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A Special Design Bureau (, ''osoboje konstruktorskoe bûro''; ОКБ), commonly informally known as a ''sharashka'' (russian: шара́шка, ; sometimes ''sharaga'', ''sharazhka'') was any of several secret
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
laboratories operating from 1930 to the 1950s within the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...
labor-camp system. Etymologically, the word ''sharashka'' derives from a Russian
slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gr ...
expression ''sharashkina kontora'', ("Sharashka's office", which in its turn comes from the criminal argot term ''sharaga'' (шарага) for a band of thieves, hoodlums, etc.) an ironic, derogatory term to denote a poorly-organized, impromptu, or bluffing organization. The scientists and engineers at a ''sharashka'' were prisoners picked by the Soviet government from various camps and prisons and assigned to work on scientific and technological problems for the state. Living conditions were usually much better than in an average ''
taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...
'' camp, mostly because of the absence of hard labor. The results of the research in ''sharashkas'' were usually published under the names of prominent Soviet scientists without credit given to the real researchers, whose names frequently have been forgotten. Some of the scientists and engineers imprisoned in ''sharashkas'' were released during and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
(1939-1945) to continue independent careers; some became world-renowned.


History

In 1930
Leonid Ramzin Leonid Konstantinovich Ramzin (russian: Леони́д Константи́нович Рамзи́н) (27 October 1887 – 28 July 1948) was a Soviet thermal engineer, and the inventor of a type of flow-through boiler known as the straight-flow ...
and other engineers sentenced in the Industrial Party Trial were formed into a special design bureau under the
Joint State Political Directorate The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
(OGPU), which was then the Soviet
secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic ...
. In July 1931, the OGPU seized control of the Convent of the Intercession in
Suzdal Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the a ...
and then, the following year, created a special prison laboratory (known as the Bureau of Special Purpose or ''BON'') where around nineteen leading plague and tularaemia specialists were forced to work on the development of biological weapons. Colonel Mikhail Mikhailovich Faibich, a specialist in
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
, was the first director of ''BON''. The laboratory was in operation until 1936, when the scientists were transferred to a Red Army microbiology facility on
Gorodomlya Island Gorodomlya Island () is located on Lake Seliger in Tver Oblast, Russia, northwest of Moscow. The closed urban-type settlement of Solnechny is located on the island. In June 1930, the People's Commissariat of Agriculture (''Narkomzem'') began c ...
on
Lake Seliger Seliger ( rus, Селиге́р, p=sʲɪlʲɪˈgʲɛr) is a lake in Ostashkovsky District of Tver Oblast and, in the extreme northern part, in Demyansky District of Novgorod Oblast of Russia, in the northwest of the Valdai Hills, a part of the ...
. In 1938,
Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ;  – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
, a senior
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
official, created the Department of Special Design Bureaus at the NKVD USSR (Отдел особых конструкторских бюро НКВД СССР). In 1939, the unit was renamed the Special Technical Bureau at the NKVD USSR (Особое техническое бюро НКВД СССР) and placed under the leadership of
General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...
Valentin Kravchenko, under Beria's immediate supervision. In 1941 it received a secret name, the 4th Special Department of the NKVD USSR (4-й спецотдел НКВД СССР). In 1949, the scope of the ''sharashkas'' significantly increased. Previously the work done there was of military and defense character. The MVD Order No. 001020 dated November 9, 1949 decreed installation of "Special technical and design bureaus" for a wide variety of "civilian"
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
, particularly in the "remote areas of the Union"."Приказ МВД СССР об организации "шарашек"
a
Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...
webpage (retrieved January 2, 2014) The 4th Special Department was disbanded in 1953 when, shortly after Stalin's death,
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
and other members of the Politburo had Beria arrested and executed for espionage and treason.


Notable sharashka inmates

*
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repr ...
, a writer. His novel ''
In the First Circle ''In the First Circle'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, В круге первом, V kruge pervom; also published as ''The First Circle'') is a novel by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, released in 1968. A more complete version of the boo ...
'' is a vivid account of life in sharashka Marfino. *
Lev Kopelev Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev (russian: Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912, Kyiv – 18 June 1997, Cologne) was a Soviet author and dissident. Early ...
, a writer, another inmate of Marfino (a prototype for Rubin from ''In the First Circle'') *
Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...
, an aircraft and rocket designer, later the chief designer for the
Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...
. *
Valentin Glushko Valentin Petrovich Glushko (russian: Валенти́н Петро́вич Глушко́; uk, Валентин Петрович Глушко, Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko; born 2 September 1908 – 10 January 1989) was a Soviet engineer and the m ...
, a chief rocket engine designer.
His biography at MN
*
Andrei Tupolev Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev (russian: Андрей Николаевич Туполев; – 23 December 1972) was a Russian and later Soviet aeronautical engineer known for his pioneering aircraft designs as Director of the Tupolev Design ...
, the chief designer of the aircraft families ''Tu'' and ''ANT''. *
Vladimir Petlyakov Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov (russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Петляко́в; 15 June 1891 – 12 January 1942) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer. Petlyakov was born in 1891 in Sambek ( Don Host ...
, the chief designer of the aircraft families ''Pe'' and ''VI''
The Petlyakov aircraft
. * Vladimir Myasishchev, an aircraft designer. * Leonid Kerber, an aircraft radio equipment designer. *
Robert Ludvigovich Bartini Robert Ludvigovich Bartini (russian: Роберт Людвигович Бартини; 14 May 1897 – 6 December 1974) was an Hungarian-born Soviet aircraft designer and scientist, involved in the development of numerous successful and experime ...
(or Roberto Oros di Bartini) an aircraft designer and scientist. * Helmut Gröttrup, a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
rocket scientist from the
Peenemünde Peenemünde (, en, " Peene iverMouth") is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is part of the ''Amt'' (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The commu ...
laboratory. (Its head
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
was acquired by the US). *
Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Полика́рпов; – 30 July 1944) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer, known as the "King of Fighters". He designed the I-15 series of ...
, an aircraft designer (arrested for a brief period). *
Léon Theremin Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen rus, Лев Сергеевич Термéн, p=ˈlʲef sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ tɨrˈmʲen; – 3 November 1993) was a Russian and Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, one o ...
, a pioneer of electronic music, the inventor of the
theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
and a passive eavesdropping device. * Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky, a geneticist and radiobiologist
His biography at genetics.org
. *
Leonid Ramzin Leonid Konstantinovich Ramzin (russian: Леони́д Константи́нович Рамзи́н) (27 October 1887 – 28 July 1948) was a Soviet thermal engineer, and the inventor of a type of flow-through boiler known as the straight-flow ...
, the inventor of the straight-flow boiler
His biography in Russian
. *
Yuri Kondratyuk Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk (russian: Юрий Васильевич Кондратюк; ukr, Юрій Васильович Кондратюк; 21 June 1897 – February 1942), real name Aleksandr Ignatyevich Shargei (russian: Алекса́нд� ...
, a pioneer of
astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field. The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astron ...
and
spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in ...
, the inventor of the gravitational slingshot. *Sergei Mikhailovich Nikanorov, a leading specialist on ''Yersinia pestis'' (the causative agent of plague). *Sergei Vasil'vich Suvorov, a leading specialist on ''Yersinia pestis'' (the causative agent of plague). *Boris Yakovlevich El'bert, a leading specialist on ''Francisella tularensis'' (the causative agent of tularaemia). *Nikolai Akimovich Gaiskii, a leading specialist on ''Francisella tularensis'' (the causative agent of tularaemia).


References

* L.L.Kerber, Von Hardesty, Paul Mitchell, ''Stalin's Aviation Gulag: Memoir of Andrei Tupolev and the Purge Era ( Smithsonian History of Aviation & Spaceflight S.)'', Smithsonian Institution Press, (hardcover, 1996, 396p.), .


External links

*
The database of research and design establishments of the Soviet defence industry, 1927–67
by Keith Dexter, The U. of Warwick. {{Soviet Union topics Gulag industry Political repression in the Soviet Union Soviet phraseology