A researcher's journey to Siberia

Category: Monument square

Architecture of Repression

The building at 44 Lenin Avenue was of course originally an educational institution. It became a site of repression (*nods to Foucault*), serving as one of two local headquarter buildings for the OGPU/NKVD from 1922-1944. Structurally, this involved converting the basements (of both buildings, if I’m not mistaken) into a remand or investigative prison (следственная тюрьма), and connecting the two buildings via an underground corridor.

According to the Tomsk Memorial Society, the corridor was used for executions and to transport arrestees, unseen, between the two buildings. The director of the museum at 44 Lenin Avenue, Vasilii Khanevich, has a dream of restoring this corridor and making it part of the museum.

In any case, it’s interesting to think about the architecture of repression, in this case: both in the sense of how easily it was to convert a building from an institution of education to an institution of repression, but also how, architecturally, the worst elements of repression were underground, and hidden from view.

Anyway, below are two pictures from the museum’s website, linked here (along with a discussion of the restoration project).

Map of the ‘Monument Square’ outside 44 Lenin Avenue, showing the underground corridor between the two buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image of the underground corridor, via the NKVD Remand Prison Museum website

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions

Just a quick note: In Russia, October 30 is officially the “Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions.” As the museum at 44 Lenin Avenue is run by the Tomsk chapter of the Memorial Society, dedicated to preserving the memory of the victims of Soviet-era repression, it’s a key day for the museum staff and for the building itself. In the square outside of the building, people gathered and read 1500 names of those repressed under Stalin. Vasilii Khanevich, director of the museum, referred to Tomsk as a key site of Stalinist repression, because the region was such a major centre for exile, and Tomsk itself was the “gateway to Narym.” There are some nice photographs of the event at the link, above.

This particular October 30 is special, too, because it is the official opening of a national monument to the victims of repression, in a prominent Moscow location. Vladimir Putin himself officially opened the monument, stating, as reported by Radio Free Europe, “This horrific past must not be stricken from the national memory”. While some have argued that Russia under Putin has ignored the violent side of Stalinism, including the Gulag, my own sense is that it is much more complicated, a complexity certainly highlighted by this monument and the relatively recently opened Gulag Museum.

Vandalized Monument: An update

Good news on the “Stone of Sorrow” that was vandalized back in November. At first, police had reported that there was nothing they could do, because the stone wasn’t an officially designated monument, despite the years of ceremonies and the consecration of the monument in 1992. This decision had the staff of the NKVD Remand Prison Museum at 44 Lenin Avenue worried that anyone would be able to do whatever they wanted to the stone. Reports from yesterday, however, state that public pressure has had a positive effect: the stone has been labelled an object of cultural heritage: in other words, a monument that cannot be vandalized without repercussion.

Below is a photo I took of the stone with my phone, Summer 2016.

Sorrow Stone dedicated to the victims of Bolshevik Terror

Monument vandalized

I haven’t posted much since the summer, in part because I am no longer “in the field.” Just a brief update, here. The monument “to the victims of Bolshevik repression” was vandalized just a few days ago, as someone used red spray-paint to place a bust of Stalin on the back of the monument. In some respects, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often. The monument is very visible, right in the centre of Tomsk, and Stalin himself has seen a bit of a resurgence in Russia over the last several years. Still, it’s a disturbing reminder of the contested memory of the Stalin era.

(Image from the Memorial Museum “NKVD Remand Prison” website)

Tomsk Peculiarities

On Friday, while working at the research library (pictured here) of Tomsk State University (TSU, or ТГУ), I discovered that one of the questions scholars have raised about pre-revolutionary Tomsk revolves around its seemingly large number of pro-monarchist, ultra-nationalist organizations. imageFor instance, A. P. Tolochko shows that Tomsk gubernaia had by far the largest number of pro-monarchist organizations in Siberia, and that the city of Tomsk itself likely had the largest number of individual members. If at the end of 1906, beginning of 1907 the Tobol’sk region had 1 such organization, the Tomsk region had 11, despite very similar economic situations in both parts of Western Siberia. [see A. P. Tolochko, “Territorial’noe razmeshchenie, chislennost’ i sotsial’nyi sostav chernosotennykh organizatsii v sibiri v nachal’nik XX v,” in Chelovok v Istorii, edited A. N. Zheravina et. al. (Tomsk: Tomsk University Press, 1999), 198-206.] Continue reading

In Tomsk

General monument to the victims of Stalinist repression

General monument to the victims of Stalinist repression

 

 

I arrived in Tomsk on Friday, and spent the weekend exploring and adjusting to the time difference (14-hours ahead of Kamloops, although only five hours ahead of Central Europe, where I had spent ten days before heading to Russia). Just wanted to post, here, the photos from the square adjacent to 44 Lenin Avenue. This square includes several monuments to victims of Soviet repression. It’s relatively unusual in Russia to have these types of monuments in such a prominent location (44 Lenin is directly across from the mayor’s office). This post contains photos of the monuments:

Monument to the Latvian victims of Stalinist repression and exile

Monument to the Latvian victims of Stalinist repression and exile

 

Monument to the Polish victims of Stalinist repression

Monument to the Polish victims of Stalinist repression

 

Monument to the Kalmyk victims of Stalinist repression

Monument to the Kalmyk victims of Stalinist repression

 

New monument: Lithuanian victims of Stalinist repression

New monument: Lithuanian victims of Stalinist repression

 

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