COAL MINING BY SLAVE LABORERS NEAR VOROSHILOVGRAD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060052-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2011
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: May 27, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/01: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060052-8
CLASSIFICATION uOt&IDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIG[NCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
25X1
COUNTRY
USSR
DATE DIS
TR.
L 7 Jay 1954
SUBJECT
Coal Mining by
Slave Laborers near Voroshilovgrad NO. OF P
AGES
2
DATE
ACQUIRED BY SOURCE
prisoners in the area, for there were any camps, all under PKVD juris-
diction which had Its headquarters at Almaznaya, 18 kms from Lubovka.
Some contained Soviet people, some GeraLn prisoners of war, German
civilians from Czechoslovakia rand come Rumanian prisoners of war. The
number employed at specific mines varied, some mines using up to three
thousand laborers. I worked in several different mines, but conditions
were the same in all of them. All had very poor ventilation and there
was much gas present, We had to work in a prone position to shovel the
coal into the push carts. Then the push carts were moved by hand to the
main shaft. Water was knee deep in most of the main tunnels. We worked
in teams (taro persons) and were supposed to fill (per team) 60 to 70
push carts per $.bift. Seldom were we able to do this much.
2. We rere supposed to work eight hours per day, but we worked 10, 12 and
sometimes 16 hours per day, seven days a week. On rare acasions we
were given a day off. During my first year in the mines the camp
authorities collected all of our pay from the coal mine in retvrn for
which we were given our meals free. Later, we were paid directly but
had to oav fnr rnir meals An an example of the east, a bow! of tnin,
cucumber soup cost 50 kopecks; a lunch meal, four rubles, 50 kopecks;
one kilogram of bread, three rubles 60 kopecks (in the black rrari:rf:
the same amount of bread cost 40 rubles).
We were often forcea - to Sn
to work without food and on occasions we vent on strike, refusing to
work unless we received food. When this happened, the mine officials
would give us some thin, watered soup. Generally, in the morning and
evening we received a thin. sauerkraut or pickle soup. The lunch
REPORT
CD NO.
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTEC BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1::.GE FOR a .?>=.,. r.T F
P1 CSIFICATIO": _C,yf3:akfif3Al,
o15rRleunON
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/01: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060052-8
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/01: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060052-8
consisted of a spoonful. of canned meat or fish or a spoonful of cooked
cereal.
We were quartered in barracks and underground coal storage tunnels. We
had rage for bed covering. Bed bugs and lice were so bad we could not
sleep well at all. Most of us more infected with an itch. Our clothing
was deplorable. Some had their own so-called uniforms. Most of the work-
ers, on leaving work, turned over their rubber boots, pants and jackets to
those going to work..
4..' Accident3 occurred very often, with many fatal. For a while we were
treated by German prisoner doctors but they were removed because they
excused too many people as being unfit to work. Thereafter we had to
walk 10 to 20 kilometers to see a Soviet doctor if we were sick. There
were no drugs available. The hospitals in the area were very dirty.
They had no toilet facilities, only pails. Many prisoners suffered
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/01: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060052-8