Remembering and Forgetting the Gulag: Prison Tourism Across the Post-Soviet Region

Abstract

This chapter provides a comparative account of prison tourism in the post-Soviet region. It juxtaposes prison tourism in the Gulag center of Russia and Kazakhstancountries where the Soviet system of labour camps was most prevalent -with the Gulag periphery of the Baltic States -countries where less remains of Soviet penal structures, but a sense of national victimhood is higher. The chapter is broadly organized around four key variables for comparison: the physical location of the sites; the representations of victims and perpetrators in museum objects; the degree of commercialization; and the narrative of making a break with the past and concealing continuities with the Soviet system. The chapter finds big differences across the cases in terms of these variables. However, it argues that one thing prison museums throughout the region share is a lack of engagement with the issue of penal reform and the degree to which elements of the Soviet system of punishment still endure.

Ambiguity and dilution in Kazakhstan's Gulag heritage

“…Seremetakis (1994), reaffirmed this centrality of heritage to memory; buildings and artefacts connect individuals with their historic pasts. However, the commemoration of the Gulag is contested and politicised in many parts of the former USSR (Slade, 2017;Trochev, 2018) and such sites can be used to legitimise past and current political ideologies (Pearce, 1992). Yet, these sites are related to shared and traumatic history and sometimes perceived as 'authentic' representations of the past by visitors (Chhabra, 2008;Pearce, 1992;Piché & Walby, 2010).…”

Managing authenticity and performance in Gulag Tourism, Kazakhstan

“…Some of the narratives have been created at the cost of historical authenticity, a practice that can be found across sites ranging from Auschwitz to the 'Killing Fields' sites of Cambodia (Hughes, 2008;Lennon, 2009;Lennon & Foley, 2000). Throughout the post-Soviet region, Slade (2017) and Trochev (2018) noted that the memorialising of the Gulag is a highly disputed and politicised issue.…”

Kazakhstan Gulag heritage: Dark tourism and selective interpretation

“…Slade () and Trochev () noted that memorializing Gulags is a disputed and politicized issue, throughout the post‐Soviet region. Such sites have an important memorial and educative function (Chhabra, ), but can also be used to legitimize political context (Pearce, ; Williams, ).…”