Anna Zapalec
Those interested in Yakutia will sooner or later come across Adam Kamieński-Dłużyk’s detailed account, the first and oldest Polish publication on the region. This Polish nobleman was taken prisoner by the Russians in April 1660 during the battle on the Basia River near Mogilev. Initially exiled to Siberia, he served in Cossack units, including in Tobolsk and Yeniseysk. In August 1662, he arrived in Yakutsk, where he spent his first years in military service. He took part in Cossack expeditions as far as the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the Amur River basin, discovering the unknown and mysterious Eastern Siberia. He then went on to write about his experiences, leaving behind a diary filled with colourful descriptions of Siberia and the first ethnographic study of the local Yakut people. Some of his writings that serve as a distant testimony to the past, I took with me when I left for Yakutia in 2013.
Yakutia is a vast area, still wild in terms of nature and surprising in terms of geography, as most of its territory is unaffected by human activity. It is a land full of diversity, towering mountains and huge rivers, the size of which we cannot even imagine. They are the life-giving forces of this country, providing its inhabitants with water, various species of fish and, for some places, the only means of transport. Just like forests, which are still a source of game, fur and wood for fuel. The ground, covered in permafrost, hides all sorts of minerals, including gold and diamonds, which Yakutia is famous for. It is a country inhabited by people of various nationalities, but the Yakuts remain the largest group. They inhabited these lands even before Russian colonisation and, despite Russification and Sovietisation, have preserved their rich culture and, above all, their language. This was aided by the 19th-century Polish exile Edward Piekarski, who compiled a dictionary of the Yakut language, for which the Yakuts are still grateful to this day. Another Pole, Wacław Sieroszewski, also an exile, wrote the first insightful ethnographic and anthropological analysis entitled 12 Years in the Land of the Yakuts, which was first published in 1896. The book contained descriptions of Yakut customs and many other elements of the culture of this people.
Today, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is part of the Far Eastern Federal District of the Russian Federation and covers a fifth of the total area of present-day Russia. At the same time, it is one of the least populated regions, with only 1,001,600 people living in an area of 3.1 million square kilometres (according to Russian data from 2024). This area is known for its harsh continental climate, with big temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night. It is in Yakutia that the lowest temperatures in the world have been recorded, with the villages of Tomtor near the Kolyma Highway and Oymyakon on the Indigirka River being the coldest places. In January 2004, in Tomtor, the temperature dropped to a record low of -72.2°C. However, for most of Yakutia, the air temperature in January is around -30°C. Maria Mierzyńska, deported with her family on 29 June 1940 to one of the special settlements in the Aldan region of Yakutia, wrote the following about the Siberian freezing temperatures there: ‘There was such silence in the air, such motionless calm as if it had frozen. The saliva-covered finger dried as soon as it was removed from the lips. It felt like being in a huge glass space, from which a bluish aura emanated a piercing cold, ready to stifle any impulse of warmth and life with its icy touch’ (quoted from: M. Mierzyńska, Nie pytajcie dlaczego [Don’t Ask Why], Cracow 2014, p. 119).
When travelling in Yakutia, it is important to know basic information about the region in order to choose the right time for the trip and prepare accordingly for the climatic and geographical conditions. Yakutia is full of contrasts and peculiarities, and climate is just one of them. As much as 40% of its territory is located beyond the Arctic Circle, and harsh winters make it a land of frost, snow and ice. On the other hand, summers can be very hot in many areas, with temperatures reaching up to 40°C in some places. However, even then, the sun is powerless to melt the permafrost, which reaches at least several hundred metres deep into the ground. This heat is only enough to slightly thaw the top layer of the frozen ground, and then in spring and summer, Yakutia turns into an impassable, waterlogged and swampy land in many places. So there are areas that can only be reached in winter when the water freezes. Travelling in winter is also free from insects such as mosquitoes and midges, which are a nuisance in late spring and summer when marshy waters heat up, providing a favourable environment for their development. Therefore, the date for my trip to Yakutia was set for February, when winter is already in full swing there, but travel can be expected to be smooth and without major obstacles.
On the other hand, there are then other dangers due to the harsh climate. Those who live in Yakutia or other parts of Eastern Siberia are familiar with them and know how to deal with them, while those who come here from somewhere else have to learn how to function in these winter conditions. As always, the best guides for me were the locals, who were able to give good advice and help, and show me some of their huge country. It is impossible to fully explore Yakutia, not only because of the distances involved, but also due to the inaccessibility of some areas. I would just like to add that almost two thirds of Yakutia consists of mountains and plateaus, which rise to a height of at least 3,000 metres in the east and south. Wacław Sieroszewski wrote about them: ‘The hinterland is filled with a chaotic tangle of towering rock folds, ridges, precipices, mountain ranges and foothills’ (quoted from: W. Sieroszewski, 12 lat w kraju Jakutów. Wrażenia i notatki [12 years in the Yakut country. Impressions and notes], Warsaw 1900, p. 3).
Before I left for Yakutia, the locals I was in contact with offered to sort out some proper warm boots for me, ones that would be suitable for the Yakutian winter. This turned out to be a very good choice, as they had felt soles, thick suede uppers and were insulated with wool. They proved to be great in the cold and were also perfect for walking on ice, which no one in Yakutsk cleared from the pavements or roads, and the snow was dry and powdery like sand.
To make it to Yakutia, it’s a journey of thousands of kilometres and several time zones. Flying from Warsaw to Moscow and from there on to Yakutsk was the easiest way to cover the distance of around 8,400 km. I arrived in the capital of the Republic of Sakha to search the central state archives in Yakutsk for materials on the Polish population persecuted in this area in the 20th century. I also wanted to get to know the country better and see how people live and work here during the Siberian winter. Most of my time was spent collecting source material and working in the archives, but it was equally important to get to know the city and its surroundings, which I had read about in numerous documents, memoirs and accounts, but had never seen before.
At the Yakutsk airport, it turned out that the outside temperature was -38°C, which was a shock compared to the weather in Poland at the time. I very quickly understood one of the most important rules: wearing and keeping an eye on gloves and a hat is the basis for safe travel. Although you can reach the city centre from the airport, which is located within the borders of Yakutsk, by bus, in such severe cold, a much more expensive taxi is definitely a better option. The taxi will take you quickly to your selected accommodation with your luggage. The freezing cold that I had feared so much upon arriving in Yakutsk was not so terrible later on, even though the temperature remained below -35°C.
akutsk is the capital city, home to about a quarter of Yakutia’s inhabitants. It has a population of over 235,000, and no other city in the Republic of Sakha can boast such size. It was built on permafrost, where temperatures drop below -40°C in winter. When I was in Yakutsk, I only experienced this temperature once, and outside, all the water particles formed a thick, frosty fog. Since the sunlight couldn’t get through, the world outside the window was shrouded in grey twilight. Only at times, when the sun shone more strongly, did the rays break through the thinning mist making it look like gold dust at the time.
On sunny days, the centre of Yakutsk sparkled with ice, snow and… diamonds, as numerous jewellery shops offered these expensive stones, some of which were priced exorbitantly due to their size. In the main square, as in many Russian cities in Siberia, there is a monumental statue of Lenin, but what caught my attention more were the large sculptures and reliefs carved in ice, which were placed in squares and parks. For most of the days, Yakutsk enjoyed sunny weather with a perfectly blue sky, which made the rays of sunshine make the ice sculptures shine and sparkle against the backdrop of the surrounding buildings.
People here have learnt to live in extreme cold, adapting to the rhythms of nature. They have also found a way to build houses on permafrost so that they would not sink into the ground. I discovered several peculiarities of everyday life in the city: in winter, cars used to commute to work have their engines running all day long, because otherwise, after a few hours of being parked in the cold, they would not start. Many people wear natural furs and hats, as they protect better against the cold than other types of coats and winter jackets. I often saw traditional footwear known as unty (унты in Russian) made from natural materials such as reindeer, deer or elk skin, lined with sheared fur and with sturdy leather soles, sometimes with wooden elements. Unty, which are part of traditional Yakut clothing worn during celebrations, are lavishly decorated, while those worn on a daily basis have much more modest embroidery with geometric shapes or floral and animal motifs.
As I wandered through the streets of the city, I remembered that during World War II, there were at least several thousand Polish citizens in Yakutsk and its surroundings, including a large number of Jews. Almost all of them were exiles or deportees (forced resettlers) to Yakutia in 1940–1941. In the national archives in Yakutsk, I saw, among other things, documents on the Polish primary school in that city, the building of which, unfortunately, has not been saved to the present day. It was opened in May 1942 in the building of the Yakutsk School of Medical Assistants and Midwives on ul. Lermontowa [Lermontov Street] and existed until 1944. I also had the opportunity to review materials documenting the living conditions of Polish deportees in various locations in Yakutia, where they were forcibly sent to work. In 1941, after the Sikorski-Majski agreement, the Soviet authorities released them from labour camps and special settlements, which resulted in many of these people arriving in Yakutsk and Aldan. Most of them, due to climatic, geographical and communication conditions that prevented them from leaving the area, remained in Yakutia until the end of the war and only returned to Poland as part of the repatriation campaign. They left accounts and memories in which one can find many details about their living conditions and about Yakutsk, Aldan and other places.
Yakutsk also has an old district with many wooden houses with beautifully decorated shutters and façades. They are still occupied. The town also boasts buildings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which now house various public institutions. To give an example, the National Library of the Republic of Sakha in Yakutsk is housed in a beautiful historic red brick building dating from 1911. Despite the long period of Sovietisation after 1917, it still has books from before the Bolshevik Revolution in its collection, including one of the first editions of Edward Piekarski’s dictionary.
Yakutia is a land of great rivers and their tributaries, and the longest river in Siberia, the Lena, which is 4,400 km long, passes through its territory. In the vicinity of Yakutsk, its width, including the islands, is approximately 11 km. In winter, when the river is frozen over, two lanes are created on the ice, running from one bank to the other. This ‘ice highway’ is used not only by passenger cars, but also by large trucks that transport materials and raw materials. In spring, when the ice begins to crack, movement between the banks stops until the ice floes cease to drift. Only then is the ferry service connecting the two banks of the river restarted and ships begin to run again.
In winter, the Lena is a place where many fishermen set up small tents to fish in small ice holes. They spend their days there and the river then is dotted with colourful tents and cars parked on it. In Yakutia, one of the traditional dishes of local cuisine, which appears at family and social gatherings, is stroganina (cтроганина in Russian) – a fine, raw, frozen fish, which is cut into thin slices and served with salt and pepper, possibly with onion and a glass of vodka.
On the other side of the Lena, in the town of Nizhny Bestyakh, the Kolyma Highway begins, stretching over 2,000 km. The route runs through Chandyga on the Aldan River, Ust-Nera on the Indigirka River, and then through the Magadan Oblast to Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk. Part of this road was built by prisoners of Soviet camps, many of whom died at the time. In spring and autumn, some sections are difficult to travel on, but in winter and summer you can travel smoothly. Just remember to take an extra fuel canister with you, especially in winter, as the towns along the route are few and far between and not all of them have petrol stations.
Yakutia will remain in my memory as a collection of diverse images: the helpful people who wanted to show me the peculiarities of Yakutia; the sunrise over the Kolyma Highway; the snow crunching and sparkling like diamonds; the frost biting my cheeks and, after a while, penetrating to the bone; the taste of hot tea from a samovar, its warmth thawing my frozen hands; wild Yakutian horses galloping across the snow; the mighty Lena River frozen over with ice, across which huge trucks carrying trees drove, and many others.
It is a great pity that in September 2023, a monument dedicated to Polish exiles from the 18th and 19th centuries and victims of repression in the 20th century was dismantled in Yakutsk. A few months earlier, plaques commemorating Polish researchers of Yakutia who had made outstanding contributions to its discovery and exploration had been removed. Thanks to their work, they had earned a permanent place in the memory of the local population, as evidenced by various institutions and people I spoke to.
Text and photographs:
Anna Zapalec (PhD), historian, Associate Professor in the Department of Contemporary & Historical Education at the Institute of History and Archival Studies of the University of the National Education Commission, Krakow. Prof. Zapalec studies the problems of Second World War in the context of the history of Poland. Her research focuses in particular on Holocaust, war crimes, forced migrations, fate of the Polish citizens in the territory of the USSR in the 20th century.
Translated by Małgorzata Giełzakowska.