“You can’t talk about the Gulag in Kolyma”: Magadan teachers told not to discuss Soviet political repressions — or mention them online

Local authorities in the town of Magadan, located in Russia’s Far East, recently issued verbal orders banning schools and libraries from holding events dedicated to victims of Soviet-era political repressions — or even mentioning them online — according to a report by the independent outlet Govorit NeMoskva. The instructions were reportedly circulated in teachers’ and librarians’ chat groups ahead of Oct. 30, the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repressions.

“We were given oral instructions, and school administrators held staff meetings where they said that this year, events related to repressions should not be held,” a source told the outlet. “Now we joke that you can’t talk about the Gulag in Kolyma — but it’s not a very funny joke.”

The directives are all the more notable given that, in Soviet times, Magadan served as the main gateway to the Kolyma region, home to some of the deadliest camps in Stalin’s Gulag system. From the 1930s to the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were sent there to mine gold and build infrastructure under brutal, often lethal conditions. The R504 Kolyma Highway, which leads into the area, earned the nickname “Road of Bones” in acknowledgement of the thousands of prisoners who died building it, with many of their bodies buried just beneath its surface.

Today, the city hosts the “Mask of Sorrow” monument, created by renowned sculptor Ersnt Neizvesty and unveiled in 1996 in order to commemorate victims of political repression in Kolyma and across the Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, Govorit NeMoskva obtained an audio recording in which library employees in the city were given directions to downplay this year’s commemorative events:

“Regarding events for the Day of Political Repressions: if you haven’t made arrangements with guests yet, you can skip it. We’ve received information that these events should not take place. If guests are already invited and tickets sold, you can hold them, but don’t post about them anywhere — not on websites or social media. Just accept it. That’s the directive from above. We don’t publish this information anywhere.”

A library worker told the publication that in 20 years of service, he had never before encountered such a ban. Until now, commemorative events had always been held without restrictions.

Despite the informal prohibition, official ceremonies did take place in Magadan on Oct. 30 at the “Mask of Sorrow” memorial, the city’s main monument to victims of Stalinist terror. The Magadan mayor’s office reported on the event, but neither Mayor Larisa Polikanova nor Governor Sergei Nosov attended in person, limiting their participation to social media posts.

Polikanova wrote that “to remember does not mean to live in the past” and emphasized the need to “acknowledge historical facts without distortion.” Nosov added that “this is part of our historical memory that must be preserved without distortions or attempts to use it for anyone’s political purposes.”

Separately, the outlet 7x7 reported that authorities in the Republic of Karelia, a northwestern region of Russia that borders Finland, declined to open a case against a member of the far-right nationalist “Russkaya Obshchina” (lit. “Russian Community”) movement who splashed water on a local MP during a memorial event for victims of terror. According to a report by Barents Observer, the assailant claimed during questioning that he had “accidentally spilled water” while handing the bottle to the MP. Police refused to open an administrative case, while the Investigative Committee declined to pursue charges for insulting a public official.

In late 2024 and early 2025, the Russian government intensified efforts to tighten control over how the Soviet past is remembered, rolling back elements of legislation and initiatives that once acknowledged the fact of Stalin-era repression. In September 2024, the current head of Russia’s Supreme Court, Igor Krasnov, proposed streamlining the reversal of the rehabilitation of victims of political terror, and 4,000 rehabilitations were later revealed to have been revoked.

State media and officials have framed discussions of repressions and the Gulag as “creating a falsified image of the USSR” and “levelling criticism against the state authorities” — justifications state prosecutors used to shut down the Nobel-prize winning human rights organization Memorial in 2021 — while monuments to Stalin are making a comeback across the country. Independent historians and rights advocates, including those formerly associated with Memorial, say the moves mark a shift toward historical revisionism that seeks to promote parts of the Soviet legacy and suppress critical reflection on state violence.

At the same time, Moscow’s Gulag History Museum, one of the country’s most prominent institutions dedicated to documenting Soviet-era repression — and the only such institution operating under the umbrella of the state — has come under direct pressure. The museum was temporarily closed in November 2024 for alleged “fire-safety violations,” a move widely seen as politically motivated, and its longtime director, Roman Romanov, was dismissed in January 2025 after refusing to censor an exhibition. The museum is now expected to be absorbed into the city-run Museum of Moscow — a change that would place it firmly under government oversight and, critics warn, further erode what remains of Russia’s independent memory of the terror years.