The only major state museum in Russia dedicated to Soviet repressions announced within a few hours and without any prior warning its closure as of Thursday, November 14. A closure presented as “ temporary » with the official reason « fire safety violations “. No reopening date is specified.
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From our correspondent in Moscow,
No one to express themselves within the museum. The website is blocked, with instead a few words detailing the authorities’ decision on the website’s front page.
Created in 2001, the museum brings together numerous official and family archives, objects and photos that belonged to victims. It also houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of Soviet camps from 1918 to 1956, as well as temporary exhibitions. Shows, concerts and conferences are regularly organized there. The museum also houses a documentation center that helps visitors find information about their family members who were victims of Stalinism.
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Natalia Solzhenitsyn, the wife and fellow struggler of Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was present at the inauguration ceremony 20 years ago. “Cis an event of national scope “, she declared, adding: “ Should we see this event as an example that the rest of the entire country should follow? »
The museum in the Russian capital has always remained the only one of this scale in the country. And for several years already. The millions of victims of Soviet political repression are reduced to minimal proportions in history textbooks. Stalin is firstly presented as a hero of the Second World War and as the assassin of Nazism.
A memorial ceremony that can no longer be held
Memorial, the large NGO listing both Soviet repressions and those of the current regime, was classified “ foreign agent » then banned at the end of 2021.
Memorial created the “return of the names”, an annual day during which citizens come every October 29 to recount the names of victims of repression. But it cannot be held normally in Russia since 2020: the authorities cite the Covid-19 pandemic to ban all gatherings.
On October 30, the Gulag Museum in Moscow organized a similar action: throughout the day, people read the names of people killed during the Soviet terror.