Museum of the History of Political Repression

The Museum of the History of Political Repression opened on 21 October 2003 on the former premises of the KGB (State Security Committee; Soviet Secret Police). It was founded by order of the President of the Kazakh Republic, Nursultan Nasarbaev, with the support of the History and Human Rights Organisation ‘Adilet’. The Museum is funded by the Kazakh government.

The Museum offers the visitor exhibitions on the following topics: ‘Red and White Terror in the Civil War Period’, ‘Farmers’ Insurrections in 1929-1931’, ‘Famine in Kazakhstan in the 1920s and 1930s’, ‘The Emergence of the camps Karlag’, ‘ALZHIR and others on the territory of Kazakhstan’. There is also the diorama ‘Confiscation of the Big Farms’, where audio-visual equipment is used.

The Museum’s collection is based on the archive of ‘Adilet’ and the collections of the National Museum of the Kazakh Republic, the Kazakh State Archive, the President’s Archive and other regional archives. In addition the Museum collects documents and objects from private and family archives and plans to complement its collection with items found on the sites of former camps.

The support of the President of Kazakhstan’s Administration allows ‘Adilet’ to consider expanding their activity. The organisation plans to build a memorial complex called Zhanalyk, and to found open-air museums in the settlement Dolinka on the territory of the former steppe camp in Dzheskasgan District, Karaganda Region, and in the settlement Malinovka in Akmolinsk Region on the territory of the former camp ALZHIR. The Museum is actively involved in the erection of memorials at the burial sites of victims of political repression in every district and the publication of Books of Condolence.