{"id":127,"date":"2008-05-05T05:34:51","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T09:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=127"},"modified":"2014-07-16T17:43:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T17:43:05","slug":"another-part-of-tomsk-the-nkvd-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/another-part-of-tomsk-the-nkvd-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Part of Tomsk: the NKVD museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u0422\u043e\u043c\u0441\u043a<\/a><\/strong> [Tomsk<\/a>] has a population of half a million and is located in Siberia, but since Siberia is a big place one is quite in the right to ask \u2013 where exactly? North-east of Novosibirsk by five hours by commute train, to be precise, the city is seated two hours north of the Trans-Siberian railroad route along the river \u0422\u043e\u043c\u044c<\/strong> [Tom\u2019]. Founded already in 1604, it is one of the oldest towns of Siberia, and it has the oldest university of the region \u2013 \u0422\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u0433\u043e\u0441\u0443\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0443\u043d\u0438\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442 <\/strong>\u2013 which has protected a strong tradition of scientific studies for over 130 years now. In the city there are six more universities, and this has earned it the nickname of \u201cSiberian Athens\u201d<\/em>, and it is estimated that every fourth inhabitant in one way or another is enrolled in academic courses. In many ways Tomsk resembles another, though more Western, Siberian town \u2013 Tobolsk. Both of them were \u2018centers\u2019 of exile, Tobolsk in the 19th century and Tomsk in the 20th, and because of this influx of intellectuals and other well educated people from European parts of Russia, they have both \u2013 after the terror died out, that is \u2013 enjoyed a rise in both scholarly and as well as artistic spheres to set them apart from other remote cities. This is something that can be felt straight away upon arrival to a Siberian town \u2013 whether or not it was a place for shuffling exiles to their points of destination \u2013 or, if not scientifically proved yet, it is at least my opinion. Yekaterinburg or Novosibirsk both have more of a \u2018worker\u2019 feel to them, because they were created to be industrial centers, where as Tobolsk and Tomsk both have a certain \u2018sensitive\u2019 air about them due to the intellectual activities that went on there despite of all the hardships. Needless to say, I fell in love with Tomsk as soon as I arrive last Sunday and stayed one day longer than necessary only because I liked it so much. Though now is neither the time nor the place to tell you why \u2013 maybe some other time [or read my private blog!] \u2013 but I\u2019d like to talk about something else that has to do with Tomsk today, about \u0422\u043e\u043c\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u043c\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043c\u0443\u0437\u0435\u0439 \u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0440\u0435\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439 \u00ab\u0421\u043b\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0442\u044e\u0440\u044c\u043c\u0430 \u041d\u041a\u0412\u0414\u00bb (\u0444\u0438\u043b\u0438\u0430\u043b \u0422\u043e\u043c\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043e\u0431\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0434\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043c\u0443\u0437\u0435\u044f)<\/a><\/strong> [Tomsk Memorial Museum of History of Political Repressions \u201cInvestigatory Prison of the NKVD\u201d (branch of Tomsk Regional Museum)] located in the very heart of the city.<\/p>\n


\nIn February this year I visited the GULAG museum of Perm-36, located in an actual former camp two hours of north of Perm, and just about a couple of weeks ago I came across the following article: \u00ab\u042d<\/span>\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0430<\/span>\u043c\u044b\u0439 \u0440\u0435\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043c\u0443\u0437\u0435<\/span>\u0439…\u00bb<\/strong> [This is the realest museum\u2026]<\/a>. Before reading this I didn\u2019t know that there existed such a museum in Tomsk, though I knew that I was going there for \u00ab\u0421\u043c\u043e\u0442\u0440 \u043d\u0430\u0443<\/span>\u0447\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0438 \u0442\u0432\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u0442 \u0438\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0442\u043e\u0432, \u043e\u0431\u0443\u0447\u0430<\/span>\u044e\u0449\u0438\u0445\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0432\u0443<\/span>\u0437\u0430\u0445 2008\u00bb <\/strong>[Review of scientific and artistic works by foreign students studying in Russian universities 2008], and of course I wasn\u2019t planning on missing out on such a chance to get to know a little bit more about Russia\u2019s past. Perhaps my fascination with the dark side of the Soviet Union has more to do with my fascination for the dark side of things in general (after all, I\u2019m majoring in Dostoevsky!) than with anything else. I like to visit museums, and I especially like visiting museums that put ordinary life into perspective. Many things surprised me while at this particular museum in Tomsk \u2013 for example, entry only costs 30 rubles! \u2013 but most of all when one of those accompanying me there told me that the building was turned into apartments after the prison was closed down. I coulnd\u2019t help but to ask myself two questions, first: Who would want to live here? And secondly: But maybe they didn\u2019t know?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first guest of honor to visit the museum was none other than the Nobel Prize awarded writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn<\/em> who went there even before it was officially open to the public, in 1994. He wrote a short note for the museum, which is now hanging on one of the walls: \u00ab\u0422\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u043c\u0443\u0437\u0435<\/span>\u044e \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u0438 \u0425\u0425 \u0432\u0435<\/span>\u043a\u0430. \u0420\u0430<\/span>\u0434\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043d\u043e \u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0448\u0435 \u043d\u0430\u0447\u0438\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435, \u0432\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043e\u0432\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0448\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0434\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0435\u0439 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0443\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0448\u043b\u043e\u0433\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [To Tomsk Museum of 20th century political history. Your delightful project, the restoration of horrible details of the communistic past].<\/p>\n

Perhaps someone reading this will pose the question \u2013 why? Why do I visit these museums? Why do I care so much about this aspect of Russian history? Because there is so much more to this country, so much more to this people, and despite all of these terrible pages in the thick book of Russia\u2019s past, it\u2019s only one side of the story. And yet I think it is so important. Why? I mean, it\u2019s not like it\u2019s my people or my country or my past \u2013 I was hardly even born yet when it all started to unfold. And yet I can\u2019t let it go. Perhaps it has to do with what I\u2019ve heard from Russians themselves about this part of their country \u2013 that they don\u2019t know much about it. When I was in Perm I met people there who had never heard about Perm-36 (and this wasn\u2019t kids, but adults). The people with whom I went to the NKVD museum in Tomsk were both well educated adults, but none of them had been to the museum before. While at the museum I posed the rhetorical question: \u201cWhat would Russia have been like now had this never happened?\u201d and the girl standing next to me answered: \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be here\u2026 or at least not I. My grandmother worked as a secretary at such investigatory hearings\u2026\u201d After this we were both silent for a while and looked at each other \u2013 then we looked away and the silence continued. There are many questions that can be posed about Russia past and present, but none of them really matter \u2013 what\u2019s important is the future Russia and those questions concerning that which we are sometimes not brave enough to ask.<\/p>\n

For more information about museums like this one in Russia visit Russian Sites of Conscience Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0422\u043e\u043c\u0441\u043a [Tomsk] has a population of half a million and is located in Siberia, but since Siberia is a big place one is quite in the right to ask \u2013 where exactly? North-east of Novosibirsk by five hours by commute train, to be precise, the city is seated two hours north of the Trans-Siberian railroad…<\/p>\n

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