The ministry of entrepreneurship and tourism development of Sakha, a republic in the eastern part of Russia, better known as Yakutia, proposed to turn former forced labour camps into tourist attractions to raise awareness to the eastern region of Siberia that clearly lacks touristic activity.
During the 1940s and 1950s, thousands of workers were stationed in the Tomponsky district building on the M56 Kolyma Highway and were forced to work in terrible conditions exposed to the deadly climate of Eastern Siberia. Nowadays, the M56 Kolyma Highway is better known as the “road of bones” as many have left their lives there whilst working on the site.
Horrible tragedies took place during those dark days and that is deemed as the best foundation to lure action seekers and mystery lovers for the sole purpose of making money. It is advertised as a way to preserve historical heritage of both the region and the country and yet the efforts still seem more commercial rather than educational.
The Komi Republic even planned to recreate an exact copy of the labour camp zone including the barracks, guard towers as well as the solitary confinement cells. However, these plans were stopped before they could even launch for obvious reasons. Many critics fear that business interferes with history and tragedy could be misused to create “amusement parks”.
