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Norillag-65

Project

Project plan. In the summer of 2000 it is 65 years since the organization of one of the corrective labour camps, better known under the designation of Norillag. On the 23rd of June 1935 the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviks and the Council of the People's Commissioners of the USSR passed the resolution on the erection of the Norilsk Combine, and two days later the NKVD gave the official order to organize a corrective labour camp in this place. Already in October 1935 the camp numbered the first 1200 prisoners.

During the 21 years of its existence more than 300.000 Soviet people and citizens from more than 20 countries passed through the Norillag. Among them lots of well-known people. The camp was built in the polar region, under roughest climatic conditions, where 8 months of the year are dominated by temperatures far below the freezing-point and one and a half months by polar nights. Under such most difficult conditions the perople built a gigantic metallurgical combine and one of the northernmost cities in the world.

One of the former Norillag inmates, the Kalmyk poet David Kuguldinov, wrote about it as follows:

"The days when I was young and healthy -
you took them away from me, you took them away,
Norilsk, Norilsk, unique city;
Your frost burns me in my dreams".

Nowadays, a chapel and a couple of memorials have been erected at the foot of the Schmidtikha Mountain by people of different nationalities (Poles Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians). However, these are entirely insufficient measures to under stand and appreciate at its true value the great heroic deeds of those pioneers, who opened the natural resources in the polar region, in which several generations of inhabitants from the Krasnoyarsk territory grew up, too.

Aim of the project

The international project has the following aims:

1. Honour the memory of the people, who found eternal peace in the permafrost region of the  Taimyr peninsula.
2. Pay homage to the veterans of the Norillag, who are still alive.
3. Estimate the contribution made by the Norillag for the opening and exploitation of the polar  region, as well as the foundation of the industrial power of the Krasnoyarsk region.

Description of the project

The project consists of a preparatory stage, a number of public campaigns and measures with accompanying information.

Preparatory stage

Preparation of the documents organized by the initiative group, foundation of an organizing committee and elaboration of a detailed range of measures. Correspondance with participants, accurate definition of scheduling. Issue exact lists, carry out interviews with former inhabitants of Norilsk by means of a questionnaire, write down of the veterans' memoirs and search for archival documents. Attract the attention of activists, journalists and sponsors.
Schedule: March - June 2000

Campaigns

On the occasion of the "Metallurgical Workers' Day" (16th of July), which usually coincides with the festivities of the "Day of the city of Norilsk" - trip to the port of Dudinka by riverboat. Apart from the organizers, invited guests and veterans of the Norilsk Metallurgical Combinea concert brigade and a group of lecturers will go aboard the ship. During the stay: make arrangements for a concert, give public lectures; get acquainted with with the representatives of local organizations; write down memoirs and gather materials for an exhibition on the history of the Norillag. The agitprop brigade will be in charge of the decorations in the combine during the time of the festivitis; the brigade can travel with its program all over the Norilsk Industrial Area.
Schedule: June 2000

Exhibition

Create, equip and carry out an exhibition of memory by the aid of the regional archives and museums, which is dedicated to the history of the Norillag. The exhibits will be shown at the  Krasnoyarsk Museum Complex of Culture and History at the Strelka (in the city of Krasnoyarsk). Among the exhibits are original texts of archival documents, photographies and personal objects belonging to the organizers of the Norilsk Construction Project and to simple prisoners, as well as materials that were gathered by the participants of the "agitprop" in the Norilsk Industrial Area during the summer. Preparation of special musem sections with materials about Poles and Lithuanians, which would additionally give the opportunity to show the exhibition in Vilnius and Warsaw, too, thus imparting the project an international character.
Schedule: July - October 2000

Conference

Organize and hold an international memorial conference which is supposed to deal with the "Labour exploits of the Norillag" on the territory of the Institute of non-ferrous Metals in Krasnoyarsk. Invite researches and scientists from Norilsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Warsaw, Novosibirsk and other cities to participate in this event. Listen to scientific lectures in plenary and sectional meetings and strike the balance of the work results on a press conference. Organize the publication of a list of thesis' and view-points resulting from the scientific lectures and reports. Hand over some of the copies of this listing to regional school and university libraries.
Schedule: September - December 2000

Service for the dead

Service for the dead to be held on the "International Day of Political Prisoners" at the "Memorial Temple for the Victims of Political Reprisals", which was erected in the place of the former transit camp, from where the prisoners were transported away to the Norillag by barges. Organize a motorboat and honour the memory of all inmates of the Norillag by solemnly letting down a wreath and burning candles down to the waters of the river Yenissey to the sounds of a siren.
Schedule: 30th of October 2000

Film

Guarantee a continuous informative support of the project by the local and central mass media. Publication of materials about the history of the Norillag in the regional press, in order to direct the attention of the public to this project. Make a documentary film from the video films "Agit campaign", "Exhibitions", "Conferences" and "Service to the Dead". Broadcast the film on the Krasnoyarsk and Norilsk TV and show it in Vilnius, Warsaw and other cities, together with the planned exhibition.

Participants of the project

The project bears an open character; the following organizations have already decided to participate:

1. the Committee of Culture and Art of the Krasnoyarsk regional administration
2. the Krasnoyarsk municipal administration
3. the Krasnoyarsk affiliate of the "Norilsk Nickel Joint-Stock Company"
4. the Krasnoyarsk Museum Complex of Culture and History
5. the International Cultural Center
6. the "Polish House", Krasnoyarsk
7. the "Relief Foundation for Poles in the East", Poland
8. the Lithuanian Ambassy
9. the Jewish National and Cultural Community "Gaskala", Krasnoyarsk
10. the Cultural and Educational "Memorial" organizations (Krasnoyarsk and Norilsk affiliates)
11. the UVD archives of the Krasnoyarsk region
12. the professorate of the Siberian Aero-Cosmic Academy

All participants of the project delegtae one representative for the foundation of the organizing committee. The members of this committee prepare the foundation documents, the regulations for the planned work, campaigns and measures and win the support of other participants and sponsors. The organizing committee will then take the corresponding steps and supervise the execution of the whole project.

Schedule: March - December 2000

The financing of the project

The organizers will take part in finding not only sources of information for the project, but also sources of money, which includes the calling-on of sponsors. The organizing committee is going to supervise the receipt and the use of the means.

Initiators

The group of initiators consists of the authors of the project, which will elaborate a conception, lead the work during the preparatory stage, call in participants and sponsors, until an organizing committee has been formed up.


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