, Moscow, next to FSB headquarters, made of a boulder from the Solovetsky Islands , made of a boulder from the Solovetsky Islands Members of the
intelligentsia, representing both Tsarist Russia and the post-revolutionary USSR, were prominent among the prisoners on Solovki.
The 1920s In the 1920s many of those sent to Solovki were released, but often arrested and imprisoned (or exiled) a second time. •
Frantsishak Alyakhnovich, Belarusian writer, a citizen of interwar Poland, who wrote the first book-length witness-account about
Gulag, titled,
In the Claws of the GPU; imprisoned 1927–1933, in 1933 exchanged with Poland for
Branislaw Tarashkyevich. •
Vladimir Artemyev, inventor: imprisoned 1923–1925 •
Osip Braz, Russian-Jewish realist painter: imprisoned 1924–1926 •
Boris Shiriaev writer, author of
La veilleuse de Solovki - 1889 - 1959 imprisoned in 1923 •
Leonid Feodorov,
Bishop and
Exarch of the
Russian Greek Catholic Church: imprisoned 1923–1929 •
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer: imprisoned mid-1920s • G.J.Gordon, historian •
Yuri Bezsonov, cavalry commander, one of the very few people who succeeded in escaping the camp • , poet: sent to Solovki (?) in 1929 •
Jamo bey Hajinski,
State Controller and
Minister of Transportation, Postal Service and Telegraph of
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic: imprisoned 1925–1928 • Archimandrite , Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy: imprisoned 1924–1929 • , Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy: imprisoned 1925-1927 • , historian and ethnographer: imprisoned 1925–1928, shot at Sandarmokh on 8 January 1938, aged 61
The First Five-Year Plan, 1928–1932 Naftaly Frenkel was a prisoner on Solovki who became a leading cadre in the security services during the First
Five-Year Plan. Arrested by the OGPU in 1923, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and sent to Solovki. There his sentence was reduced and in 1927, he was released and appointed head of production at SLON before being sent as representative of the camp to Moscow in 1929. Soon he was in charge of production throughout the Gulag and oversaw work on the White Sea Canal. His activities in the Gulag paralleled the forced industrialisation and
collectivisation of agriculture throughout the Soviet Union. The mass shooting on Solovki in 1929 described by
Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachov (it forms a key episode in
Marina Goldovskaya's 1987 film,
Solovki Power) was a sign of the harshening regime. •
Nikolai Antsiferov, historian: imprisoned 1929–1933 • Academician
Dmitry Likhachov, philologist: imprisoned 1928–1931, then worked on White Sea Canal until 1932 •
Vladimir V. Tchernavin,
ichthyologist: imprisoned 1931, then transferred to Kem. From Kem he escaped to the West and wrote about his experiences in his book,
I Speak for the Silent Prisoners of the Soviets. •
Vladimir N. Beneshevich, historian, paleographer: imprisoned 1928–1933 • , writer: imprisoned 1928–1929, 1931–1936 •
Mirjaqip Dulatuli, Kazakh writer: imprisoned 1928–1935 (died in Solovki) •
Klym Polishchuk, Ukrainian journalist, poet and writer sentenced for 10 years in 1929, executed in 1937 •
Vera Baltz, Russian soil scientist, sentenced for 5 years in 1930, released early in 1933 on account of age •
Evgenia Iaroslavskaia-Markon, Russian journalist and anarchist, sentenced for 3 years in 1930, executed in 1931. •
Oleg Vasilyevich Volkov, Russian writer and translator, sentenced for 3 years in 1928 but released in 1929 and sent into inner exile.
The mid- to late 1930s Many of those on Solovki later in the 1930s fell victim to
Stalin's
Great Purge and were shot, either in autumn 1937 at
Sandarmokh or on Solovki in February 1938. • , lawyer and activist of the
Smenovekhovtsy, a descendant of
Decembrist Pavel Sergeyevich Bobrishchev-Pushkin: imprisoned 1934–1937, shot at Sandarmokh on 27 October 1937, aged 61 •
Pavel Florensky, priest, scientist, encyclopaedist: imprisoned 1934–1937, shot at unknown location •
Nariman bey Narimanbeyov, State Controller of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920): died on Solovki in 1937, aged 48 (shot?) •
Hanna Malm, Finnish communist, imprisoned 1935, drowned herself 8 August 1937 •
Karlo Štajner, a Yugoslavian communist: imprisoned 1937–1939 • , Ukrainian poet: imprisoned 1937, shot at Sandarmokh on 3 November 1937, aged 33 •
Hamid bey Shahtakhtinski,
Minister of Education and Religious Affairs of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–1920): imprisoned 1941–1944 when he died. == Camp commanders ==