©GARF, Moskau
By mid 1947 the camp administration had erected a complex fencing system, which consisted of a 2.5-metre-high boarded fence, an illuminated 2.8-metre-tall high-voltage electric fence with barbed wire, rolls of barbed wire on the ground to hinder crawling, an open space seven to nine meters wide, and an additional barbed wire fence that was approximately 2.8 metres high. The 23 towers each had rotatable searchlights. These, together with additional floodlights, provided an almost seamless illumination of the camp and fencing installations. Day and night heavily armed guard details manned the watchtowers. Guard patrols and four block guard posts were established. Once these outer security installations were complete, flight became practically impossible. Information also did pass the camp's gate in either direction. Due to its almost complete isolation from the exterior world, the Soviet special camp was also called the "silent camp."
