Naftaly Frenkel

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Naftaliy Frenkel

Naftaly Aronovich Frenkel (Нафталий Френкель) (1883- after 1960), Soviet citizen and Chekist (member of the Soviet secret police).

Frenkel is best known for his role in the organization of work in Gulag, starting from the forced labor camp of the Solovetsky Islands, which is recognized as one of the earliest sites of the Gulag.

Naftaly Frenkel was of Jewish origin of uncertain descent. In some documents he claimed that he was born in Haifa, then Ottoman Empire. Other sources mention Constantinople. Early in the 20th century he was a merchant and a member of organized crime in Odessa.

In 1927 he was arrested and sent to the Solovetsky Islands. There he rose rapidly from prisoner to staff member on the strength of his proposal to the camp administration that they tie inmates' food rations to their rate of production, the proposal known as nourishment scale (шкала питания).

His ideas on efficient exploitation of prisoner labor brought him increasingly high positions in the Soviet regime. He was released from prison, gradually promoted to the rank of General of Engineering and Technical Services. After a personal meeting with Stalin, he was appointed Chief of Construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, a forced-labor project. Frenkel also later headed the Baikal Amur Mainline railway construction, also heavily based on forced labor.

During 1937-1945 he was the head of Chief Directorate of Railroad Construction (ГУЖДС).

He was awarded the Order of Lenin three times and the title Hero of Socialist Labor.