Exploring Vorkuta - Russian Ghost Town in Arctic | The Most Depressing Town in Russia
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- Опубликовано: 23 сен 2021
- Despite the richest coal deposits that gave boost to the development of the city, Vorkuta and the adjacent settlements are rapidly emptying today. The mega project of the Soviet machine was not in demand among the heirs of the empire. Today, some districts of Vorkuta and surrounding villages are abandoned or are about to be completely deserted. How is Vorkuta living today? What's going on around her? What are the prospects for the main coal mining region in the north of Russia? I personally went to the Arctic to answer these questions.
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I was born in the Vorkuta. In my teens, it was beautiful place, I really love the city. So painful to see how depressed the city is now.
the decaying forgotten state it's in now is what makes me want to visit so strongly theres nothing like that here in england.
@Sergej Kosychin When did move from Vorkuta and why?
@Caleb OKAY a great one is Cairo, Ilinois
Better then ever ,now it is a quiet nice place.
¿And where are you living now?
The only pro of Vorkuta is that you can buy a nice fully furnished apartment with year round central heating for around $500.
You can buy an apartment for free
@@anmetious4779 In Russia an apartment pays you to live in it.
@@vladimirrodionov5391in ohoi they pay yout to bebd over and use pro jelly lubricant only
@@vladimirrodionov5391 Apartment lives in you
Thanks, Man. As someone from tropical Malaysia, this video is infinitely fascinating!
I can imagine that very well, yes, definitely an amazing contrast! 😅
I was born in Russia, but adopted when I was really young I supposedly spent my first 2 years as a baby growing up here, although I have no memory from such a young age. Very interesting to learn some of the history of the town, and it's current state. Really sucks to see how depressing it appears today.
you are lucky your parents had the sense to leave
@@jamble7k I was adopted from Russia......like I said. My adoptive parents aren't from there, lol
hey, what was your home town after Vorkuta?
@@denj4s I briefly lived right outside Moscow when I was put up for adoption. My adoptive parents are from the Northeast United States, so they flew over to adopt me. Once all the paperwork was finished, I obviously went with them back to the United States, and a grew up there most of my life.
Since I was so young when I was adopted I barely remember anything from when I was in Russia. Just some vague images and memories here and there, although they might not even be real lol
@@LuckyOwI777 was it in the 90s? adopting kids was quite popular around that time, there were stories about people that were collecting kids from all sorts of poor countries who were happy to get rid of them and then exploited them in different ways. glad you get a family.
Nature is merciless in this part of world yet Russians have lived and worked here, hats off to them.
Can't take your hat off there. Your head will freeze!🤣
@James Kirk and still even in democracy exist. It's just called lobbying or sponsoring 😂
@James Kirk Communism is an optimistic ideology but it bows down to human nature.
It was a heavy duty labour prison, mostly for political dissidents, people were forced to live there.
Vodka gets honorable mention.
"In my life... He and us are not so different. We are all soldiers without an army, betrayed, forgotten, abandoned in vorkuta, we are all brothers."
-Viktor Reznov
The man, the myth, the legend.
I was waiting to see it here and you came in clutch.
nostalgia hurts
Most Russians don't even have stable access to water and electricity. But they are brainwashed to think it's the best country in the world
@@gyeok4475 Lol, you confused Russia whith USA.
✔
How nice the piano was working…. It’s was so haunting. Those keys hadn’t been touched in some odd 20-30 years and might never be played again. All those books that were collected by someone with certain ideas just to be abandoned. It’s just so many little things that make me go crazy seeing abandoned locations everytime because of all the stories never told and peoples hopes dashed in literal physical form. Just shows how quickly humans can lose it all too :”)
I was born there. I was there like 2 years ago, stayed for 3 months. Its very sad to see my hometown in such a state, though its not dangerous or something. Just a quite, forsaken place people leave. Love the weather and the nature.
Why do you love the weather my friend?
I was born in Vorkuta in 1981 and lived there 16 years. All my childhood and my teen age was there. Of course it was a great time. I leaved Vorkuta in 1997. Now when i see any video about my city i almost cry and be sad. Thank you
go home.
I am at home
@@hia5235 What a stupid comment. If you can not add anything constructive, keep your mouth shut.
Where Are you living now??
Well if you left you are part of the problem.
That Die Hard poster is so surreal. Really connects the abandoned building to reality. People lived there relatively recently.
What is the timing?
@@raggedclawstarcraft6562 13:20
God bless this young woman who cares for these beautiful animals. I hardly saw a handful of people.
I've been living and teaching in Inta, a 33k inhabited town south of Vorkuta. The place is not as depressing as the one depicted in the video. People were friendly, eager to talk with you about the outside world, many are actually ecological conscious and they are proud of their region. Similar issues are shared by Vorkuta and Inta: the unemployment due to the closing of coal mines and the abandonment by the central state. The history of the place, intertwined with the Gulag prisoners coming from the four corners of USSR, is a difficult subject to address nowadays, the work being done by the Memorial organisation, now closed by the Kremlin for ideological reasons.
Memorial doesn't work on keeping memories. It is keen on twisting Russian history on behalf of its western sponsors. So I am only glad its activity has been stopped.
@@user-ss3pq4wt7j Hello comrade Kremlebot. So, how does it work nowadays? Are you still payed 50 rubles a comment or is it a daily salary? In anycase, your decency comes very cheap.
@@gerhardvonschiffe854 Looks like you are a Ukrainian or neoliberal with zero respect to anyone not supporting your ideas. As in an old joke, there are two opinions. One is mine, the other is false. I am afraid you belong to two percent minority imagining they know the truth and the rest of the people are stupid beasts. That's exactly the reason why you are not respected or supported in Russia. If you by any chance read the novel of Dostoevsky the Karamazov brothers, then you must know the character of Smerdyakov. That's what neoliberals in Russia are.
@@user-ss3pq4wt7j Hey, you forgot the key words "children of Donbass", "gayropa" and "decadent Western civilization".
@@gerhardvonschiffe854 sorry not to meet your expectations. Unlike trolls of your sort I stick to one point and don't try to bombard the opponent with hundreds of doubtful statements at once
I loved the dog shelter, and the kind people who operate it, despite difficult living conditions of their own.
It was cool that you shared this.
donate i did
I sent also , wish those dogs could find a good home with a family but I dont think they ever will
I also donated 😌
The shelter in Vorkuta writes that they do have only bank card no PayPal. I wonder to whom these payments go
@@satusalmivirta9840 Майорова Ирина Сергеевна this is the name
Single industry cities like this one and the others across the former USSR were directly inspired by the "company towns" in the US like Gary, Indiana and even Detroit. And today, since the '90s, when the companies that sustained those towns began to collapse, those company towns have also faced depopulation and large scale abandonment. The US and USSR were never so different after all.
Good commentary! These towns remind me of the abandoned coal-mining and industrial heavy towns in Pennsylvania, Virginia, W. VA, etc. that are literal ghost-towns and frozen in time. It blows my mind how much can change in a couple of generations.
This is due to the general depopulation and degradation of Russia.
Actually Vorkuta was initially set up as Vorkutlag, a GULAG labour camp. The city was only incorporated during the second world war after the camp and a settlement for staff and 'free laborers' was already established for 10 years. The main reason for incorporating the city was because the camp coal mines became the main source of the USSR's coal after the loss of the donbass reigon and so the government needed to create the facade that Vorkuta was a city not a sprawling camp complex The creation of the 'company town' was an attempt to make up for the loss of convict labour following the mass gulag amnesties in the 1950s, however a lot of former prisoners ended up staying on in Vorkuta because of the lucrative pay and the fact they had no where else to go. In fact before a housing program under Kruschchev most of the cities building were simply repurposed camp vehicles. 'd recommend 'Gulag Town, Company Town' by Alan Barenberg if Vorkuta interests you.
Easy to say sitting in your 1500 sq ft home eating steak.... unfortunately we Americans have been pampered so much we are out of touch with just how rough life can be, time to face some bigger issues
in the Southern usa its the same cotton mills gave birth to many cities and towns once they left the prosperity of these once bustling towns was greatly reduced ....
Random Die Hard poster in abandoned ice covered apartment. This is amazing. There are very few abandoned buildings where I live because they get torn down, or they are so boarded up for safety reasons that you can't get in. Even when you can get in, there's nothing there. Everything has been taken. I think it's amazing that you can find furniture, books, household objects and movie posters relatively well preserved (probably due to the cold). You are also very brave to dare that foot bridge and enter some of these buildings. The bridge is in a deplorable state and unsafe to walk on [proceeds to cross it.] Best wishes to the people of Vorkuta.
The snow filled/covered buildings, actual art!, so beautiful.
If you can survive in that town, you have defeated depression in this life and many lives to come.
people live in Central Australia and Arizona - c`mon, weather conditions there are no better.
Honestly, this is one of the most fascinating videos I have ever seen on RUclips. I'm in a big city in Australia, so this is the exact opposite of what I see daily. I would love to visit. I hope the people who left have happy memories of Vorkuta.
@ TD B A lot of people certainly didn't have happy memories of this place in the past. Camp Vorkuta was one of the biggest and most cruel camps of the Soviet GULAG system. Over a million people were incarcerated there and were forced to do labor in coal mines. Lots of people died.
@@AM-sm9kg he's Australian. The whole purpose of his country was gulag for the British convicts.
an easier place u can go to is finland. moldy 60’s and 70’s apartments
So tell him what does your “black cube” represents. Research your monument. There are more satanic statues called “modern art” that is satanic worship than anyone realizes. And that is why the world is heading in the direction it is going. The demons have been loosed. Call me crazy, fine but when they start to manifest contact me. I’ll tell you what you must do.
I doubt it , if they had alot of good memories so many people wouldnt have left
My favorite part of your videos is the conversations you have with people you meet on the way.
Знаете, у населения бывшего СССР, нет денег на туризм и видеографию, и большинство наших зрителей изучают нашу же страну, из ваших видео. Спасибо Вам, за правду в видео).
This reminds me of a nightmare i once had. I ran around a town which was completely covered in ice and snow, no people and not a sound, it was pretty terrifying
That would be weird as F , looking around, quiet and not seeing anybody,
Silent Hill Shattered Memories moment
something tells me this place still has a future ahead in the end ... if you catch my meaning
@@XGY179 great thanks for that ;_;
@@2face869 your welcome , you know like a far cry game like end of the times and this is the only place left and it’s got soldiers people trying to live and probably some bad guys and someone trying to stop them in the frozen hell in Russia
My grandmother was abducted to the Vorkuta gulag at the end of the war and got 20 years camp imprisonment but was released after 8 years in 1955. She has been there from age 27 to 35. Very hard work in a brick factory. Other prisoners were forced to lay the train tracks into the permafrost soil etc.
Wow. I cannot imagine the hardships she and others faced there. Being so cold and laying tracks amongst other things! I would love more detail whenever you feel like giving them. Thank you.
So interesting would love to hear her story
Stalin was a crazy m... f...
The Soviet nostalgia posts get thousands of likes while this, an example of what the monstrosity truly was, gets ignored.
@Anonymer Nutzer Guys, please tell me why the power of such a bloody leader was held until his death? Why wasn't he deposed by a popular uprising?
Немного напоминает Норильск, в котором с прожила 36 лет, уехала год назад, возраст! Норильску повезло больше, производство не закрывают, да и в последние годы он стал значительно чище, лучше и ярче. Эти дома старой постройки, снег, как это мне знакомо!
A very fascinating tour, thank you! I've been curious about Vorkuta and other former gulag towns for a long time. The dogs touched my heart and I will send a few dollars for them.
Gulag,ah remember me to escape vorkuta
Most depressing? This is a winter wonderland compared to Bald and Bankrupts Russian adventures... Great video. Subscribed
Just makes you awe in amazement and horror at what must've brought half a city into complete abandonment and desolation. I cannot imagine what the collapse of USSR must've been like for the people living in these isolated single-purpose cities.
Probably took a few days to even get the news of the collapse.
Central planning was the only thing keeping these places functional
that's what happens when you imprison your own population in artificially-created frozen hells. When people are given the choice, they live. The collapse of communism meant liberation after 70 years of slavery.
Bald and bankrupt did a video in Russia. He actually spoke with an old lady living in a massive , crumbling building. She said that they thought things would be different and better when it changed, but it just got worse and worse. :( His channel is also a great one to check out! :)
Coal mining towns in northern England were left destitute and communities destroyed in the 80s under Thatcher. Brutal.
Very well put-together video. Thank you for showing us this seemingly forgotten town. Pozdrav iz 🇷🇸
How amazing is it that you took me on a tour of a place I could never hope to visit in person ,hello from Australia and thank you.
Definitely one of the most jarring abandoned town videos I've seen! The way everything is just buried in snow. The snow and ice in the stairways really got me, as well as the ice all over the chandelier. Just imagine, there were once families living in those buildings, staying warm away from the ice and snow but now the snow is reclaiming the location.
I love that someone is running a dog shelter there, without it those dogs would die.
8 dogs a day is the average amount that die in Vorkuta
I find it very sad that so many of the people who moved on left so many of their personal belongings behind. I imagine that having to leave on the train would limit how much one family could take with them, though.
Привет. Я из Воркуты. Компания "Воркута Уголь" оплачивала переезжающим железнодорожный контейнер для перевозки личных вещей. Многие люди из Воркуты не покупали новую мебель и другие вещи, потому что у них есть квартиры в других теплых городах.
What a great video! Thanks for sharing! Hope your channel grows to a million subs as this content deserves!
Отличное видео, смотрелось на одном дыхании, очень интересное место. Рад что ты снял его на английском чтобы поделиться со всем миром, такие истории действительно стоят того, чтоб о них знали
Yes olive in new York my neighbors are Russian this gives me insight into their world
The icicles formed inside the building are amazing. Looks like something out of a movie or storybook.
Dude I discovered your channel 3 days ago. Since then I'm watching 2-3 videos per night, love your stuff :D
His videos deserve millions of views.
@@rolfrevman i totaly agree without you!
Welcome to the group
I appreciate how you use the tune from the piano you found as background music for the next few shots. Brilliant!
Stunning video, very interesting! Thank you very much for sharing!
Thank you for the video!!! It brought back many memories of my four visits to Vorkuta. The last time I was there in 2014 the oil business was booming. Several places along the railway near Vorkuta you could see the pipeline being constructed. At that time, comments were made about the government subsidizing relocation away from Vorkuta. Several friends have since moved to other locations in Russia. Also, there are the reindeer herders who lived there before the gulags were built. When one of them was asked if they would move further south, he responded that he didn't think the reindeer would like to live in a warmer climate.
Mining communities all over the world have suffered the same fate. When a town grows due to one main work opportunity, once that’s exhausted, if no one invests in new industry, the town will die. It’s sad, but natural 😢
Very interesting I loved the ice in the buildings and the dogs at the end. I made sure to send a donation. Thanks.
That was so interesting!! Very nice videos my friend. Will check out more of your channel. Hi from Canada 🇨🇦
What a well presented video. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explore these places with you. As a US citizen who was 20 when the USSR began it's transformation, it's fascinating and tragic to see what has happened. I'm glad you popped up on my algorithm. I look forward to more vids. Cheers.
It's crazy thinking of all the lives that lived in these places.
It almost feels like looking back into the middle ages, yet it wasn't that long ago.
Amazing walk thru and discussion Ivan Thankyou for shedding some light onto a place that most of us will never see in person.
bro lives in Metro Exodus fr fr
A lot of mining communities in the United States are suffering the same kind of gradual decline though not quite so frozen as this place. It really is sad to see the promises of the past fade into an uncertain future.
Thank you for sharing this even if it is a bit bleak.
Also, your English is better than some native speakers I know but then I do live in Texas.
agreed were i am there were alot of factorys been they all started closing down alot of people have left myself included
Mining communities always eventually become a ghost town, since mankind has been digging. It's just inevitable.
Need to clean it up before just building new cities.
My home town... Haven''t visited it for almost 17 years... Amazing
Incredible footage. Thank you for showing me a place in the world I wouldn’t necessarily spend that much effort to visit but am still interested in. Cheers!
So amazing place! Thank you for show it!
Omg I need to visit this place. It gives me such stalker and metro vibes! I also love the snow.
When I was a kid in the early 2000s there still was snow in my hometown of Kraków, southern Poland. That is no longer the case unfortunately.
Seeing Vorkuta covered in snow is such a nice reminder, though there are no abandoned soviet blocks in Kraków, and everything is renovated
It gives me COD Black Ops vibes
I’m from England and visited Krakow and Katowice it was very nice and clean
It's sad to hear about snow, many in Europe say that the snow is getting less and less.I live in Siberia and a few years ago we didn't have snow until the very new year, everyone was in shock, and the children usually were used to playing snowballs, making snowmen, etc. by this time. Now it was raining recently, although at this time the thermometer should already show - 20 degrees Celsius
What there is never snow in Krakow? I live in Czech republic and there was snow everywhere just 3 days ago.
@@sadcookie7401 - He’s exaggerating. There was little snow in the 2010s, but it came back on a big scale in 2020, and 2021/22 promises to be another heavy snow year.
This is quite fascinating, thank you for making this and sharing it. Those ice corridors from broken pipes are incredible!
You got a new sub out of this! I love history and you made me feel like I was there. Great video, very well documented. I thank you!
ThESE VIDEOS ARE THE BEST
GREAT WORK MAN
THANK YOU FOR SHARING
Wow, I certainly enjoyed the beautiful ghostly forgotten buildings along with the haunting ice formations. Just knowing because of the desolation that so much of that beauty goes unseen. However, I am so glad that you gave me the opportunity to go on this little journey with you. Bravo!! PS, my son-in-law is married to my American daughter and he is from Moscow Russia. His name is Slava.
good job vagabond, loved watching the episode. Surreal world out there!
Greetings from Moncton, NB Canada. Thank you for sharing such an interesting story on this city.
Very cool vid, man. Thanks!
Tremendous piece of Russian social history. Well done
I don’t find it depressing. Of course I love snow and long winters. That helps in such a cold place. I also love the poetic feeling of being lost in time, and walking abandoned streets and feeling the ghostly memories of long lost dreams. The passions of lovers running to see the one they love. The fatigue of weary workers. Mothers rushing to buy food. Children going to school. The beating hearts may have gone to other places, but their stories remain. As a writer and artist I would love to make films in a place like this, films that bring past lives to life again and tells their stories.
I love this documentary you made. Thank you.
Fascinating Video, thank you very much for making it......
Thank you for the very interesting video and sharing!
wow looks so nice how the snow takes over the staircases inside the building, keep on the great work
That was one of your best videos, very interesting and informative. 👍👍👍👍
cool video, I enjoyed watching it
Very interesting video - thanks for posting.
Thank you!! The starkness of the ruins, especially in winter, hold some aesthetic merit! Excellent!! I want to go visit now!
I loved that bit at the end about the dog shelter. Would've liked to have seen more of that! 💙
The snow inside the apartments was amazing, the lampshade with the snow on it also, its sad, scary, bleak, wonderful all round into one, you can see signs of peoples lives from the past, thank you for this vid.
16:44 this conversation alone is so interesting. Thanks for all the insights.
Wow I accidentally discover your channel while scrutinizing "Bald & Bankrupt" films around Russia and the defunct USSR!
Nice one informative too👍👍
Seeing all the soviet architecture, slogans, and remnants in Vorkuta is truly fascinating!
That was a nice idea there with that bus stop but my immediate first thought was "who the hell is saying, yeah I want some ice cream" after coming in from that mess haha!
Great video and great story of Vorkuta and a coal mine Vorkuta district . 👍
This guys channel gives off Bald and Bankrupt vibes. Love it.
After hair follicles replacement he is now Hairy and Loaded.
Your not aware of his Vorkuta posts from RVF? It's just a weird coincide,
My neighbours would like to live in Vorkuta! They dream about moving there every day! Please send them the tickets!
This is so interesting! Thank you!
The quality of your work is superb.
If I win the lottery … I would spend my life travelling around “crazy “ Russia…such a interesting country
And why do you say 'crazy'. Just out of curiosity. I am Southern European
Please
@@Victoria-rl4cu He means "crazy" as interesting and wild .
Really, why? 😱
Then I hope, you will not win anything. So you rather do something fruitful for society, not traveling your ass, and polute nature by it.
This is such a sad thing to watch. For me, the books and the children's homework was the saddest part. Now those homework doesn't seem so important after all.
It must be devastating for owners of those houses and stuff to see their belonging so cold and lifeless.
Human beings are such a fragile existence.
Beautiful comment.
When I first got to Vorkuta I was freezing in -20 C due to wind, but as soon as I've got windproof clothes, gloves and ski mask, it's quite comfortable in -20 and -30. Only in -35 it starts to get cold.
The only notable difference is that it takes much time to get out, but as soon as I am out, I move free enough. Also if I hold mobile phone to e.g. make a photo, hands start freezing in -20. My gloves are heated by electricty, so I can quickly heat hands and hold mobile phone again, but it is annoying
They probably moved to better places
Congrats for the video 💪❤️
Depressing is an understatement. Who in is perfect mind wants to live in a place like that...🤔
Absolutely fascinating! Thank you my friend for all this information!
Thank you! Great video ! We all need to be grateful for the warm places we enjoy! Heat, electricity, food etc.
I love these uploads, interesting, ty👍
Impressive reportage, well done!
Thats a great video ive always been intrigued by this town , That old piano still has a good tone as well !
Thank you especially for the dog shelter house.👍
Great video
great video. Thanks.
Thank you for taking me through this abandoned mining town. A lot of interesting things were shown. It would be interesting to see the city in full swing. Nevertheless, I was surprised by the joyful sound of the children in front of the school.
I wish you many more successes at your work and that you stay safe and healthy!
Call me sentimental, but it breaks my heart when toys and photos are left behind. I would travel to Vorkuta just to retrieve these things. Amazing vid!
First time viewer. I started this journey by Googlinging the tsar bomba, slowly it took me to Google Street view of Vorkuta, then to here. I was totally absorbed into your well presented video. Subscribed and will now journey with you.
Amazing video!
To this channel i really want to THANK you for making such a beautiful video. Unfortunately 2021 has really NOT been wonderful or kind to me and this video really helped me take my mind off things. I am truly looking forward to new post and knowing more about how life is in your part of the world. Best regards and cheers from Singapore.
When things are so bad,you know its going to get better,that is my wish for you.Sending warm greetings from Sydney, Australia & Cheers!
Thank you so much, this was really interesting. You have done great job. Greetings from Estonia!
oli küll
Very interesting. Thank you for the video.
These people deserve better.
The people who support a lunatic dictator and invading other countries? Nah, they don't.
Enjoy watching videos like these. Another amazing beautiful place to look up is Cairo, Illinois. Really fascinating place.
Great information hope to visit soon..
Great video and commentary on a place very few people will get to experience otherwise.
Lovely and very interesting video thank you.