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Eduard Petrovich Berzin (, ; 19 February 1894 – 1 August 1938) was a Latvians Bolshevik, Chekism and NKVD officer that set up Dalstroy, which instituted a system of Slavery camps in Kolyma, North-Eastern Siberia, one of the most brutal Gulag regions, where hundreds of thousands of political prisoners died or were murdered in subsequent decades.
After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917, he joined the communists. In 1918, Berzin became a commander of the First Artillery Division of the Red Latvian Riflemen with special responsibilities for Vladimir Lenin's protection. Gaining the trust of Feliks Dzerzhinsky, he soon became a member of the Cheka secret political police.
In 1926, Joseph Stalin gave Berzin the task of setting up the Vishera complex of labour camps in the Urals known as Vishlag where cellulose and paper were to be produced. This he did with great enthusiasm and success. The 70,000 prisoners there were in most cases treated surprisingly well, even receiving wages and benefitting from cinemas, libraries, discussion clubs and dining halls.Applebaum, Ann (2003). Gulag: A History p. 85. Anchor Books, New York
It is reported that Berzin's primary aim was to exploit the region to the fullest capacity, in line with the objectives of Stalin's first five-year plan. The prisoners were simply, his workforce. The focus of his attention was gold mining, as gold was needed to pay for industrial development across Russia. This required construction of the harbour town of Magadan, substantial road building, some lumbering, and building numerous labour camps.
From the very start, however, the lack of proper preparations combined with an exceptionally hard winter in 1932 and 1933 led to tremendous hardship, particularly for the prisoners sent up into the Kolyma River valley to build roads and mine gold, very many of whom perished in the cold. Robert Conquest's account of Berzin's directorship from Kowalski's Alaska notes . Retrieved 2 February 2007
It was said that Berzin tried to treat his prisoners comparatively well in order to enable them to carry out their work as efficiently as possible. In reality, this was only a half-truth: while Berzin allowed hard-working prisoners shortened sentences—and even paid them salaries—he also sent less valuable prisoners to smaller camps, known as lagpunkts, where many were tortured and killed. After the hard winter of 1932 and difficult conditions the following summer, the situation started to evolve more positively. Although hardships continued, the overall efficiency of the operations and the conditions for the prisoners improved under Berzin's leadership. The same can be said for the overall gold production, as "Kolyma’s gold output increased eight times in the first two years of Dalstroi’s operation."Applebaum, Ann (2003). Gulag: A History p. 88. Anchor Books, New York
The years of 1934 to 1937 were remembered as a comparatively good period, particularly in the light of what was to follow under later leaders. David Nordlander: Magadan and the Economic History of Dalstroi in the 1930s. Hoover Press: Gregory/Gulag DP0 HGRESG0600 rev1 p. 105.. Retrieved 3 October 2007 The Soviet Union purchased the ships in the Netherlands for the sea fleet of "Dalstroy" in April and May 1935, and Eduard Berzin arrived in Amsterdam to see and check two purchased steamers SS Brielle and Almelo, which were renamed SS Dzhurma and «Яго́да» (later was renamed «Дальстрой»), and to hasten the purchase the third ship «Кулу». Глущенко Александр Григорьевич: "Колымский хронограф. Часть 1. 1648–1941 гг." >> 1935 год.Бессмертный Е.Д.: "Повесть о людях." – М., 1970. – pages: 215–216.ГАМО, ф. р-23сч, оп. 1, д. 14, л. 47; Волков Г. Магадан: самое трудное десятилетие, 1929–1939 : очерк / Г. Волков, Т. Смолина // На Севере Дальнем. – 1989. – № 1. – С. 222; Козлов А. В душных трюмах пароходов // Колыма. – 1991. – № 11. – С. 31
Upon returning to Kolyma, no doubt as a result of instructions he had received, he issued even harsher orders. Prisoners were required to work in the opencast mines at temperatures as low as -55 C. As a result, annual gold output rose to 33 tons.
Despite the dreadful conditions and the high death toll, over the years Berzin succeeded in having a road built to Seymchan high up in the Kolyma valley which was to lead to even higher gold outputs in subsequent years.
Shortly after a holiday with his family in Italy with visits to Rome, Venice and Sorrento, Berzin left Magadan on 4 December 1937 and was arrested upon his arrival in Moscow on 19 December, accused of spying for United Kingdom and Germany and planning to put Magadan under the control of the Japanese. On 1 August 1938, at the end of the Great Purge, Berzin was tried and immediately shot at Lubyanka prison. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.
There are streets named after Eduard Berzin in Magadan, Anadyr, Bilibino, Ust-Belaya, Krasnovishersk and Dalnegorsk. A monument to him was erected in front of the city administration of Magadan in 1989. Памятник Эдуарду Берзину - первому директору Дальстроя Monument - kolyma.ru
In 2018, Eduard Berzin was in the short list of potential new official names for the Sokol Airport, eventually losing to Vladimir Vysotsky. Аэропорт имени Высоцкого: сын барда — за, колымчане — против Vysotsky - Regnum.ru, 29 November 2018
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