"Vaninsky Port" or "I Remember That Port in Vanino" (Russian: Я помню тот Ванинский порт) is a popular Russian folk song of the USSR epoch, which is often called an anthem of Soviet GULAG prisoners on Kolyma.
A Magadan littérateur A.M. Biryukov has researched this issue and showed very convincingly that its author was Konstantin Sarakhanov.
The Vanino port was a transit point for transportation of deported Gulag prisoners who followed the Kolyma.
At the station and the port of Vanino there was overloading prisoners from trains on ships following to Magadan - an administrative center of "Dalstroy" and Sevvostlag.
The modern version of the song: Я помню тот Ванинский порт И крик пароходов угрюмый, Как шли мы по трапу на борт В холодные мрачные трюмы.
Не песня, а жалобный крик Из каждой груди вырывался.
От качки стонали з/к,[2] Обнявшись, как родные братья, И только порой с языка Срывались глухие проклятья.
Напрасно и этой весной Я жду от любимой ответа.
Знать горькую чашу до дна Придется мне выпить на свете!
Ya pomnyu tot Vaninsky port I krik parakhodov ugryumy Kak shli myi po trapu na bort V kholodnye mrachnye tryumy.
Na more spuskalsya tuman Revela stikhiya morskaya Lezhal vperedi Magadan - Stolitsa Kolymskogo kraya.
Ot kachki stonali Z/K [2] Obnyavschis', kak rodnye brat'ya, I tolko poroy s yazyka Sryvalis' glukhie proklyatiya.
I remember that port in Vanino And the morose shout of steamships, As we mounted a ladder to board Into the cold dark holds.