“Silencing” or “Magnifying” Memories? Stalin’s Repressions and the 1990s in Russian Museums

Problems of Post-Communism. 2021. P. 1–10.

Khlevnyuk D.

Collective memories of different events often interact. There are multiple possible modes of such interaction. This article explores the interrelation of two memories in the Russian memory landscape: memories of Stalin’s repressions and the first post-Soviet decade, the 1990s. It shows that in museum exhibitions about the repressions, the 1990s are invoked in different modes. The interaction of the two memories has varying outcomes, including “silencing” through cacophonous commemoration and a “magnifying” effect of multidirectional memories. The article aims to open up the discussion of the complexity of the interrelation of the two memories.

Keywords: музеи, collective memory, коллективная память, сталинские репрессии, политика памяти, политические репрессии, political repressions, Stalinist repressions, 90-е годы, культурная память, 1990s, museums, cultural memory

Publication based on the results of: Perceptions of the Past in the Russian Public Sphere: Institutional Frameworks and Channels of Communication (2021)