An archive is memory itself. Sometimes that means a photograph, a manuscript, a drawing, a napkin, a jacket, or even a homemade violin. We’ve assembled this gallery of various artifacts from different parts of the Memorial Museum collection
Tevel Yudin was an employee of the 4th Department of the OGPU Belbaltlag, seconded to work as an excavator operator at Camp Station No. 14.
Collection: Documents
Medium: paper, typewriting, handwriting
Dimensions: 17×11 cm
Year: 1932
Collection creator: Yudin, Tevel Isakovich
Location: MURMANSK OKRUG, LENINGRAD OBLAST, RSFSR, May-Guba of Murmansk Railroad, WHITE SEA–BALTIC CANAL, CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The portrait of an inmate was created at the camp where the artist served his sentence. Igor Krivoshey's daughter Lidia donated his camp artwork to the International Memorial Museum.
Collection: Painting
Author: Krivoshey, Igor Yefimovich
Material, technique: pencil and oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24×16 cm
Year: 1953 Collection creator: Krivoshey, Igor Yefimovich
Location: VOROSHILOV, PRIMORSKY KR, RSFSR, Voroshilov-Ussuriysky, LABOR CAMP DIVISION OF VOROSHILOV PLANT
At the time of Alexei Wangenheim's arrest, his daughter was only four years old, so the father and the daughter got to know each other through correspondence.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich
Medium: ink and India ink on paper
Dimensions: 10×17 cm
Year: 1936–1937
Collection creator: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich; Wangenheim, Eleonora Alexeevna
Location: ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR, Solovetsky Islands, Solovki Special Prison (STON)
The box was created by an unknown female prisoner of the Mineralny Camp The item was preserved by Irina Ugrimova.The monogram “ER” is embroidered on the inside of the lid at the top left.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Unknown author
Medium: cardboard, textile, threads, sewing, embroidery, leather (?)
Dimensions: 20×14×5 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Collection creator: Irina Nikolaevna Ugrimova
Location: INTA WORKER'S SETTLEMENT, KOZHVINSKY DISTRICT, KOMI AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, MINERALNY CAMP
The name tag was discovered during a 1989 expedition to the so-called “Dead Road” (its eastern section) in the hut of a labor camp settlement of Construction 503.
Collection: Archaeology
Author: Unknown author
Medium: India ink on paper
Dimensions: 5×12 cm
Year: 1949–1953
Collection creator: Tretyakova, Tatyana Nikolaevna
Location: KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR, YENISEI CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP AND CONSTRUCTION 503, NORTHERN DIRECTORATE
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). A pencil inscription on the reverse: “Turkmeenlane Nar-Muhamed 1950. U.Sooster.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 18×10 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
An inscription in yellow-green paint in the lower right-hand corner: “V.B. 1927.” A pencil inscription on the reverse: “A keepsake.” Veniamin Bromberg created the collage while at the Yaroslavl Detention Center for political prisoners.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Bromberg, Veniamin Fayvelevich
Medium: wood, eggshells
Dimensions: 18×22 cm
Year: 1927
Collection creator: Bromberg, Veniamin Fayvelevich
Location: YAROSLAVL, YAROSLAVL OBLAST, RSFSR, Yaroslavl Detention Center for Political Offenders
A small work created in captivity. The lower left-hand corner features the artist's monogram and a date: “BS 1950.” Inscription on the reverse: “Smirnov-Rusetsky Takhtamygda 1950 A Small Power Plant (In the Camp).”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Smirnov-Rusetsky, Boris Alexeevich
Medium: watercolor on paper
Dimensions: 10×14 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Smirnov-Rusetsky, Boris Alexeevich
Location: SKOVORODINO DISTRICT, AMUR OBLAST, RSFSR, NIZHNE-AMUR CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
A drawing by Yevsei Vinivitin, a student of the Omsk Art College and prisoner of the Norilsk Correctional Labor Camp from 1937 to 1945. Vinivitin was convicted under Article 58-10 (anti-Soviet propaganda) and sentenced to eight years of corrective labor and five years of disenfranchisement.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 27×14 cm
Year: 1939
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: DUDINKA, TAYMYR AUTONOMOUS OKRUG, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR, NORILSK CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The hand-crafted notebook is part of a collection of items created at the camp and preserved by Irina Ugrimova. The cover is decorated with colored embroidery: the monogram “ER” and two roosters.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Unknown author
Medium: textile, thread, embroidery, cardboard, paper, pencil, ink
Dimensions: 13×10×1 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Collection creator: Irina Nikolaevna Ugrimova
Location: INTA WORKER'S SETTLEMENT, KOZHVINSKY DISTRICT, KOMI AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, MINERALNY CAMP
The cross-stitch purse belonged to Alla Andreeva, who brought it from the prison camp. The handiwork is credited to her fellow prisoner Olga Bazilevskaya, who appears to have gifted it to Andreeva.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Bazilevskaya, Olga Nikolaevna
Medium: textile, threads, sewing, cross-stitch, metal
Dimensions: 8×14 cm
Year: 1948–1954
Collection creator: Andreeva, Alla Aleksandrovna; Bazilevskaya, Olga Nikolayevna
Location: ZUBOVA POLYANA DISTRICT, MORDOVIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, Potma DUBRAVLAG
The aquatint by nonconformist artist Lev Kropivnitsky from the Year Signs cycle was created 30 years after his release from the prison camp, where he was sent during his time in college, after his return from the frontline.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper with aquatint
Dimensions: 17×14 cm; 10×8 cm
Year: 1984
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: USSR
The leaflet was most likely distributed by the German propaganda service in the frontline zone during the Soviet retreat (1941–1942). Similar leaflets are known to have been circulating in the fall of 1941 in Lyakhovsky (now Melenkovsky) district of Vladimir Degion. (D. Degtev, D. Zubov. “Budni Sovetskogo Tyla.” Moscow, 2017.)
Collection: Documents
Medium: paper, typographic printing
Dimensions: 15×10 cm
Year: 1941–1943
Location: USSR
A deck of cards, 52 pcs. Hand-crafted at the camp.
Collection: Everyday Life at the Camp
Medium: watercolor, colored pencil on paper
Dimensions: 7×5×1 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Location: INTA WORKER'S SETTLEMENT, KOZHVINSKY DISTRICT, KOMI AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, MINERALNY CAMP
The pocket bag was made in the camp (Karlag) in 1939-1940 by Vera Herzenberg.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Herzenberg, Vera Robertovna
Medium: fabric, thread, sewing, embroidery
Dimensions: 12×11 cm
Year: 1939–1940
Collection creator: Herzenberg, Vera Robertovna
Location: KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The second Year of the Rooster etching from the Year Signs cycle, different in technique and content.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper
Dimensions: 24×17 cm; 15×10 cm
Year: 1981
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
The work jacket from rough tarpaulin belonged to Abel Startsev-Kunin, who wore it for work in the mine. Startsev-Kunin was an inmate of the Peschany Camp in the Karaganda Oblast from 1950 to 1955.
Collection: Everyday Life at the Camp
Medium: tarpaulin, thread, plastic
Dimensions: 70×53 (buttoned up)
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Startsev-Kunin, Abel Isaakovich
Location: PESCHANY CAMP
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). In the lower right corner is a signature in India ink, “US 53.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: India ink on paper, quill
Dimensions: 22×15 cm
Year: 1953
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
The self-portrait by Boris Sveshnikov was painted before the artist's arrest and was completed upon his release from the labor camp.
Collection: Painting
Author: Sveshnikov, Boris Petrovich
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 48×41 cm
Year: 1945–1960
Collection creator: Sveshnikov, Boris Petrovich
The small album contains sketches on various subjects, including production design sketches, and dates back to the period of Mikhail Rudakov's exile to Kotlas, where he worked at the town's drama theater as the chief production designer.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Medium: paper, typographic printing, pencil
Dimensions: 15×21 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Collection creator: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Location: KOTLAS, ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR
The item was found by Yury Dmitriev during the 1988–1989 excavations within Petrozavodsk city limits (Sulazhgora and Besovets) on the sites of mass graves of state terror victims of 1937–1938.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: wood, hard rubber
Dimensions: bowl and stem 7×4×3 cm, mouthpiece 8×2×3 cm
Year: 1920–1937
Location: PETROZAVODSK, KARELIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR
The pillowcase with a portrait of Vladimir Mayakovsky belonged to (was embroidered by?) the artist Vasilisa Shklovskaya-Kordi, the first wife of the writer Viktor Shklovsky, a friend of Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Shklovskaya-Kordi, Vasilisa Georgievna
Medium: fabric (linen), thread, cross-stitch, buttons
Dimensions: 27×31 cm
Year: 1977
Collection creator: Shklovskaya-Kordi, Varvara Viktorovna; Shklovskaya-Kordi, Vasilisa Georgievna; Shklovsky, Viktor Borisovich
A small statue by Vladimir Sosnovsky depicts a good-natured, plump man who is laughing so hard that he has to hold his huge belly with one hand and use the other to steady himself so as not to fall.
Collection: Sculpture
Author: Sosnovsky, Vladimir Lvovich
Medium: toned plaster
Dimensions: 16×13×16 cm
Year: 1955–1989
Collection creator: Sosnovsky, Vladimir Lvovich
Location: USSR
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). The artist portrays his fellow countryman, an islander from the village of Heltermaa in Hiiumaa parish, neighboring Käina, where Sooster's home farm Pendi was. With him, Ülo could speak Estonian.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: India ink on paper, quill
Dimensions: 19×14 cm
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: PESCHANY CAMP
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). At the top is a pencil inscription, “Vist.” The drawing was confiscated from the artist by a prison guard and thrown into a stove, where it got partially burned.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 20×14 cm
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
The lower right-hand corner features the author's signature: “GK 86. ”A hand-written inscription on the reverse: “Kovenchuk, Georgy. 1937. St. Petersburg.”
Collection: Documents
Author: Kovenchuk, Georgy (Gaga) Vasilyevich
Medium: cardboard, printing
Dimensions: 48×59 cm
Year: 1980–1990
Location: LENINGRAD, RSFSR
The shoe was found by a group of school students at the site of a former camp near the town of Svobodny (Amur Oblast). In different years the city was the center of BAMlag, Amurlag, and Svobodlag.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: tarpaulin, wood, rubber, metal
Dimensions: 19×30×10 cm
Year: 1932–1946
Location: SVOBODNY, AMUR OBLAST, FAR EASTERN KRAI, RSFSR
A drawing by Yevsei Vinivitin, a student of the Omsk Art College and prisoner of the Norilsk Correctional Labor Camp from 1937 to 1945. Vinivitin was convicted under Article 58-10 (anti-Soviet propaganda) and sentenced to eight years of corrective labor and five years of disenfranchisement.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 30×18 cm
Year: 1941
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: DUDINKA, TAYMYR AUTONOMOUS OKRUG, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR, NORILSK CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
A herbarium with a math problem Alexei Wangenheim made and mailed to his daughter Eleonora (Elya) while in Solovetsky prison camp.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich
Medium: herbarium; paper, ink, glue
Dimensions: 14×10 cm
Year: 1934–1937
Collection creator: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich; Wangenheim, Eleonora Alexeevna
Location: ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR, WHITE SEA–BALTIC CANAL CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
Graphic artist Andrei Vingorsky served a sentence for anti-Soviet propaganda in wartime in the Smolensk Camp Station. There, he created the Ruins of Smolensk series, reflecting the image of the city in the last years of the war and after it.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vingorsky, Andrei Kuzmich
Medium: India ink on paper, brush
Dimensions: 30×23 cm
Year: 1945
Collection creator: Vingorsky, Andrei Kuzmich
Location: SMOLENSK, SMOLENSK OBLAST, RSFSR, CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP NO. 5
The case dates back to the Sidorins' time in Harbin, prior to their return to the Soviet Union.
Collection: Everyday items
Medium: paper, cardboard, typographic printing
Dimensions: 12×8 cm
Year: 1930–1935
Collection creator: Sidorina, Maria Silovna
Location: Harbin, Manchukuo
Valentina Gorbunova-Makaeva created the illustrated handwritten book during her imprisonment in the Akmolinsk Camp of Wives of Traitors to the Motherland (abbreviated as ALZhIR) for her daughter Svetlana.
Collection: Rare Books
Author: Gorbunova-Makaeva, Valentina Pavlovna
Medium: India ink and colored pencils on paper
Dimensions: 17×13 cm
Year: 1938–1942
Collection creator: Gorbunova-Makaeva, Valentina Pavlovna
Location: AKMOLA DISTRICT, KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). A guard confiscated the drawing and threw it into a stove, partially destroying it.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 14×10 cm
Year: 1952
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
The cover was sewn by Ozerny Camp inmate Bella Nusinboym. The front side is decorated with delicate cross-stitch embroidery. Embroidered in the lower corner are the owner's initials in Gothic script.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Nusinboym, Bella Yevseevna
Medium: fabric, sewing, openwork, embroidery
Dimensions: 21×30 cm
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Nusinboym, Bella Yevseevna
Location: IRKUTSK OBLAST, RSFSR, OZERNY CAMP
The photograph was taken by Yury Rost, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta. The print with a black border was made after Andrei Sakharov's death.
Collection: Documents
Medium: paper, typographic printing
Dimensions: 28×37 cm
Year: 1989
Collection creator: Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
A drawing by Yevsei Vinivitin, a student of the Omsk Art College and prisoner of the Norilsk Correctional Labor Camp from 1937 to 1945. Vinivitin was convicted under Article 58-10 (anti-Soviet propaganda) and sentenced to eight years of corrective labor and five years of disenfranchisement.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 27×14 cm
Year: 1939
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: DUDINKA, TAYMYR AUTONOMOUS OKRUG, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR, NORILSK CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The heel of a Goodyear men's shoe. The object was found by Yury Dmitriev during the 1988–1989 excavations within Petrozavodsk city limits (Sulazhgora and Besovets) on the sites of mass graves of state terror victims of 1937–1938.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: rubber, metal
Dimensions: 7×9×2 cm
Year: 1915
Origin: USA
Location: PETROZAVODSK, KARELIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR
Yevsei Vinivitin was a student at the Omsk Art School when he was arrested in 1937 for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda among collective farmers.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 20×27 cm
Year: 1958
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR
Margarita Flying belongs to the cycle of etchings created by nonconformist artist Lev Kropivnitsky based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The etching coincided with the so-called Biennale del dissenso culturale [Biennial of Dissent] in Venice (1977), which displayed Kropivnitsky's works, among others, but was subsequently struck from the Biennale di Venezia records.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper with aquatint
Dimensions: 37×25 см; 21×15 cm
Year: 1977
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
The padded jacket was brought from the camp. It belonged to Arkady Belinkov (1921–1970), a writer, literary critic, and prisoner of the Karaganda labor camp (1944–1956). From Marianna Shabat (maiden name Ryss). The item was donated to the Memorial Museum at the request of the widow of Victor Belinkov, the father of Arkady Belinkov.
Collection: Everyday Life at the Camp
Medium: fabric, absorbent cotton, sewing
Dimensions: 72×61 cm when buttoned up
Year: 1944–1956
Collection creator: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
One of the male portraits created at the camp. The name of the inmate is unknown.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sukhanov, Ivan Petrovich
Medium: paper, pencil
Dimensions: 29×20 cm
Year: 1936
Collection creator: Sukhanov, Ivan Petrovich
Location: GORNO-SHORSKY DISTRICT, WEST SIBERIAN KRAI, RSFSR, SIBERIAN CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The exhibit was found by Yury Dmitriev during the 1988–1989 excavations in Petrozavodsk, Karelia (Sulazhgora or Besovets), at the mass burial sites of state terror victims of 1937–1938. The human remains were reinterred at Zaretskoye Cemetery in Petrozavodsk between 1991 and 1997.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: metal, plastic, glass, industrial production
Dimensions: 13×6×2 cm when closed
Year: 1930–1937
Location: PETROZAVODSK, KARELIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR
Memorial Society logo sketches created in 1988–1989 by artist and illustrator Yury Seliverstov.
Collection: Documents
Medium: paper, photocopying
Dimensions: 30×21 cm
Year: 1988–1989
Alla Vasilyeva drew the portrait of the unknown woman at the labor camp where she served her sentence.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Medium: paper, pencil, cardboard
Dimensions: 20×17 cm
Year: 1943
Collection creator: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, Dolinka, KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The House is the only etching by Lev Kropivnitsky from the Sansara cycle in the collection of the International Memorial Museum.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper with aquatint
Dimensions: 50×42 cm; 24×32 cm
Year: 1982–1984
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
Tvorchestvo, the journal of the Union of Soviet Artists and Sculptors, Issue No. 7, 1937.
Collection: Rare Books
Medium: paper, printing
Dimensions: 35×25 cm
Year: 1937
Collection creator: Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
After her second arrest, Ada Federolf-Shkodina was exiled to Turukhansk, where she lived with poet and translator Ariadna Efron, the daughter of Marina Tsvetaeva.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Federolf-Shkodina, Ada Aleksandrovna
Medium: fabric, mouliné thread, sewing, embroidery (cross-stitch, double cross-stitch)
Dimensions: 35×43 cm
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Federolf-Shkodina, Ada Aleksandrovna
Location: TURUKHANSK DISTRICT, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR, Turukhansk
The drawing was made after the artist's release from Norillag. From 1945, he was confined to Krasnoyarsk, where he worked as a decorator, then as an art director and type designer on television.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: ink on paper, brush
Dimensions: 27×21 cm
Year: 1949
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: KRASNOYARSK, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR
Yury Dmitriev found the fragment of a plate with the Glavfarforfayans NKMP RSFSR mark made at the Konakovo factory on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island during the 2006 expedition (pit No.4 in the yard, 1 Pavla Florenskogo St.).
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: porcelain, mark, industrial production
Dimensions: 13×11×2 cm
Year: 1941-1946
Location: PETROZAVODSK, KARELIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR
The drawing was made during the artist's imprisonment. The author's inscription reads: “41 years old. After the surgery. Hemorrhoids.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Medium: paper, pencil
Dimensions: 16×19 cm
Year: 1941
Collection creator: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The award watch was presented to Boris Kagner for his work in the financial department during the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal. The watchcase bears an engraved inscription: “To Comrade B.M. Kagner for the construction of Belomorstroi from the Gulag OGPU 20/VI-33 [Jun. 20, 1933].”
Collection: Everyday items
Medium: metal, glass, engraving
Dimensions: 6×5×1 cm
Year: 1931–1933
Collection creator: Kagner, Boris Mendeleevich
Location: MOSCOW, MOSCOW OBLAST, RSFSR
In this pastel drawing, Mikhail Rudakov depicted the rooftops of Kotlas, the town where he lived in exile. A pencil inscription on the reverse: “M. Rudakov. Kotlas. Drawing, 1950.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Medium: paper, pastels
Dimensions: 25×39 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Location: KOTLAS, ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR
A skull cap Lev Abramovich made while imprisoned at an NKVD Special Technical Bureau (colloquially referred to as “sharashka”) in the Urals.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Abramovich, Lev Yevseevich
Medium: textile, white and brown silk embroidery
Dimensions: 24×14 cm (folded)
Year: 1942
Collection creator: Abramovich, Lev Yevseevich
Sergei Bigos graduated from the Printing Faculty of the Higher Art and Technical Institute (Vkhutein) in Moscow in 1930. He was certified as a printing industry designer and technician with the right to seek employment throughout the Soviet Union.
Collection: Documents
Medium: cardboard, typographic printing, photography, ink, handwriting, printing, stamp
Dimensions: 10×15 cm
Year: 1930
Collection creator: Bigos, Sergei Demyanovich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR, 11 Rozhdestvenka St.
The artist Anatoly Dolzhansky served eight years on political charges in Siblag (the Siberian Correctional Labor Camp).
Collection: Painting
Author: Dolzhansky, Anatoly Mikhailovich (Isaakovich)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 62×43 cm
Year: 1942
Collection creator: Dolzhansky, Anatoly Mikhailovich (Isaakovich); Ptits, Emmanuil Markovich
Location: MARIINSK, MARIINSK DISTRICT, NOVOSIBIRSK OBLAST, RSFSR, SIBERIAN CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The artist painted the landscape after her release from the labor camp, during her exile to the town of Shchuchinsk.Inscriptions on the reverse: “I. Borkhman, Kazakhstan 1955. The Mirror Lake.” “Shchuchinsk. Lake. I. Borkhman. 02.09.1955.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Borkhman, Irina Aleksandrovna
Medium: India ink on paper, brush
Dimensions: 15×20 cm
Year: 1955
Collection creator: Borkhman, Irina Aleksandrovna
Place of creation: SHCHUCHINSK DISTRICT, KOKSHETAU OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC
A drawing made from memories of imprisonment.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Merekov, Alexei Andreevich
Medium: India ink and graphite pencil on paper
Dimensions: 22×12 cm
Year: 1966–1992
Collection creator: Merekov, Alexei Andreevich
Location: NORTH-EASTERN CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The shoe was found by the members of the Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, and Perm branches of Memorial during the August 2002 expedition on the grounds of the abandoned Butugychag labor camp.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: rubber, leather, metal
Dimensions: 18×13×9 cm
Year: 1934–1956
Location: Magadan Oblast, RSFSR, DALSTROY TENKINSKY CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP, BEREGOVOY CAMP
A page from the album of drawings made by Mikhail Rudakov while living in exile after his release from the Vorkuta Corrective Labor Camp. The inscription in the lower right-hand corner: “Rudakov. 52. Kotlas.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 15×21 cm
Year: 1952
Collection creator: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Location: KOTLAS, ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR
The Year of the Horse etching from the Year Signs cycle was donated to the International Memorial Museum by Galina Kropivnitskaya, the author's widow.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper with aquatint
Dimensions: 15×18 cm; 8×14 cm
Year: 1978
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
The towel belonged to the Sidorin family. Marianna Sidorina's family (her mother Maria Sidorina, her mother's husband, their son, and her grandmother, Anna Gavrilovna Fenko, an ethnic Ukrainian) returned to Moscow, USSR, in 1935. They had lived in Harbin since 1922.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Fenko, Anna Gavrilovna
Medium: muslin, red threads, embroidery
Dimensions: 45×164 cm
Year: 1922–1956
Collection creator: Fenko, Anna Gavrilovna
The buttons were retrieved by Yury Dmitriev from death pits during the 1988–1989 excavations within Petrozavodsk city limits (Sulazhgora and Besovets) on the sites of mass graves of state terror victims of 1937–1938.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: leather, wood, plastic
Dimensions: 1 to 3 cm in diameter, up to 4 mm thick
Year: 1920–1937
Location: PETROZAVODSK, KARELIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR
A notebook with handwritten copies of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and Alexander Pushkin's The Mermaid. From the collection of Irina Ugrimova's prison camp objects—art and handicrafts of prisoners she collected during her imprisonment in Minlag.
Collection: Documents
Medium: ink on paper
Dimensions: 15×20 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Collection creator: Verakso, Tamara Vladimirovna; Ugrimova, Irina Nikolaevna
Location: INTA WORKER'S SETTLEMENT, KOZHVINSKY DISTRICT, KOMI AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, MINERALNY CAMP
A find discovered by the employees of Moscow, Krasnoyarsk and Perm branches of Memorial on the site of the Butugychag labor camp (a expedition led by Sergei Sigachev, August 2002).
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: iron, welding
Dimensions: 80×170×60 cm
Year: 1949–1956
Location: Magadan Oblast, RSFSR, BEREGOVOY CAMP
At the time of Alexei Wangenheim's arrest, his daughter was only four years old, so the father and the daughter got to know each other through correspondence.
Collection: Documents
Author: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich
Medium: ink on paper
Dimensions: 9×13 cm
Year: 1934
Collection creator: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich; Wangenheim, Eleonora Alexeevna
Location: NORTHERN KRAI, RSFSR, Solovetsky Islands, WHITE SEA–BALTIC CANAL, CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The small album contains sketches on various subjects, including production design sketches, and dates back to the period of Mikhail Rudakov's exile to Kotlas, where he worked at the town's drama theater as the chief production designer.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Medium: paper, typographic printing, pencil
Dimensions: 15×21 cm
Year: 1949–1954
Collection creator: Rudakov, Mikhail Zakharyevich
Location: KOTLAS, ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR
The wooden suitcase was made at the camp. Its owner, Vladimir Latkin-Turkov, traveled with it to Moscow in 1955 for a review of his case. As a result of the review, the case was dismissed and Latkin-Turkov was released from prison.
Collection: Everyday Life at the Camp
Medium: wood, plywood, metal, tarpaulin, handwork
Dimensions: 25×42×15 cm without handle
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Latkin-Turkov, Vladimir Dmitrievich
Location: INTA, INTA DISTRICT, KOMI AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, RSFSR, INTINSKY CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
The drawing was made after the artist's release from Norillag in Krasnoyarsk, where he was sent for forced settlement. In Krasnoyarsk, he worked in publishing houses and at a TV studio, and painted after hours.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Medium: India ink on paper, quill
Dimensions: 20×24 cm
Year: 1949
Collection creator: Vinivitin, Yevsei Potapovich
Location: KRASNOYARSK, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR
The cast was made by sculptor Daniel Mitlyansky after Andrei Sakharov's death.
Collection: Sculpture
Author: Mitlyansky, Daniel Yudovich
Medium: plaster, casting
Dimensions: 22×6×11 cm
Year: 1989
Collection creator: Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich
The drawing was made at the prison camp where Ivan Sukhanov served his sentence.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sukhanov, Ivan Petrovich
Medium: paper, graphite pencil, colored pencils
Dimensions: 29×20 cm
Year: 1936
Collection creator: Sukhanov, Ivan Petrovich
Location: GORNO-SHORSKY DISTRICT, WEST SIBERIAN KRAI, RSFSR, SIBERIAN CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
Swedish entrepreneur and inventor Lars Magnus Ericsson set up Saint Petersburg's first telephone workshop in 1897. In 1905, the enterprise became a joint venture of Swedish and Russian businessmen and was renamed to the Russian Joint-Stock Company of L.M. Ericsson & Co.
Collection: Everyday items
Medium: metal, wood, rubber, industrial production
Dimensions: 26×28×18 cm; cable length: 162 cm
Year: 1930
Collection creator: Prudovsky, Sergei Borisovich
Location: LENINGRAD, RSFSR
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). One of the features of the new high-security prison camps was the strict separation of male and female zones with no possibility of meeting or socializing.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 10×15 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
The wheel was found by Ivan Panikarov on the territory of the former Kinzhal mine, where prisoners of the North-Eastern camps mined tin. It was transferred to the museum's collection in 2001.
Collection: Archaeology
Medium: iron, industrial production
Dimensions: 22 cm tall; 25 cm in diameter
Year: 1938–1945
Location: KHABAROVSK KRAI, RSFSR, NORTH-EASTERN CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
At the time of Alexei Wangenheim's arrest, his daughter was only four years old, so the father and the daughter got to know each other through correspondence.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich
Medium: ink and watercolor on paper
Dimensions: 10×17 cm
Year: 1937
Collection creator: Wangenheim, Alexei Feodosievich; Wangenheim, Eleonora Alexeevna
Location: ARKHANGELSK OBLAST, RSFSR, Solovetsky IslandsSolovki Special Prison (STON)
The portrait of an inmate from the Karaganda Labor Camp, where Alla Vasilyeva served her sentence.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 21×17 cm
Year: 1940
Collection creator: Vasilyeva, Alla Fedorovna
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, KARAGANDA CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). At the top right in pencil is an nscription: “Hüperborea.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 10×14 cm
Year: 1950–1955
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
An etching from the Year Signs cycle. The author's pencil inscription on the reverse: “L.E. Kropivnitsky. The Year of the Snake. 1988–1989. From the Year Signs cycle.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper with aquatint, drypoint
Dimensions: 19×17 cm; 12×9 cm
Year: 1988–1989
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
The folder may have belonged to Viktor Shklovsky, who wrote for the Sovetskaya Kultura magazine. On July 21, 1984, the magazine printed one of his last articles.
Collection: Everyday items
Medium: oilcloth, metal
Dimensions: 27×37×1 cm
Year: 1953–1984
Collection creator: Shklovsky, Viktor Borisovich
One of the etchings dedicated to the Year of the Pig. It is part of the Year Signs cycle and belongs to the late period of Lev Kropivnitsky's work.
Collection: Graphics
Author: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Medium: etching on paper, drypoint
Dimensions: 17×23 cm; 8×10 cm
Year: 1983
Collection creator: Kropivnitsky, Lev Yevgenyevich
Location: MOSCOW, RSFSR
Ülo Sooster made this drawing during his imprisonment in the Peschany Special Camp (1950–1955). Inscription on the reverse: “1951-52. I. Sooster.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Medium: paper, graphite pencil
Dimensions: 10×14 cm
Year: 1951–1952
Collection creator: Sooster, Ülo Ilmar
Location: KARAGANDA OBLAST, KAZAKH SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PESCHANY LABOR CAMP
The poster was printed for a production of Alexander Ostrovsky's play Rich Brides at the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater. In 1950, the theater's production designer was Georgy Baklanov.
Collection: Documents
Author: Baklanov, Georgy Fedorovich
Medium: paper, typographic printing
Dimensions: 94×66 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Baklanov, Georgy Fedorovich
Location: NORILSK WORKER'S SETTLEMENT, DUDINKA DISTRICT, TAYMYR AUTONOMOUS OKRUG, KRASNOYARSK KRAI, RSFSR
A sheet with embroidery patterns from Tatiana Tretyakova's archives dates back to her life in exile and her work at the creative crafts club.
Collection: Needlework and Handicrafts
Author: Tretyakova, Tatyana Nikolaevna
Medium: scale paper, colored pencil
Dimensions: 24×35 cm
Year: 1950–1956
Collection creator: Tretyakova, Tatyana Nikolaevna
Location: BOROVICHI, NOVGOROD OBLAST, RSFSR
The landscape was painted in Takhtamygda, where the artists was serving his sentence. In the lower right-hand corner is the author's monogram and date: “BS 1950.”
Collection: Graphics
Author: Smirnov-Rusetsky, Boris Alexeevich
Material, technique: watercolor, white pigment on cardboard
Dimensions: 10×15 cm
Year: 1950
Collection creator: Smirnov-Rusetsky, Boris Alexeevich
Location: SKOVORODINO DISTRICT, AMUR OBLAST, RSFSR, NIZHNE-AMUR CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMP
