The exhibition "Another Russia"

The exhibition "Another Russia" tells the story of the emergence and work of Memorial from the late 1980s to the present day. At the center of the exhibition are objects from Memorial’s collection, created by former Gulag prisoners.

From the mid-1980s, more and more people in the USSR began to demand an open discussion of the crimes of the communist regime and recognition of its victims. Reflecting on and preserving the memory of decades of state repression and terror — mass executions and the Gulag system — was seen as an essential foundation for building a democratic state and society.

After the International Memorial Society was founded in 1989, its organizations across the country began collecting testimonies from survivors and documenting the history of state violence. This led to the creation of the largest collection of materials on the crimes of the Soviet regime in the world.

Memorial has always stood up for groups facing discrimination and threats. Since the First Chechen War (1994–1996), the organization has documented Russia’s war crimes, and since 2009 it has maintained records of political prisoners. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, pressure on democratic civil society in Russia intensified sharply. In 2016, the authorities designated Memorial’s parent organization, International Memorial, as a "foreign agent", and in December 2021 succeeded in its forced liquidation.

Despite repression and arrests, Memorial continues its work for a democratic future for Russia and to resist state propaganda and disinformation.

The exhibition is organized by Zukunft Memorial.