquid and solid varnishes in different colors
were produced. It employed about 25 persons, both prison rs and
free personnel, on an eight-hour shift. The plant was a one-story
red brick building, about 35 x 20 meters.
Lumber Mill
29.. About 35 prisoners and free personnel worked an eight-hour day
at the Lumber Mill, producing railroad ties and planks of various
kinds to make doors, windows, and furniture. It was a one-story
wooden building, about 25 x 20 meters, with the following machinery,
all of Soviet make: two saws, each with 12 blades; three circular
saws, and four universal planing machines.
Garage and Repair Shop
30. About 75 emploarees, including drivers, worked in this building which
was of red and white brick, about 20 x 60 meters. About 40 Soviet
trucks were stored here. 25X1
N, i
DENDAI
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Legend to Sketch
31. Following is the legend to Enclosure No. 1, showing the layout of the
Yantarnyy labor camps and the surrounding area. The numbers in parentheses
are keyed to those on the sketch.
(22)
Highway to Kaliningrad.
Church for free personnel.
Housing for free personnel.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Excavator for the extraction of amber (yantar).
Water pump.
Water pump.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Barbed-wire entanglement.
Watch tower... at ;the men's labor amp.
Watch tower at the men's labor camp.
Double-track railroad, 50 meters below sea level, in the area
where amber was extracted.
Single-track railroad in the area where amber was extracted.
Baltic Sea.
Coast,. artillery.
Restricted military area.
Women's labor vamp.
Area where amber was extracted, 50 meters below sea level.
Excavator.
Men's concentration camp.
a) Disciplinary jail.
Roadway.
(23, 25, and 27) Water pumps.
(24) Transformers.
(26) Disciplinary jail in the women's labor camp.
(28) Machine shop where repairs were made.
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(29) Barracks for MVD troops; barracks measured about 20 x 40 meters.
(30) Machine shop where repairs were made.
(31) Water pump.
(32) Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
(33) Transformers.
(34) Water pump.
(35) Transformers.
(36) Town of Yantarnyy.
(37) Yantarnyy club and movie theater.
(38) Repair garage, measuring about seven x 40 meters, built of red brick.
(39) Acetylene laboratory.
(40) Repair plant forge shop.
(41) Repair plant fitting shop.
(42) Entrance to barbed-wire enclosed area.
(43) Storehouses, measuring about 20 x 50 meters, built of blackened
red brick and roofed with cowrugated sheet iron.
(44) Watch tower-above-barbed-wire entanglement.
(45) Electric powerhouse.
(46) Plant where amber was washed and separated from sand, measuring
about 25 x 50 meters.
(47) Storehouses measuring about 20 x 50 meters.
(48) Repair plant measuring about 25 x 40 meters, made of brick.
a. Offices
c. Records
e. Showers
g. Secret shop
(49)
(50)
(51)
(52)
(53)
(54)
b. Lathes
d. Secret shop
f. Lathes
Varnish plant measuring about 35 x 25 meters.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Amber plant, measuring about 25 x 50 meters, built of brick.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Baltic Sea naval base, located about six kilometers from the
town of Yantarnyy.
Electric powerhouse.
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(55)
(56)
(57)
(58)
(59)
(60)
(61)
(62)
(63)
(64)
(65)
(66)
(67)
Repair garage, measuring about eight x 40 meters, made of brick.
Materiel storehouses.
Lumbermill, measuring about 20 x 40 meters, made of brick..
Metal plating and pipe shop.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Materiel storehouses.
Church.
Reservoir of potable water.
Watch tower above barbed-wire entanglement.
Railroad station,, one-story brick building.
Church
Sovkhez No. 3.
Krasnearmeisk Yantarniy highway. The river was about three
kilometers away.
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Figure No. 1
One of 15 Lathes Used to Make Insulators for Atomic Energy Plants
Figure No. 2
Insulator for Atomic Energy Plant Built at Yantarnyy Labor Camps
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Figure No. 1
One of 15 Lathes Used to Make Insulators for Atomic Energy Plants
Figure No. 2
Insulator for Atomic Energy Plant Built at Yantarnyy Labor Camps
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