Urgent petition to save Perm-36 Gulag Museum

We are calling on all concerned citizens and public associations to support an open letter by the Perm Region branch of Memorial to the Perm Region governor regarding the alarming situation surrounding the Perm-36 Memorial Museum, the famous memorial to Gulag victims.

 

This has been and still is the only museum of its kind in Russia created by the public. Making up the governing body of the Perm-36 Memorial Museum, its employees and activists are professional historians, candidates and doctors of science, famous writers, journalists and public figures.

Now, as a persistent campaign has been waged against the museum and its grounds and facilities have to all intents and purpose been taken over by the Perm Region Ministry of Culture, all these people and their work over many years have proven to be superfluous.

Since both they and Memorial have come up with a host of support proposals, we have decided to publish our letter online so that those who share our stance can sign it HERE.

We have already sent a copy of the open letter to President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, both of whom have repeatedly expressed support for Perm-36, as well as to Ella Pamfilova, Russia's Human Rights Commissioner, to the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights and to Russia's Public Chamber.

We understand that not everyone who wants to support the Perm-36 Museum has access to the Internet. If that is the case people can print out and sign our letter (or their letter in support of Perm-36) and send it to any of the people listed below.

It is only together that we will be able to save the public Gulag History Museum!

Contact people to send letters of support:

– Perm Region Governor Viktor Fedorovich Basargin, 14 Ulitsa Kuybysheva, 614006, Perm.

e-mail: [email protected]

tel.: (342) 253-74-58, (342) 253-71-58, fax: (342) 253-66-46

– President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, 23 Ulitsa Ilinka, 103132, Moscow, Russia. Online via the president's website at http:// letters.kremlin.ru/

– Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, 2 Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya, 103274, Moscow. Online via the government's website at http://government.ru/letters/

– Russian Human Rights Commissioner Ella Aleksandrovna Pamfilova, 47 Ulitsa Myasnitskaya, 101000, Moscow or you can fill out a form online HERE.

– The Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Fedotov, 4 Staraya Ploshchad, 103132, Moscow. Fax: 8 (495) 606-48-55, tel.: 8 (495) 606-41-84, email: [email protected]

 

 

Translated by Natascha Kearsey