Kara katorga

Kara katorga (Russian: Карийская каторга, Kariyskaya katorga) was the name for a set of katorga prisons of extremely high security located along the Kara River in Transbaikalia and included into the system of Nerchinsk katorga.

It existed during 1838-1893. During 1873-1890 it held political prisoners. It was closed down because of the Kara Tragedy of 1889.

The inmates of Kara katroga were used in gold mining. Gold was found by Kara River in 1832. The first rich lode, suitable for exploitation was found in 1838, giving rise to Lower Kara Field (Нижне-карийский прииск). In 1839, Upper Kara Field was discovered, and Middle Kara Field in 1852. The Kara field turned out one of the richest in Transbaikalia. At the peak times they delivered 1 tonne of gold yearly.

The majority of workers were criminal convicts, up to 2,000 in numbers. After national-liberation movements in Poland and Lithuania, Kara katorga hosted the Polish and Lithuanian insurgents. The first small group was sent there after the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. However the majority of political convicts were Polish insurgents of 1863, about 180 persons. Later a number of Russian revolutionaries were put there the majority were members of Narodnaya Volya. In total, 185 men and 32 women were political prisoners at Kara katorga. (As a side note, these numbers seem minuscule in comparison with Gulag system.)

Kara Tragedy
Kara Tragedy was the event of November 7 - November 11, 1889. Political prisoners enjoyed certain privileges in comparison to criminals. Katorga administration decided to abolish them, and politicals expressed their protest. The chief of the katorga ordered corporal punishment for woman prisoner of Ust-Karsk settlement Nadezhda Sigida (Надежда Сигида), 27 years old, member of Narodnaya Volya. She served 8 years for establishing an underground printing shop in Taganrog. After being flogged she killed herself. As a protest, 20 of political prisoners took poison and 6 of them (4 women and 2 men) died.

This event stirred public response. As a consequence, Kara katorga was closed, and the corporal punisment for imprisoned women and dvorians was abolished by the law of March 28, 1893.

Russian artist Nikolay Kasatkin (Николай Алексеевич Касаткин) painted the picture, Kara Tragedy (1930).

Kara-katorga