\n Russia plans to replace Moscow's Gulag museum with a new exhibition documenting Nazi crimes against the Soviet Union during World War II, officials said Friday, the latest move in a crackdown on institutions documenting Soviet-era repression.\n<\/p>\n
\n Authorities closed the Gulag History Museum in November 2024, citing \"fire safety violations\", in a move widely seen by critics as an attempt to quash the award-winning venue's work.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was one of the last institutions dedicated to documenting Soviet-era political repression in Russia and contained thousands of artefacts from Gulag victims, among them letters and personal belongings.\n<\/p>\n
\n Critics have accused the Kremlin of attempting to rehabilitate the Soviet Union's legacy, downplaying its human rights abuses while championing its role as a victor during World War II to foster patriotism.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The new museum will feature an exhibition covering all stages of Nazi war crimes during the Great Patriotic War,\" Moscow's city government said in a statement, using the official Russian name for World War II.\n<\/p>\n
\n The museum will also document \"biological weapons testing on Soviet citizens by the Japanese\", as well as showcasing the Red Army's victories, it added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Gulag was a vast network of prison labour camps set up in the Soviet Union.\n<\/p>\n
\n Millions of alleged traitors and enemies of the state were sent there, many to their deaths, in what historians recognise as a period of massive political repression.\n<\/p>\n
\n A source close to the museum told AFP the Gulag exhibition as it used to exist \"is being completely dismantled\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The museum's staff are deeply concerned about what will happen next,\" the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia under President Vladimir Putin has taken many steps in recent years to restrict critical interpretations of the Soviet Union.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2021, authorities ordered the liquidation of Memorial, the Nobel Prize-winning NGO that records victims of Soviet and modern-day repression.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Returning of the Names, an annual commemoration in Moscow for victims of Soviet state repression, has been effectively banned since 2020.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Soviet Union lost almost 27 million people in World War II, the highest war toll of any country.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Council of Europe awarded the Gulag History Museum its top museum award in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia plans to replace Moscow's Gulag museum with a new exhibition documenting Nazi crimes against the Soviet Union during World War II, officials said Friday, the latest move in a crackdown on institutions documenting Soviet-era repression. Authorities closed the Gulag History Museum in November 2024, citing \"fire safety violations\", in a move widely seen by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-155553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n