In Moscow, the Gulag History Museum, which had already been shut down in November 2024, will cease to exist permanently. It will be replaced by a so-called “Museum of Memory” dedicated to the “genocide of the Soviet people” during World War II. The announcement appeared on the institution’s website, and a source cited by Interfax said staff had already been informed.
According to the project description, the new exhibition will focus on Nazi war crimes at different stages of the war. Moscow City Hall said the first “national museum of memory dedicated to victims of the genocide of the Soviet people” is due to open in 2026. It will be based on archives from the Without Statute of Limitations project. Officials also stress the museum’s role in patriotic education for younger generations.
The closure was criticized by the Yabloko party. Its chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, said replacing discussion of political repression with the theme of external genocide amounts to an attempt to erase memory of crimes committed by the state against its own people. The party’s statement says dismantling the museum deprives society of the ability to reflect on the experience of repression.
“Without an honest recognition of the tragedy of the Gulag, it is impossible to build a lawful, humane and free Russian state,” the party said in its statement.
The fate of the museum’s exhibits remains unclear. According to RBC, the current display is to be replaced in full, although staff have been told it will be preserved. Human Rights Council member Eva Merkacheva said she hopes the collection will not be lost.
The Gulag History Museum had operated since 2001. It was created at the initiative of historian and former camp prisoner Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko. It was first located on Petrovka Street and moved in 2014 to a building in 1st Samotechny Lane. The museum maintained archives of the repressed, organized exhibitions and lectures, and held annual remembrance events.
In January 2025, museum director Roman Romanov was dismissed. According to Meduza, the reason was his refusal to alter a section on Stalinist repression in the exhibition “History of Moscow.” The new institution will be headed by Natalya Kalashnikova, a participant in Russia’s war against Ukraine who previously led the Smolensk Fortress museum.