'They came, shot everyone, and that's the end of it': Local Memory, Amateur Photography, and the Legacy of State Violence in Novocherkassk

Abstract

What is the role of photography in creating, preserving and transforming memory of state violence? The events surrounding the 'Novocherkassk massacre', the brutal suppression of a workers' demonstration in the Russian town of Novocherkassk in 1962, have been shrouded in secrecy until the fall of the USSR. Subsequent attempts by local activists to investigate the state's crimes and commemorate the victims have been only partially successful. In the meantime, numerous snapshots preserved in family archives reference the events of 1962, and create frameworks for remembering that can be actualized during a conversation over the family album. The nature of the photographic 'evidence', however, is such that it enables not only remembering and identification, but also a partial reinvention of the past.

Keywords:

• PHOTOGRAPHY
• RUSSIA
• MEMORY
• MUSEUM
• PRIVATE ARCHIVE
• SOCIALISM
• STATE VIOLENCE
• TRAUMA