In the building of the Gulag History Museum, where the Museum of Memory of the “genocide of the Soviet people” is set to open, an exhibition with “explicit parallels” to the “special military operation” will be created. This was reported by Verstka, which obtained a recording of a meeting between museum staff and the new management.
The meeting took place on February 20. During it, Moscow Deputy Culture Department Head Nadezhda Prepodobnaya said that the Soviet people were subjected to genocide during World War II, but that it had not been “fully defeated.”
“The topic of genocide affected our country during the Great Patriotic War, but even now we see what is happening on the battlefields and beyond. In general, it is quite an obvious parallel. And all the facts indicate that we have not fully defeated genocide. The decision is fundamental,” the official said.
The museum’s new director, Natalya Kalashnikova, a participant in the war against Ukraine, said that the theme of the Gulag and repressions would probably “not receive proper attention” in the museum. According to Verstka, on March 12 Kalashnikova signed an order to dismantle the exhibition. Workers removed all structures except the load-bearing walls. It is unknown where the exhibition objects will be transported afterward.
It became known on February 20 that the Moscow Gulag History Museum would be renamed the Museum of Memory and dedicated to the “genocide of the Soviet people.” In November 2024, the Gulag History Museum was closed under the pretext of “violations of fire safety requirements.”
At the end of 2025, Vladimir Putin removed former museum director Roman Romanov from the Human Rights Council.
The Gulag History Museum had operated since 2001. It presented the scale of Soviet repressions and also hosted lectures, performances, and discussions.