{"id":11728,"date":"2019-05-28T07:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T07:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=11728"},"modified":"2019-06-04T23:39:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T23:39:20","slug":"kolyma-russian-documentary-about-artctic-siberia-and-stalins-repressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/kolyma-russian-documentary-about-artctic-siberia-and-stalins-repressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Kolyma<\/em>: Russian Documentary About Arctic Siberia and Stalin’s Repressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something that’s been widely discussed on the Russian Internet (\u0440\u0443\u043d\u0435\u0301\u0442<\/strong>) is a recent documentary (\u0434\u043e\u043a\u0443\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430\u0301\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0444\u0438\u043b\u044c\u043c<\/strong>) by Yuri Dud’ called Kolyma \u2014 Birthplace of Our Fear <\/em>(“\u041a\u043e\u043b\u044b\u043c\u0430\u0301 \u2014 \u0440\u043e\u0301\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430 \u043d\u0430\u0301\u0448\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0301\u0445\u0430<\/strong>“). This film features footage from Northeastern Siberia and interviews with people whose families were affected by Stalinist repressions.<\/p>\n

The film was created by Yuri Dud’ (\u042e\u0301\u0440\u0438\u0439 \u0414\u0443\u0434\u044c<\/strong>, pronounced like “duty” with an American accent, not like “dud”!), a former sports journalist, who has more recently become famous for his YouTube channel<\/a>, where he interviews Russian artists and other celebrities in an irreverent manner. Dud’ said he was inspired to make the film when he learned that almost half of young people aged 18 to 24 in Russia said they never heard about Stalin’s repressions<\/a>. At the time of writing, the film had more than 14 million views (\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u043c\u043e\u0301\u0442\u0440\u044b<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"snowy

Image by Olga Martynova<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Locations Featured<\/h2>\n

The film follows a road trip of sorts by the host and his intrepid driver Antokha (\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u0301\u0445\u0430<\/strong>, a nickname of \u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u0301\u043d<\/strong>) through the region known as Kolyma (\u041a\u043e\u043b\u044b\u043c\u0430\u0301<\/strong>) in Siberia. The region is known as the place where penal colonies and labo{u}r camps (\u0442\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0301\u0435 \u043b\u0430\u0433\u0435\u0440\u044f\u0301<\/strong>) were in the Soviet period.<\/p>\n

Dud’ starts out in Magadan<\/a> (\u041c\u0430\u0433\u0430\u0434\u0430\u0301\u043d<\/strong>) and covers 2,000 km (1,242 mi) to Yakutsk<\/a> (\u042f\u043a\u0443\u0301\u0442\u0441\u043a<\/strong>). Along the way, the crew makes stops in various locations, including museums, former prison buildings, and sport complexes. The documentary does not only give the historical background of how Kolyma came to be a place of exile and hard labo{u}r but also touches upon the challenges the region faces today with dwindling populations and young people leaving for warmer areas.<\/p>\n

\"Sergey

Sergey Korolev’s mugshot
USSR [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

People Featured<\/h2>\n

The film features commentary by various historians, museum curators, current residents of the region, and people whose family members were affected by repressions. Some of the residents are “transplants” to the region, who fell in love with it during a visit.<\/p>\n

One of the celebrities (\u0437\u043d\u0430\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0301\u0442\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/strong>) featured is Nakhim “Yefim” Shifrin (\u041d\u0430\u0445\u0438\u0301\u043c [\u0415\u0444\u0438\u0301\u043c] \u0428\u0438\u0444\u0440\u0438\u0301\u043d<\/strong>), whose father was accused of spying for Poland, made to sign a confession, and sent to Kolyma, where Yefim was born. Another famous interviewee was Natalia Korolyova (\u041d\u0430\u0442\u0430\u0301\u043b\u044c\u044f \u041a\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043b\u0451\u0432\u0430<\/strong>), the daughter of Soviet aerospace engineer Sergey Korolyov<\/a> (\u0421\u0435\u0440\u0433\u0435\u0301\u0439 \u041a\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043b\u0451\u0432<\/strong>), who would later be instrumental for the Soviet space program (\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0433\u0440\u0430\u0301\u043c\u043c\u0430 \u043e\u0441\u0432\u043e\u0435\u0301\u043d\u0438\u044f \u043a\u043e\u0301\u0441\u043c\u043e\u0441\u0430<\/strong>). Korolyov was accused of sabotaging equipment and sent to Kolyma.<\/p>\n

Now that you know some details about the film, it’s time to watch it! Feel free to turn on the English subtitles to follow along.<\/p>\n