Category: 
Concentration Camps of the 1920s, Sites of Imprisonment

Rozhdestvenskii Concentration Camp

Address: 20/8 (building 14) Rozhdestvenka Street, Moscow

Rozhdestvenskii Concentration Camp. Photo: Memorial Society Photo Archive

Rozhdestvenskii Concentration Camp. Photo: Memorial Society Photo Archive

In June 1920, a concentration camp and a barrack dormitory for forced laborers were opened in one of Moscow’s oldest monasteries: the Most Holy Mother Orthodox Monastery. The dormitory and the concentration camp were administered by the Moscow Department of Forced Labor.

The central hospital for prisoners from all Moscow camps was located there. According to the sources, prison inspectors called it “the central station for all specialties (eyes, ears, dental, surgery, and venereal)”.

The number of prisoners at the camp was around 200–300 people. Polish prisoners were imprisoned there. A workshop for repairing typewriters was organized in the camp. Many of the prisoners were sent on forced labor trips to the city.

The concentration camp was dismantled in December 1921, one and a half years after its founding. After the closure, prisoners were sent to the Pokrovskii camp.