The
Nazino affair (
Russian:
Назинская трагедия,
translit. Nazinskaya Tragediya) was the
mass deportation of 6,000 people to Nazino Island in the
Soviet Union in May 1933. The deportees, mostly
political prisoners and
petty criminals, were forcibly sent to the small, isolated island in
Western Siberia, located 540 kilometers (340 mi) northwest of
Tomsk, to construct a "
special settlement". They were abandoned with only
flour for food, and little in the way of tools, clothing, or shelter, and those who attempted to leave were killed by armed guards.
[1][2] The conditions of the island led to widespread
disease,
abuse of power,
violence, and
cannibalism. Within thirteen weeks, over 4,000 of the deportees related to Nazino Island had died or disappeared, and a majority of the survivors were in ill health.
[3][2]