In the premisses of the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center they recently presented the
book
„Moments of History“, which is dedicated to political repressions in the USSR.
This collected edition of historic research materials, brought into being upon the initiative of the „Memorial“ Organization, was published kindly supported by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience as well as the regional Krasnoyarsk „German national society of culture“. The book contains articles written by 40 authors from different Russian cities and regions. Apart from this, they represented a rather original booklet on the same subject, which was compiled by using various materials from 1937 issues of the newspaper „The Krasnoyarsk Labourer“ (the very year, when the Great Terror hit ist peak), as well as memoirs of eye witnesses and documentary documental photographies from the 1930s.
As the curator of the project, Valentina Bondareva, said, this subject has become one of the most important issues for the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center since 1989, when the head of the „Memorial“ organization of that time, Vladimir Sirotinin, began to collect materials from the archives, organized meetings and held enlightening lections. The project „Heart recalls“, which was initiated at that time, soon spread all over the region; in the meantime 20 years have passed, and it has become a tradition that every year, on Memory Day, former victims of political repressions come to Krasnoyarsk to meet eachother in the premisses of the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center on the Strelka, visit special exhibitions, commemorate and lower wreathes and burning candles (the action is called „Light a candle“) to the Yenisey. This very day people come to Krasnoyarsk from other towns and even from abroad to attend the commemorative events dedicated to the victims of political repressions.
When the head of the „Memorial“ organization, Aleksei Babiy, talked about the contents of the book, he commemorated that in 1937, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory alone, about 12000 individuals were executed. The book quotes quite a lot of memories on the fate of politically repressed students, representatives of the creative intelligentsia, people who lived in exile and deported Germans. A special chapter is dedicated to the activities of different museums which have taken up this subject in order to light up the facts of history. And at the end of the book there is a map where the reader can find memorial places of the history of political repressions in Krasnoyarsk.
„Unfortunately, until now, sympathies towards Stalinism are living on, - Aleksei Babiy noted with bitterness. – Even on the internet lots of young people are defending Stalin’s ideas ... And this is why our activities will not be losing their topicality for a long time; and books, such as this collected edition „Moments of History“ will be serving for a long time yet to lighten up the blurred conscience of the people“.
Eduard RUSAKOV.
„The Krasnoyarsk Labourer“, 03.07.2010