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Excursion to the past (11/10/2019) What do you do after your conference leaves you re-invigorated for research and debate? We went out to explore the past ourselves! |
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On the back of our conference, our team heads off to Dolinka Gulag museum in Karaganda where the project was welcomed by representatives of the local Akimat and featured on local television (the news report can be found here). The quality of the museum was matched only by the hospitality of our hosts and the breathtaking beauty of Kazakhstan. A roadtrip to remember!  The administrative centre of Karlag (a camp complex that stretched over a territory the size of Wales) was here in this building in the village of Dolinka. The building now houses a museum about Karlag.  The museum employs experienced and knowledgeable guides  There was considerable interest in the IGS project from the local government and media.  The museum features displays that focus on individuals who spent time in Karlag  It also contains displays that bring to life the horror of some of the experiences of the victims.  This map shows the whole territory of the camp complex of Karlag which stretched over a huge territory and was divided into various subdivisions. Maps such as these helped us to produce a sampling strategy for our survey.  Various rooms provide a wealth of information about interrogation, trial, transport to Karlag, arrival, allocation to camp sectors and life in the camps.  Near the museum is a the harrowing spectacle of a graveyard of children who died in Karlag.  A lonely Lenin is left to reflect round the back of the museum.  In the village of Dolinka, once the nerve centre of a system of oppression, life goes on. This building was once a mess hall for prison officers.  Today the mess hall is a shop
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Producing, Consuming & Perceiving Prisons in the Former Soviet UnionIn The Gulag's Shadow
