Local Initiatives: A Historical Analysis of the Creation of Memorial Museums of the Gulag in (Post-)Soviet Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the creation of memorial museums of the Gulag in (post-)Soviet Russia in ten regions: Moscow, the Solovetsky Islands, the Mari El Republic, Perm Region, Tomsk Region, the Tuva Republic, Kemerovo Region (Kuzbass), the Sakha Republic, Magadan Region, and the Komi Republic. Most of them were created between 1989 and 2015 as local initiatives, rather than as part of official government-sponsored efforts, although they were later supported (or not) by local authorities. The creation of memorial museums of the Gulag was initiated by museum workers and professional historians, immediately after the collapse of the USSR many of the founders of such museums were amateurs. Consequently, the exhibitions often presented Stalin’s repressions in specific ways that today seem ambiguous. This article takes a historical approach to analyze the process of the creation of memorial museums in (post-)Soviet Russia and their specificities.