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Abstract
Three decades ago, a civic movement arose in the USSR around commemorating Stalin’s victims. Yet only in 2017, following President Vladimir Putin’s approbation, was a central monument to victims of repression constructed. Analysis of the genesis and results of the design process for the new monument shows that memory discourses in Russia have been harnessed to a form that allows civic activists and state officials to express a limited consensus. The truncated nature of the competition and the jury’s safe choice, however, produced a monument unlikely to become a locus for popular or official remembrance.
Notes
1 ‘Vybory zdes’ budut chestnymi: Desyat’ proektov Monumenta zhertvam politicheskikh repressii’, Novaya gazeta, 16 September 2015, available at: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2015/09/16/65631-vybory-zdes-budut-chestnymi, accessed 26 July 2017.
2 The Andrei Sakharov Center’s database of monuments and memorial markers to victims of repression contains over 1,200 entries. See, http://www.sakharov-center.ru/projects/bases/monuments.html, accessed 27 July 2017. The St Petersburg Scientific-Informational Centre ‘Memorial’ lists hundreds of memorial markers in its registry of mass graves in Russia. ‘Nekropol’ terrora i gulaga’, available at: http://www.mapofmemory.org, accessed 27 July 2017.
3 A 2017 poll carried out for the State Gulag Museum showed serious divisions on whether the purges had been necessary to ‘guarantee order’ in the country (‘Stalinskie repressii: prestuplenie ili nakazanie?’, VTsIOM press release no. 3412, 2017, available at: https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116301, accessed 10 August 2017). Other polling shows a majority in favour of commemorating Stalin’s accomplishments and against markers reminding of his crimes (‘Pamyat’ o Staline: za i protiv’, VTsIOM press release no. 3423, 2017, available at: https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116323, accessed 10 August 2017).
4 Frierson (Citation2007) finds Russians are knowledgeable about the past with information about collectivisation, the purges, deportations and so on found in school textbooks, quality documentary films, memoirs and literature, including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and Anatolii Rybakov’s Children of the Arbat.
5 Transcript of Session of Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, 1 February 2011, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/10194, accessed 24 July 2017. On the ups and downs of cooperation between Russian experts, advocates and officials on memory politics, see Miller (Citation2013, Citation2014).
6 Transcript of Session of Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, 1 February 2011, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/10194, accessed 24 July 2017.
7 Created under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Defence, the database ‘Memorial’ contains information about Soviet soldiers killed or missing in action in World War II. It is available at: https://obd-memorial.ru/html/, accessed 25 June 2019.
8 Transcript of Session of Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, 1 February 2011, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/10194, accessed 24 July 2017.
9 Order by the President of Russia, ‘Ob obrazovanii rabochei gruppy po podgotovke predlozhenii, napravlennykh na realizatsiyu programmy uvekovecheniya pamyati zhertv politicheskikh repressii’, 27 December 2011, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/14161, accessed 25 June 2019.
10 ‘O pozitsii ministerstva kul’tury Rossii v otnoshenii FTsP “Ob uvekovechivanii pamyati zhertv politicheskikh repressi”’, 26 June 2014, available at: http://president-sovet.ru/presscenter/news/read/1756/, accessed 24 July 2017.
11 ‘Sergei Karaganov ob’yasnil situatsiyu s programmoi uvekovechivaniya pamyati zhertv politicheskikh repressii’, 28 June 2014, available at: http://president-sovet.ru/presscenter/news/read/1760/, accessed 24 July 2017.
12 Transcript of Session of Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights for 14 October 2014, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/46786, accessed 24 July 2017.
13 ‘Kontseptsiya gosudarstvennoi politiki po uvekovecheniyu pamyati zhertv politicheskikh repressii’, 15 August 2015, available at: http://government.ru/docs/19296/, accessed 24 July 2017.
14 ‘Otkrytyi konkurs na razrabotku arkhitekturno-skul’pturnogo proizvedeniia’, State Museum of the History of the Gulag, available at: http://konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
15 ‘Obzor pamyatnikov i memorialov, posvyashchennykh pamyati zhertv nasiliya. V Rossii i v mire’, State Museum of the History of the Gulag, available at: http://konkurs.gmig.ru/#bk04, accessed 24 July 2017.
16 ‘Otkrytyi konkurs na razrabotku arkhitekturno-skul’pturnogo proizvedeniia’, State Museum of the History of the Gulag, available at: http://konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
17 After a failed first competition, the commission in charge of Berlin’s Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe engaged in a discussion that debated whether the monument needed to play a pedagogical as well as a commemorative role (Young Citation2000, p. 198).
18 Romanov noted that the larger jury had the option to discuss any entry, even those criticised by the technical council (interview with Roman Romanov, director of Moscow’s State Museum of the History of the Gulag, Moscow, 30 May 2016). Roginskii confirmed that jurors received a large binder with all 300-plus projects to peruse (interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2016).
19 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017.
20 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017; on the idea of a rapid completion, see also Karaganov’s opinion, cited in Rubin (Citation2014).
21 Romanov cited in ‘Monument zhertvam politrepressii-“narodnyi pamyatnik”’, RIA novosti, 11 February 2015, available at: https://ria.ru/moscow/20150211/1047133408.html, accessed 26 January 2018. The press did not mention cost as an issue, but Roginskii noted that cost and maintenance issues were raised by the expert council (interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2015).
22 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017.
23 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017.
24 Despite the possibility for online review of the entries and online voting, only 939 votes were cast for the ‘viewers’ prize’, which went to a modernist entry by architects Sergei Gikalo and Aleksandr Kuptsov. Blog entry, State Museum of the History of the Gulag, available at: http://www.gmig.ru/view/news/147, accessed 26 July 2017.
25 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017.
26 Roginskii had quashed the state officials’ initial perception—one initially reinforced by Karaganov—that the Solovetsky Stone was merely a ‘foundation stone’. Roginskii claimed a ‘sacred’ status for it since it had been prayed over and blessed in its time (interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2016). Soon everyone, Frangulyan included, was repeating this characterisation (Serzhan Citation2015).
27 Lyashenko’s project can be seen at the competition website under its entry number v-23. Images of the ten finalists appear in ‘Vybory zdes’ budut chestnymi: Desyat’ proektov Monumenta zhertvam politicheskikh repressii’, Novaya gazeta, 16 September 2015, available at: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2015/09/16/65631-vybory-zdes-budut-chestnymi, accessed 26 July 2017.
28 For a less artistically powerful but conceptually similar design to Lyashenko’s, see d-34, in which viewers would walk under a large slab held up by a slender branch. Examples of crude designs meant to evoke vulnerability and fear include two giant meat grinders (x-37 and t-40), a winged Black Maria (y-87) and recreations of prison (such as h-69, x-17, v-36), all available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
29 Text from entry h-13. For other maze-like projects, see entries j-75, t-78, f-26, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
30 Entry v-33, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
31 Entry j-44, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
32 Entry u-67, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
33 See, for instance entries y-06, g-41, m-17, q-61, x-54, z-17, b-67, j-70, k-71, t-54, u-26. Note, in a deviation from perestroika-era imagery, angels appeared in several designs to signify ‘freedom’ or ‘memory’ (p-11, g-81, k-53), available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
34 Entry p-80, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
35 Interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2016.
36 Entry m-71, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
37 Entry g-74, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
38 Interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2016. He liked the height and interactive nature of the design. City officials, however, decried the cost of maintenance of the monument, which they alleged would attract pigeons.
39 Entries v-00 and n-71 respectively, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017.
40 For instance, entries w-49, d-54, j-22, available at: http://www.konkurs.gmig.ru, accessed 24 July 2017. Projection of light also figured in many entries for the 9/11 memorial (Levine Citation2016).
41 The other languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and German.
42 Frangulyan had not initially included an inscription, while Roman Romanov had suggested from the start a short inscription along the lines of Dachau’s ‘Never Again’ (Bernovskii Citation2015).
43 ‘Natal’ya Solzhenitsyna: monument zhertvam repressii pomozhet splocheniyu obshchestva’, TASS, 30 November 2016, available at: http://tass.ru/obschestvo/3826569, accessed 24 July 2017.
44 In an interview after the monument’s opening, Solzhenitsyn clarified that she did not mean people should forgive the state, but rather that they ought to forgive each other, including those who were part of the repressive machinery (Gordeeva Citation2018).
45 Yurii Samodurov, ‘Predlagat’ prostit’ prestupleniya gosudarstva protiv chelovechnosti ne imeet prava nikto’, Change.org, 2017, available at: http://chng.it/Ft95cDyf8n, accessed 27 June 2019; ‘Opening of Wall of Sorrow Memorial to Victims of Political Repression’, President of Russia, 30 October 2017, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55948, accessed 18 January 2018.
46 ‘Monument zhertvam politrepressii—“narodnyi pamyatnik”’, RIA Novosti, 11 February 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/moscow/20150211/1047133408.html, accessed 24 July 2017.
47 ‘Putin nazval period repressii gor’koi i pouchitel’noi strannitsei istorii’, Vzglyad, 1 October 2015, available at: http://vz.ru/news/2015/10/1/769893.html, accessed 24 July 2017.
48 ‘Opening of Wall of Sorrow Memorial to Victims of Political Repression’, President of Russia, 30 October 2017, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55948, accessed 18 January 2018.
49 ‘Opening of Wall of Sorrow Memorial to Victims of Political Repression’, President of Russia, 30 October 2017, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55948, accessed 18 January 2018.
50 ‘V Moskve ustanovyat pamyatnik zhertvam repressii’, Pravda.ru, 15 January 2015, available at: http://pravda.ru/news/society/15-01-2015/1243968-pamyatnik-0/, accessed 26 January 2018; and ‘Monument zhertvam politrepressii-“narodnyi pamyatnik”’, RIA Novosti, 11 February 2015, available at: https://ria.ru/moscow/20150211/1047133408.html, accessed 26 January 2018.
51 The special foundation created to raise money was headed by presidential adviser Mikhail Fedotov and Gulag Museum Director Roman Romanov; its efforts can be seen in the news section of its website, http://memoryfund.ru/, accessed 26 January 2018. Until his death in December 2017, Roginskii was also listed; however, he agreed to lend his name only because any excess funds would go to other projects related to commemorating and helping victims. Interview with Arsenii Roginskii, head of the governing board of the International ‘Memorial’ Society, Moscow, 25 May 2016.
52 ‘Summa pozhertvovanii na “Stenu skorbi” prevysla 45 millionov rublei’, RIA Novosti, 25 October 2017, available at: https://ria.ru/society/20171025/1507539076.html, accessed 26 January 2018.
53 The details of ‘Last Address’ are available at: https://www.poslednyadres.ru/, accessed 26 July 2017.
54 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017.
55 Discussion at ‘Memorial’, ‘Pamyatnik zhertvam politicheskikh repressii. Mnogo voprosov’, YouTube, 16 March 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_XBfw5inQ, accessed 24 July 2017. The Solovetsky Stone, for instance, has become the site of ‘Memorial’s’ annual ‘Return of the Names’ ceremony in which volunteers read out the name of those executed by the Soviet state under Stalin (Vishnevetskaya Citation2017). An interesting precedent for the ‘Wall of Sorrow’ might be the monument to deported Jews at Vél’ d’Hiv’, which did not really serve reconciliation until it became the site of a speech by President Jacques Chirac addressing the role of Vichy in France’s history (Carrier Citation2005, pp. 49–51, 71–85).
56 Comments by Vladimir Bobykin and Maxim In’ to Odissonova et al. (Citation2017).
57 Comment by Elena Khardikova to Emel’yanenko (Citation2017b).
58 Comments by Ostanton71 and Azarina to Kharat’yan (Citation2017).
59 ‘Opening of Wall of Sorrow Memorial to Victims of Political Repression’, President of Russia, 30 October 2017, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55948, accessed 20 April 2018.
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Kathleen E. Smith
Kathleen E. Smith, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Georgetown University, Box 571031, ICC 111, 3700 O St. NW, Washington, DC 20010, USA. Email: [email protected]