Past Reframed, Narrative Reset

The Gulag History Museum, which suspended operations in November 2024, will be replaced by a National Museum of Memory devoted to victims of Nazi crimes against Soviet citizens during what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War. The new museum will be led by Natalia Kalashnikova, a decorated veteran of Russia’s War on Ukraine.

Founded in 2001 at the initiative of historian and former Gulag prisoner Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko, the Gulag History Museum documented the Soviet system of forced labor camps and political repression from the 1920s through the 1950s. Its collections included archival materials and personal files of repression victims. Initially located in a small building on Petrovka Street, the museum moved in 2014 to a renovated site in central Moscow.

Through interactive exhibits, lectures, theatrical performances, and public discussions, the museum examined the scope and mechanics of Soviet repression. Its documentation center assisted visitors seeking information about relatives who had been persecuted.

The museum halted operations on November 14, 2024, due to what administrators described as "temporary fire safety violations." In January 2025, its longtime director, Roman Romanov, who had led the institution since 2012, was dismissed.

Independent outlet Meduza, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that Romanov’s removal followed his refusal to alter a section on Stalin-era repression in a new exhibition at the Museum of Moscow. The exhibit, which opened in December 2024 and was organized with participation from Gulag Museum staff, was originally intended to address cases such as the Shakhty Trial and the history of the House on the Embankment, a residence associated with Soviet elites later targeted in purges. According to Meduza, the repression section was removed at the direction of higher authorities, leaving only a display of 1930s apartment interiors, without explanation.

On February 20, 2026, officials announced that the former Gulag Museum site would become the country’s first national museum dedicated to victims of what they describe as the genocide of the Soviet people.

The new exhibition will focus on Nazi crimes on Soviet territory. Planned displays include "a railcar used to transport people to death camps, a reconstructed room of a Leningrad blockade survivor, and scales... used in a concentration camp to weigh prisoners’ hair before sale."

Kalashnikova, who has headed the Smolensk Fortress Museum complex since April 2025, holds veteran status and has received medals for participation in what Russian authorities call the "special military operation" in Ukraine and for contributions to strengthening national defense. Independent outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that there is no publicly available independent evidence detailing her activities on the front line.

"One of the museum’s key tasks is to instill in the younger generation a firm rejection of Nazism in all its forms," Kalashnikova said.