Ivan Morozov. Empire of Terror on CD

Empire of Terror on CD
Ivan Morozov

Publication date: March 30, 2004

Last week in Moscow, at the House of Journalists on Nikitsky Boulevard, CDs prepared by the International Society "Memorial" , the Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression under the President of the Russian Federation , the Museum and Public Center named after. A.D. Sakharov and the Regional Public Organization "Open Russia" . The two-disc album was released by the Zvenya publishing house.

Despite the unusual content for this type of product, this is already the third release of the CD “Victims of Political Terror in the USSR” (the first was released in 2001). Compared to previous editions, this edition has been significantly expanded. The first two issues fit on one laser disc, the new one came out on two.

The first CD - a database of victims of political terror, the most representative to date - includes more than a million names. In terms of volume, this mournful list is comparable to a directory on the population of a large city (in Russia, according to the 2003 census, there are only 13 cities with a population of more than 1 million people) or a small country. But it is still far from complete. This is in no way a reproach to the compilers, who have done a truly gigantic job. The twentieth century has passed, its last decade passed without the Bolsheviks, after the adoption of the Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression ,” which prescribed, among other things, the compilation of Books of Memory. But until now, such books have not been created in all regions of Russia. Of the other countries - former republics of the USSR, only Kazakhstan (all regions), Uzbekistan (all regions) and Ukraine (only two regions - Odessa and Kharkov) are represented so far.

The second disc contains “Stalin's execution lists” - irrefutable evidence of the personal involvement of the leader and his entourage in the imposition of death sentences (this information was transferred from an electronic publication published in 2002, prepared by Memorial together with the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation); a database of monuments and memorial signs to victims of repression (the results of the work of the Museum and Public Center named after A.D. Sakharov), books published by Memorial, the International Foundation for Democracy , and bibliographic materials.

The album is intended for free transfer to organizations involved in the problems of rehabilitation and perpetuation of the memory of victims of political terror, to regional and university libraries.

Electronic versions of books include authoritative reference books and collections of documents. First of all, I would like to note the just published two books in the three-volume series “Rehabilitation. How it Happened.” The publication introduces into scientific and public circulation for the first time sources on the political mechanisms of the rehabilitation process. Monographs by Pavel Polyan “Not of one’s own free will. Forced migrations to the USSR” and Lyudmila Alekseeva “History of dissent in the USSR. The newest period” are also presented. All of them, unfortunately, were printed in small editions (for example, unique reference books on the system of forced labor camps - 2000 copies, on state security bodies and personnel - 3000 copies) and are very expensive in stores. And the thematic bibliography that Memorial’s library accumulates is generally available only in electronic form.

The presentation of the discs took place in two waves - the press briefing began at noon, and the public was convened at 2 p.m. The presentation was led by historian Nikita Okhotin (Memorial).

The first to speak was Maria Ordzhonikidze, a representative of Open Russia. Open Russia's participation was expressed in financial support for the project; its result fully meets the organization's mission, which is to strengthen civil society and develop the country's intellectual potential.

According to Arseny Roginsky , chairman of the board of the Memorial research and educational center, 1 million 345 thousand 796 records were placed on the disk (later it was possible to clarify that in fact there are slightly more of them - 1 million 416 thousand). There can be two, three, or more records about one person - a person could be subjected to arrests and various types of repression several times, in one, or even several regions. An initial attempt was made to collate all records, but this separate large study has not yet been completed. According to the speaker, the total number of victims of Soviet repression, if we take into account those subjected to mass deportations, is about 12-15 million people, and many more disks will be needed to preserve all the names.

The third speaker, Yuri Samodurov , director of the Museum and Community Center named after. A.D. Sakharov, appealed to the president, the ministries of culture and education, so that the topic of Soviet repressions would take its rightful place in the education of schoolchildren. He partially criticized the CD, pointing out that it is suitable for libraries and higher educational institutions, but not for schools, and it is necessary to prepare disks specifically for schoolchildren.

The representative of the Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression under the President of the Russian Federation, historian Alexander Kosakovsky, recalled that in Russia alone over 800 thousand people rightfully claim benefits as victims of political repression. The process of legal rehabilitation has been going on for more than half a century, and its completion can be dated back to 2005/2006.

Jan Rachinsky (Memorial), project manager for the CD release, demonstrated the capabilities of the publication and spoke about its structure. He also introduced software developer Vyacheslav Krakhotin, Memorial's webmaster.

Andrey Artizov , historian, deputy head of the Federal Archive Service of Russia, said that the third volume of the documentary series “Rehabilitation. How it Was” has already been prepared for publication, will soon be published and will be made available for a new CD edition.

The State Archive of the Russian Federation, according to its director Sergei Mironenko , has prepared a new solid documentary series about the history of the Gulag in six volumes. Sergei Mironenko advocated for the speedy creation of an Internet version of the disc in order to open it to a wide and, above all, youth audience.

Then the compilers of regional Books of Memory, the first curator of the Memorial Museum Valentina Tikhanova (the museum catalog is also presented on the disk) and many others spoke.

Apart from Alexander Kosakovsky, the only person representing the presidential administration was A.N. Yakovlev, but he was present only at the press briefing and left before the public arrived. Of course, participation in the publication of the Open Russia CD added a certain intrigue to what was happening. This public organization, as is known, was founded by the shareholders of the YUKOS company. The founder of the company and the current head of Open Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is in custody. Many see a political motive in his case.