To judge by reports on the internet, the Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression was not commemorated at the surviving memorial in Vladimir yesterday. Instead, the governor broadcast a sombre speech to the Vladimir Region; his words were illustrated by a monument in Siberia (Irkutsk). “Remember us all, O Motherland, innocent victims. … Continue reading On another front, pt 2
Stalinism*
Remembrance (3): Four brothers
Alexander Pokrovsky and his three brothers were born in a village in what today is Russia's Oryol Region. By the early 1930s, they had moved to Moscow. Ivan (1904-1933), Simeon (b. 1911), and Sergei (b. 1915) There in summer 1932 the OGPU (predecessor of the NKVD) arrested them and by October that year all four … Continue reading Remembrance (3): Four brothers
“Light in the Darkness” (I)
This website has already published excerpts from Irina Flige's 2019 book about Sandarmokh: The Search for Sandarmokh. What follows is from a review in the January 2020 issue of Novy mir, the literary magazine (Moscow). "Two themes run through Irina Flige’s book," writes Tatyana Bonch-Osmolovskaya. "One is the quest, pursued across many years, for the … Continue reading “Light in the Darkness” (I)
Russia arrests second historian of Stalin’s Terror
It is becoming dangerous in Russia to investigate the crimes of Stalinism, writes Halya Coynash. A second Karelian historian, Sergei KOLTYRIN has been arrested and is facing charges almost identical to those now brought against political prisoner, Yury DMITRIEV. Sergei Koltyrin While the possibility cannot be excluded that there are real grounds for these new … Continue reading Russia arrests second historian of Stalin’s Terror
Russia – Past, Present and Future
THE OFFICIAL VIEW “As Russia marks the centenary of the October Revolution, President Vladimir Putin has urged the society to end discord over the Soviet era,” reported the TASS news agency[1] on 21 December 2017. "This year, the centenary of the October Revolution, we have been seeking to encourage the society to abandon confrontation, to … Continue reading Russia – Past, Present and Future
The Dmitriev Affair 