Pamięć Gułagu [Gulag Memory]

This article examines the commemoration practices of the Gulag in the Russian Federation. On the basis of qualitative data collected during a field research carried out in a few former lager districts (the Solovetsky Islands, Komi Republic, Perm region and Kolyma), I reconstruct a way the history of Soviet repressions was uncovered from oblivion and the process of Gulag commemoration began. Starting from the assumption that the Gulag memory was not started to working through in Russia till the end of 1980s, and that the last stage of Perestroika had a crucial influence on a way the repression past is nowadays commemorated in the country, I examine several memory projects erected in that time and show how the process of reworking the Gulag experience and presenting it in a narrative form occurred. On a base of the first exhibition dedicated to the Gulag past, SLON-Solovetsky Lager Osobogo Naznachenya, (the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp) I reconstruct a process of rewriting history and describe how the repressive past was perceived at the end of the 1980s. In turn, analyses of meaning and social function of the monuments commemorating Gulag show that at the beginning there was a diversity of the past interpretations and that the processes of the transformation of the soft into the hard memory proceed quite quickly. However, since the mid-1990 a comeback to the traditional, well recognizable model of culture is visible. Thus, the memory of Gulag supported by the Russian Orthodox Church slowly dominates the social perception of the repressive past.

Ab Imperio, 2019

Europe-Asia Studies, 2015

The late 1980s-mid-1990s reconstruction of the history of Soviet repressions critically influenced the social formation of Gulag memory in Russia. Amongst those re-narrating the past, 'Memorial' Society and the Russian Orthodox Church most actively shaped the collective memory of Soviet repressions, trying to establish multi-layered explanatory constructs of the Gulag. Their interpretations were crystallized through contemporary memorialisation acts in significant landscapes of the past. Focusing on Solovki, Ekaterinburg, Butovo and Magadan and analysing tensions in their memorialisation processes, we discuss secular and Orthodox interpretations of the Gulag, and their impact on the memory of the Soviet repressions in contemporary Russia.

Cultural and Political Imaginaries in Putin’s Russia

This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the prevailing CC-BY-NC-ND License.

Labolatorium. Russian Review of Social Research, 2018

In this article we consider the importance of the Solovetskie Islands for understanding of the memory of the Gulag in Russia. To better explain our argumentation we take a program we have developed for the Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding, which in July 2017 organized a summer school for PhD students from Poland and Russia on the Solovetskie Islands. By showing the assumptions and goals of the course we explain the complexity of the memory of Soviet repressions on Solovki in particular and in Russia in general. We describe the different memory narratives of Solovki’s repressive past that are present on the islands. We show that to understand the memory of Soviet repressions, it is important to recognize these diverse narratives produced by different memory actors, such as activists with the nonprofit Memorial Society and the staff of the local museum, but also various representatives of the local community. It is important not only to grasp what these narratives are about but also the interrelationships between them.

Cultural and Political Imaginaries in Putin’s Russia, 2019

BernsandAndTörnquist-plewa cies,politicalideologiesandimperialvisions,onmemorypoliticsonthegrassrootaswellasofficiallevels,andonthelinksbetweenpoliticalandnational imaginariesandpopularcultureinfieldsasdiverseasfashiondesignandpronatalistadvertising. Inawidespreadmodelofdemocratisation,theemergenceofaneconomically strongandaffluentmiddle-classwilleventuallyresultindemandsforpolitical and civic rights. Socio-economic emancipation and the acquirement of culturalandeducationalcapitalofthismiddlesegmentisthusexpectedtoengender a will for real political influence, respect for property rights, and better qualityofgovernment.However,whenaffluencetrickleddownfastinRussia duringthefirstpartofPutin'sruleinthewakeofthethenhighpricesonthe energymarkets,otherexplanationsemergedforwhyincreased(relative)materialwell-beinginacountryplaguedbycorruptionandbadgovernancedid notseemtoengenderawidelysupportedliberalorreformistopposition.Althoughcoercionandrepressioninrelationtopoliticaloppositionwasandremainspartoftheregime'stoolbox,acommonlineofreasoningpointedtoa socialcontract(Greene2017),orasortoftacitsocialagreement,beingoffered bytheregimetotheyoungerandmoreaffluenturbanlayersinRussia.This tacitagreementarguablyexchangedpoliticalcomplicityornon-interference ofurbanprofessionalsinpoliticallifeandtheworkingsofthegovernment(includingthemputtingablindeyetohowthefinancialcapitalofrulingpolitical, bureaucraticandeconomiceliteswasandcontinuedtobeaccumulated)for accesstothematerialandimmaterialbenefitsandpossibilitiesofglobalisation.Thisdidnotonlymeanthatmembersoftheemergingurbanclassesto theextentoftheirfinancialpossibilitiescouldfreelytravelandhaveaccessto thelatesttechnologicalinnovationsofglobalconsumeristculture.Theirselfrealisationandindividualdevelopmentintermsofeducation(includingforeign)andcareeropportunities,ifnotpairedwiththewrongkindofpolitical ambitions, were also encouraged. This meant that values associated with a global "creative class", such as individualism, creativity and sophistication wereembracedandencouragedaslongastheyremainedexpressionsofindividualtrajectories(orofuseforthestate)anddidnotleadtotheemergenceof politicaldemandsand"classconsciousness".Inrelationtowidersegmentsof thepopulation,itcouldbearguedthattheagreementrestsonmaterialimprovements and on a symbolic rejection of the 1990s, a decade widely perceivedasunpredictable,demoralizing,andlawless.

The main purpose of this case study will be to present various forms of gulag tourism customized for different persons based on their limitations (their physical condition, availability, economic abilities, and other). This study will also characterize the prospects for developing the gulag tourism. One of the main factors enabling such tourist activities is an increasing access to photographs and statistics regarding the Soviet labor camps. An equally important factor is the overwhelming interest of the persons who, driven by different reasons, want to learn about these places that were only partially known until recently. The study on the gulag tourism will be enriched by the results of the research carried out in the Magadan Oblast in 2004.