"A white swan on a pond
", - a song with these lyrical words is often performed on the air of radio stations that do not disdain the so-called thieves music, tactfully called" chanson ". But hardly all listeners know that it is dedicated to one of the worst Russian prisons called" White Swan ". This colony of a special regime for serving life imprisonment in the city of Solikamsk, Perm Territory, is located.
"White Swan", "Black Golden Eagle"
The passion of seasoned felons to “tear” romance has been known for a long time. One of its manifestations can be considered unofficial, “popular” names given to the most stringent, if not cruel, institutions of the Russian penitentiary system - the colonies of the special regime “Black Dolphin” in Sol-Iletsk near Orenburg, “Black Golden Eagle” in Ivdel, Sverdlovsk Region and "White Swan" in Solikamsk, Perm Territory.
The last of them was born in January 1938 as a commandant camp at the Usolsky Forced Labor Camp of the NKVD of the USSR with a transit point, becoming part of the vast Soviet Gulag. And over time, it transformed into a large prison mainly for political prisoners and clergy. One of the most famous prisoners of the future White Swan was the Riga professor of theology and former Minister of Education of Latvia Ludwig Adamovich deported to the USSR in 1941. In the same prison, Adamovich was shot two years later.
Political Solikamsk prison ceased to be after the death of Stalin, in 1955. All those convicted under article 58 were then transferred to Mordovia, and the most dangerous criminal offenders from all over the country were sent to the “White Swan”. In 1980, the prison was divided into two parts - a transit point and the so-called ECPT (Single Chamber Type), which contained violators of the regime and thieves in law.
In the center of Solikamsk
In 1999, on the basis of the ECPT, the quickly established VK-240/2 or IK-2 GUFSIN of Russia was created, which has since contained criminals sentenced to life imprisonment and having no chance of being released. She is the infamous White Swan. It is curious that the prison was built outside the city at one time, but over 70 years it gradually moved to the center of Solikamsk. Becoming, along with the nearby strict regime colony, one of the main city attractions.
The White Swan’s employees are especially proud of the fact that in its entire history only one escape attempt was made, and even that was unsuccessful. In 1992, EKPT prisoners Shafranov and Taranyuk managed to get a few grenades with which they broke into the office of the head of the colony Myakishev and demanded a car with the possibility of free exit. The conversation turned out to be short-lived - only a few minutes later Taranyuk was shot dead, and Shafranova, who lost her legs when the grenade exploded, was seized and later sentenced to death. But the most curious thing in the whole history is that five years later Shafranov’s death sentence was changed to 12 years in prison, and yet he was able to go free, later becoming an evangelical preacher.
Thieves Swan Song
There are many versions as to why the symbol and even the common name of one of the worst prisons in the country has become a beautiful and proud white bird. So unlike the striped uniform of the criminals in it who killed many people. Figures and images of a white swan in this prison are literally everywhere - on the roof and walls, in the form of a monument in a prison yard and even souvenir products in a nearby store.
The main version is considered four.
1. Solikamsk prison was the last refuge for many thieves in law. In it, they lost their privileges and, saying goodbye to life, performed a kind of swan song of loneliness and longing.
2. The prison was built in a forest glade under the name "White Swan".
3. The building is built of white brick, and the inner paths resemble the outlines of a swan.
4. The “swan” pose (tilt of almost 90 degrees and hands closed behind the back) is the only way to move prisoners across the territory outside the cell.
