Tayshet ( rus, Тайшет, p=tɐjˈʂɛt, lit. ''cold river'' in the

Kott language The Kott (Kot) language (russian: Коттский язык) is an extinct Yeniseian language that was formerly spoken in central Siberia by the banks of Mana River, a tributary of the Yenisei river. It became extinct in the 1850s. Kott was ...

) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

of Tayshetsky District in

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, located northwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom ...

. Population:

History

It was founded in 1897 as a supply point and station on the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...

and was granted town status in 1938. During the 1930s–1950s, Tayshet was the center of administration for

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 camps

Ozerlag Ozerlag (Озерлаг) was an MVD special camp (''osoblag No. 7'', ''osoby lager No. 7'') in the Soviet GULAG labor camp system for political prisoners. It was established in 1948 near Taishet and included a chain of camp sites (''lagernye punkty ...

and Angarstroy. Construction of the first section of the Baikal–Amur Mainline started in 1937 and was managed from here. According to some survivor accounts, between Tayshet and

Bratsk Bratsk ( rus, Братск, p=bratsk) is a city in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara River near the vast Bratsk Reservoir. Etymology The name sounds like the Russian word for "brother" ("", ''brat''), and derives from the phrase 'bra ...

there is "a dead man under every

sleeper A sleeper is a person who is sleeping. Sleeper may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Sleeper (Marvel Comics), a Nazi German robot utilized by the Red Skull in Marvel Comics * The Sleeper (Wild Cards), a character in the Wild Ca ...

." Along with Japanese prisoners from the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = Apri ...

, German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

formed a large proportion of the forced labor contingent, generally under a 25-year sentence, such as

Dietrich von Saucken Dietrich Friedrich Eduard Kasimir von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 2nd Army and the Army East Prussia. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered to the Re ...

. Surviving German POWs were repatriated in autumn of 1955, after

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...

's visit to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Tayshet serves as the

of Tayshetsky District,Law #49-OZ to which it is directly subordinated.''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations of Irkutsk Oblast'' As a municipal division, the

of Tayshet is incorporated within Tayshetsky Municipal District as Tayshetskoye Urban Settlement.Law #100-oz

Climate

Tayshet has a subarctic climate ( Köppen ''Dfc'') bordering on a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

with warm, humid summers and severely cold, drier winters. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to . Sunshine is generous and the area receives 2,150 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Transportation

Tayshet railway station is a major railway junction. Here the Baikal–Amur Mainline begins, branching northeast from the

. Here also the Abakan-Taishet Railway ends. The town is also on the M53 Highway (Moscow to Irkutsk).

References

Notes

Sources

* * * *
Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations of Irkutsk Oblast
'

External links

Official website of Tayshet

Unofficial website of Tayshet
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Irkutsk Oblast