The Gulag Museum will be renamed the Museum of Memory and dedicated to the “genocide of the Soviet people”

The Gulag History Museum in Moscow will be renamed the Memory Museum, and Natalya Kalashnikova from the Smolensk Fortress will become the new director. Art critic Ksenia Korobeynikova reported this.

An announcement also appeared on the museum’s website on February 20.

“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,” the website says.

As Gazeta.ru writes with reference to one of the employees, after the news about the change of director, all employees are at a loss.

“[Employees] decide whether to stay or leave. The exhibition will be completely redone, everything will be new. The collection of the Gulag Museum will be left in the funds, it will just lie there,” she said.

The new head of the Museum, Natalya Kalashnikova, said that funds about victims of political repression “cannot be thrown away or destroyed.” According to her, now all materials are registered with the state.

“The museum staff remains the same, no one was dispersed. The museum has undergone a reorganization. They are professionals, they know how to work with museum archives, so I am glad to cooperate with them,” said Kalashnikova.

She noted that the Museum is not yet ready to receive visitors, since the premises still have fire safety problems.

Kalashnikova became director of the Smolensk Fortress in March 2025. Before that, she headed the science department at the Alexander Scriabin Memorial Museum and was vice-rector for educational work at the Moscow Institute of Culture (MGIK).

As the media wrote , Kalashnikova has a certificate of a combat veteran, she has medals “For contribution to strengthening the defense of the Russian Federation” and “Participant in a special military operation.”