Moscow Canal
The Moscow Canal ( Russian Канал имени Москвы - Kanal imeni Moskwy , "Moscow Canal "; until 1947 Russian Канал Москва-Волга - Canal Moskva-Volga , "Moskva-Volga Canal") is a canal in Russia that connects the rivers Volga and Moskva . It runs on the territory of the Tver and Moscow oblasts and , to a small extent, in the urban area of Moscow and has a length of 128 kilometers.
history
Even Peter the Great had thought Volga and Moskva River with a channel to connect, from 1825 to 1844 has even started construction. On June 15, 1931, the Central Committee of the Communist Party decided to build a canal that was initially only intended to serve as a water supply for Moscow . At the same time the Moskva should be regulated. The canal, like the Moscow Metro, was also intended to develop Moscow into a showcase for socialism . This claim was reflected in the architectural design of the river harbor, locks and monumental sculptures depicting Lenin and Stalin . The construction of the Moscow-Volga Canal was one of the largest projects in the five-year plan 1932-1937. For him, the Dmitlag (initially Dmitrowlag ) camp complex was opened with the city of Dmitrov in the center, which was the largest within the Gulag from 1932 to 1938 . At the time of the greatest expansion in 1936, 192,034 prisoners were doing slave labor in the Dmitlag.
The prisoners were first abandoned in the wild and had to cope themselves. The work was extremely hard: outdoor work could only be stopped at temperatures of minus 30 degrees. 200 grams of groats, 200 grams of macaroni and 100 grams of vegetable oil were calculated per head and day. There was only more to eat if the plan was exceeded. Work was carried out without lunch. Many prisoners were shot while trying to escape. In the first two years of 1933 and 1934, 8,873 and 6,041 people died, a total of 22,842 people died for the canal. Mass graves were set up in the forests and swamps. Although an unprecedented amount of technical equipment was assembled by Soviet standards (172 locomotives and 2000 wagons, 1800 cars, 300 tractors and 200 excavators), the earthworks were mostly done by hand. Free workers who had settled in the canal zone or who commuted from Moscow also worked along the canal route. Towards the end, the construction site even became a popular destination for Moscow celebrities.
The canal was opened on July 15, 1937 as the Moskva-Volga Canal (Канал Москва - Волга). On this occasion, 50,000 prisoners were released. At the same time, as part of the Great Terror, the leadership of the canal project and the camp in the canal zone were arrested. The head of Dmitlag Semyon Firin was arrested on April 28, 1937. While the festival flotilla was still on its way to open the canal on April 30, several managers of the canal construction site had to disembark and were taken to the Lubyanka prison in black limousines . On the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the city of Moscow in 1947, the canal was renamed the Moscow Canal (Канал имени Москвы) in honor of the city and has borne its current name ever since.
course
The canal begins at the Ivankowo Reservoir near the city of Dubna , where the lock and the Ivankow hydroelectric power station are located. The confluence with the Moskva River is in the Moscow town of Tuschino . For its first 74 kilometers, the canal runs over the northern slope of the Klin - Dmitrov mountain range, with a height of 38 meters having to be overcome with the help of six locks (No. 2–6).
In its further course there is a series of reservoirs that make up a total of 19.5 kilometers. The navigable part of the canal ends in the northern inland port of Moscow, after which it drains into the Moskva for a length of three kilometers. There are two locks here (No. 7 and 8); the canal flows here over a heaped dam, partly above the Wolokolamsker Chaussee.
Each of the eight locks is individually designed; The northern inland port in Khimki based on plans by the architects Ruchjadew, Krinski and others is also considered to be architecturally remarkable . a.
The canal is in need of renovation, recent studies estimate reconstruction costs of 1.5-3 billion rubles .
literature
- A city by the sea. The opening of the Moscow-Volga Canal. In: Karl Schlögel : Terror and Dream. Moscow 1937. Carl Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-23081-1 , pp. 361-385.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Gestwa: The large Stalin buildings of communism. Soviet history of technology and the environment, 1948–1967 , Oldenbourg, Munich 2010, pp. 65 f., ISBN 978-3-486-58963-4
- ↑ Klaus Gestwa: The large Stalin buildings of communism. Soviet technology and environmental history, 1948–1967 , Oldenbourg, Munich 2010, p. 65, ISBN 978-3-486-58963-4