Soviet repressions remembered
Published: 30 July, 2009, 16:29
Edited: 03 February, 2010, 12:43
TAGS: Movies, Music, Theater, Russia, Politics, Human rights
Remembering the fate of political prisoners and reminding of human rights are the aims of the memorial museum of political repressions Perm-36. The museum has held the 5th International forum “Pilorama-2009”.
As expected, questions about war and peace, prison and freedom were never far from attendees minds.
The Perm-36 museum, a former camp for political prisoners is, in a way, unique. It has kept some of the original wooden buildings of the Soviet dark times and managed to restore the camp's furnishings and feel to how they were back then.
The museum enjoys massive interest from both Russian and international audiences, and regularly holds joint international expo-projects. Original exhibits from Perm-36 have traveled to almost all major cities in the US.
“In 1972, this camp became a camp for political prisoners. They were transferred here from Mordovia, where the political camps were concentrated. They were kept in so-called high-security, and from 1980 an even tougher, maximum-security regime for prisoners. The security systems constructed here show how strong the government’s fear of dissidents was,” Leonid Obukhov, head of the scientific research group at the Perm-36 museum told RT.
There are few other places in the country telling the story of GULAG camps in the Soviet Union and showing how the political prisoners were kept in them.
“Many innovations worked out in the Internal Ministry’s institutions were tested in the camps for political prisoners, and particularly here. In penal colonies the security systems were not so strict,” Leonid Obukhov says.
 Perm-36 prison cell interior |
The festival received the name “Pilorama” translated verbatim as “power-saw bench,” due to its main scenic platform – a power-saw bench of former camp Perm-36, where most of the prisoners used to work.
The “Pilorama” forum aims to attract additional attention to the themes of war and peace, imprisonment and freedom, educating people about the times when the power-holders were putting political prisoners behind numerous bars and fences just to keep their mouths shut.
The forum, organized by the Perm regional Culture Ministry and the regional philharmonic orchestra, included a festival of civic songs, several theatrical performances on the themes of war and Soviet repressions, and thematic exhibitions. A documentary program from the German Goethe Cultural Center titled “All people are born free and equal” was displayed along with the winning films from the International Human Rights Film Festival.
The most valuable possibility of the happening is the option to see and to talk to live witnesses of the Soviet persecution. It is extremely important that the former prisoners of the camps keep coming to the forum and telling their stories.
Russian human rights organizations officials and representatives of embassies and general consulates of the USA, Germany, Poland and Finland wtook part in the forum.
30.07.2009, 14:32
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8 comments
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I don't believe the Soviet Union, or even Marxists for that matter are communists. The Soviet regime was a dictatorship, and operated very similarly to Nazi Germany and even Fascist Italy. Hell Joseph Stalin even believed the Russians to be superior, he opposed the creation of the USSR and wanted to operate the Georgians, Ukrainians, and such under the RSFSR. I'm sure if he had, Ukraine, the Baltics, and the like would not be independent because I'm sure Russification would have been more thurough if it weren't for Lenin's influence on Stalin. But again, I'm more likely to believe Bakunin's Socialism and Anarchism to be closer to any sort of "Communism". But thats just what I think ;)
If CountCash believes that one or another aspect of history is falsified, perhaps he could detail and verify what makes it false, rather simply offer offensive insults to individuals and nations alike. CountCash makes a lot of lurid allegations, but offers zero evidence for them. He writes, “The Estonian Nazis didn't just operate in their own country. They were in Belarus, Poland, Ukraine... they even to further the Nazi cause fought against the Soviet Union in Stalingrad.” There were no Estonian Nazis that I know of from any historical account: none were members of the Nazi Party or had any particular sympathy with it its causes, and no one has claimed otherwise. Estonian units within the German military even refused to swear allegiance to Hitler. Estonians did fight against the Soviet Union in many places, including probably at Stalingrad for the most justified of all reasons: the Soviet Union had invaded, occupied and committed mass atrocities against Estonia and its people. Just because an Estonian (or a German, for that matter) fought in the German military does not mean he was a Nazi; similarly, wearing a Red Army uniform does not automatically mean that the wearer was a Communist. I have explained before why some Estonians fought within the German military, and some within the Red Army. That explanation can be verified by any accepted historical source the world over. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with Estonians being either Nazis, Communists – or liars.
January 02, 2010, 01:12, Keegan wrote > I don't believe the Soviet Union, or even Marxists for that matter are communists. The Soviet regime was a dictatorship, and operated very similarly to Nazi Germany and even Fascist Italy. Joseph Stalin even believed the Russians to be superior, he opposed the creation of the USSR and wanted to operate the Georgians, Ukrainians, and such under the RSFSR. I'm sure if he had, Ukraine, the Baltics, and the like would not be independent because I'm sure Russification would have been more thorough if it weren't for Lenin's influence on Stalin. > But again, I'm more likely to believe Bakunin's Socialism and Anarchism to be closer to any sort of "Communism". But that's just what I think ;)