To Moscow, the people of the small Russian town of Berenstburg are little more than

props, human placeholders in a dying town whose main purpose is simply to exist maintaining Russian

presence on the island of Spitsbergen.

In reality though, they are much, much more than that.

The people of Berenzberg are the inheritors of a rich tradition and history.

It is a history that involves Dutch miners, Soviet propaganda, heated indoor pools,

and a giant bust of Vladimir Lenin and Nazi battleships, but it begins, as many good stories do, with the birth of a child,

because Berensburg is the birthplace of the first true Svalbardian.

In 1912, a Norwegian mining company... first true Svalbardian.

In 1912, a Norwegian mining company called Kuompanez-isford-Sbitsbergen took possession of a no-man's

land about 37 kilometers southwest of Longybin.

They suspected that the land might one day be useful for mining, but at the moment they didn't

have the means to set up an operation there, so for the time being they hired a guard, a Finnish man,

to stay there and maintain their claim on the land.

The Finn brought along his wife and there they stayed in a small hut with no one else around

for miles and nothing to do.

Eventually it seems they did think of one thing to do and nine months later on May 9th, 1913 their son was born.

Charles Emil Polar Glad, the first person to ever be born in Spalbard.

He was also one of the first additions to what would become Berenzburg.

He wasn't the last, though.

Soon, Berenzburg would become home to over 1500 people, the crown jewel of Russia's settlement of the Arctic.

Looking at the town now, though, as its population slowly dwindles, one can't help but think that the children

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