Other

BBC World Service South Asia

The Documentary

Documentaries

Factual

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

The Documentary: The Red and the White: The Red and the White: Britain’s  Arctic Prison

Bulletins

Britain’s  Arctic Prison

24/10/2017 GMT

The Red and the White: Britain’s  Arctic Prison

The Red and the White

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Red and the White, The Red and the White: Britain’s  Arctic Prison

How foreign troops incarcerated Russians on 'Death Island' in the White Sea.

When Allied soldiers went to Russia near the end of World War One, they did not expect to fight the Bolsheviks, yet they opened the first concentration camp on Russian soil.

In this episode Lucy Ash visits the island of Mudyug in the White Sea. Back in the Soviet era, boatloads of day-trippers came here to visit a museum. It was based around the remains of a prison camp - and one that is very different from the decaying Gulag camps scattered across north Russia and Siberia.  For one thing, it was set up as far back as 1918.  Even more remarkably, many jailors were not Russian. They were foreign troops. Bizarrely one French officer at the camp later created the world's most famous scent, Chanel No 5, inspired by his experiences in the Russian Arctic. 

However, conditions were horrific - locals called the place Death Island. Overall about 1,000 people, suspected of siding with the Bolsheviks, were imprisoned here. Up to 300 inmates died, some of frostbite or diseases such as typhus. Others were shot trying to escape, like the great-great-uncle of Marina Titova.  

Producer: Natalia Golysheva

(Photo: Marina Titova places flowers on a plaque commemorating her relative who was shot trying to escape from the Mudyug camp. Credit: Alexey Sukhanovsky)

The Documentary: The Red and the White

Lucy Ash tells the story of a forgotten war fought by Western troops in Arctic Russia, and the mayhem which followed.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Documentary

The Red and the White

The Red and the White: Britain’s Arctic Prison

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC World Service South Asia

About BBC World Service