The Gulag History Museum will be headed by the winner of the medal for participation in the Northern Military District. It will be renamed the Museum of Memory and dedicated to the “genocide of the Soviet people”

The Gulag History Museum in Moscow will change its concept and management, art critic Ksenia Korobeinikova was the first to report this.

On February 20, an announcement appeared on the official website of the museum:

“The Memory Museum will open in Moscow. It will be dedicated to the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people. The exhibition will cover all stages of Nazi war crimes during the Great Patriotic War.”

According to Korobeynikova, the new director of the institution will be Natalya Kalashnikova, who previously headed the Smolensk Fortress museum.

Kalashnikova’s name appeared in the media in March 2025: then Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova announced her appointment as director of the Smolensk Fortress.

“She has a certificate of a Combat Veteran, was awarded the medals “For Contribution to Strengthening the Defense of the Russian Federation” and “Participant of a Special Military Operation”,

as well as a letter of gratitude for participating in the events of the International Exhibition and Forum “Russia,” Lyubimova wrote about Kalashnikova.

It is known that even earlier Kalashnikova headed the science department at the Alexander Scriabin Memorial Museum and was vice-rector for educational work at the Moscow Institute of Culture (MGIK).

* The Gulag History Museum is dedicated to the chronicle of mass repressions in Soviet Russia from 1918 to 1956. This is the only museum in Russia with such a permanent exhibition, which existed against the backdrop of attempts by the authorities to reconsider their attitude towards repression.

• In November 2024, the authorities suspended the work of the museum under the pretext of fire safety violations. In January 2025, Roman Romanov resigned from the post of director, and Anna Trapkova, director of the Museum of Moscow, was appointed in his place.