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The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center «Peace, Progress

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The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center «Peace, Progress mission/activities page 01 The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center «Peace, Progress, Human Rights» The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center is both a cultural institution and a public organization promoting the formation of civil society in Russia. It was established by the Public Commission for the Preservation of the Heritage of Academician Sakharov – Andrei Sakharov Foundation, chaired at the time by E. Bonner and, subsequently (since 2005), by S. Kovalev. The Museum and Public Center opened 21 May 1996, on the 75th anniversary of Sakharov's birth. Permanent exhibits, temporary exhibitions, the library, and museum collections are dedicated to three main issues: «Totalitarian past», «Conditions of freedom – issues that currently face Russia», «The life and activities of Andrei Sakharov». The Museum and Public Center often initiates and organ izes discussions on urgent societal and political issues and grants, free of charge, its facilities for sem inars, conferences and other public events to organizations whose goals do not contradict the mission of the Museum and Public Center. The Museum occupies a small mansion that was part of a 17th19th century estate last owned by the Usachev – Naydenov merchant family. The premises housing the Museum and Public Center have been granted by the Moscow City Government free of rent until 2021. Reconstruction of the building was accomplished by architect Grigory Sayevich, and the permanent collection was designed by architect Yevgeni Ass. Exposition equipment was developed, produced and mounted by Bioinjector IPK. The design of the Round Table Room incorporates works by artists Svetlana Assiryants and Daniel Mitlyansky and Maksim Mitlyansky. In 2000, The Museum and Public Center was granted the status of an Autonomous NonCommercial Organization. The organization is managed by the Board of Directors. Grants and donations are the principal sources of operational funding. Mission of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center – To contribute to the preservation of the historic memory of tens of millions of victims of the politi cal repressions and crimes of the Soviet regime – To contribute to the establishment of the values of an open democratic society and state in today's Russia, as advocated and shared by Andrei Sakharov Major activities of the Museum and Public Center – Archive and museum activities – Arrangement of exhibitions – Defense of human rights – Educational and instructive programs – Arrangement of seminars and conferences – Editorial and publishing activities – Participation in the implementation of Andrei Sakharov Fund programs and projects page 03 «I believe that mankind will find a rational solution to the challenging task of implementing grandiose necessary and inevitable progress, at the same time maintaining the human in man and the natural in nature.» Andrei Sakharov major sections page 05 The Totalitarian Past of Russia: The Totalitarian Past of Russia: «Mythology and ideology of the USSR» and «Political repressions in the USSR» «The way through GULAG» and «Resistance to «Unfreedom» Temporary exhibitions: «Problems of today's Russia» «Andrei Sakharov: Personality and Destiny» major sections page 07 The Museum's Permanent Exhibition presents Soviet history as seen through the prism of political repressions and resistance to the regime. In Moscow, it was the first exhibition open to the common pub lic in memory of the millions sacrificed in the name of communist Utopia. The artistic design of the exhibition was developed by architect Yevgeni Ass. The main idea of the exhibition is a metaphoric movement from «unfreedom» to freedom, from darkness to light. The exhibition space is divided into four naves (corridors) by high walls. The walls serve not only as places for exhibits, but as symbols of chang ing epochs, as well. By means of a variety of materials (brick, metal, wood, glass, textile), the dark and gloomy at the start of the route, becomes more spacious, light and bright on the way to its end. The proj I II III VI V ect was implemented by teams of young architects «Architect Lab» and «IceCoating (Obledenenie) of Architects», «Bioinjector» Company. In 1997, the Museum's Permanent Exhibit project was awarded the prize «For the best interior» at the Moscow Architecture Competition held during the «Architecture and Design» Fair. The first authors to contribute to the major sections of the exhibition included Nikita Okhotin, Leonid Litinsky, and Galina Averbukh. In 19982003, the material content of the exposition was renewed, but its concept remained the same. The authors of the renewed exposition were Lyudmila Vasilovskaya, Aleksandr Yermolaev, Andrei Ivanov, Yuri Samodurov, and Maria Kudyukina. The exhibits' design and mounting were accomplished by the archi tects of «masterskayataf», headed by Aleksandr Yermolaev. Major sections: I Mythology and Ideology of the USSR II Political Repressions in the USSR III The Way Through GULAG IV Resistance to «Unfreedom» the structure of the exposition V Andrei Sakharov: Personality and Destiny section #1 mythology & ideology of the USSR page 09 mythology and ideolo1gy of the USSR Mythology and Ideology of the USSR The first section of the Exhibition presents a win dowdressing of Soviet socialism in the form of a bright, colorful collage of photos, posters, lines from Soviet songs and slogans. This is propaganda of the Soviet way of life: subjugation of nature, friendship of nations, labor exploits, festive demonstrations, military parades, sports festivals, progress achieved in science, technology and culture, unity of the Party and the people. The purpose of the propaganda was to inspire faith in the inevitable victory of communism. The idea of building a communist society rested on man's ageold dreams of a just social order, material abundance, free and joyful labor, a world without violence, private property, exploitation, and a world without the poor (but, at the same time, without the rich). Vladimir Lenin declared: «the Russian mass public has to be presented with something extremely simple, intelligible to its comprehension. Soviets and communism are simple enough». Up to that point, the Bolshevik Party had led the Utopian project. The party enjoyed absolute power in politics, the economy and ideology. It controlled society in order to nip all doubts and deviations in the bud. The citizens of the Soviet state were assured that every day they made fresh advances on their way to the glorious future. But the attainment of these objectives required sacrifices. There was no coincidence in the frequent use of combat terminology: struggle for worldwide victory of the revolution, struggle for lib eration of oppressed nations, struggle for peace in the world, struggle for harvest, for cleanliness, for the new way of life, for the upbringing of a new man, for the accomplishment of housing and foodproduction programs, etc. The ideological machinery of the State succeeded in creating an illusory vision of national life, and a considerable part of society responded with genuine enthusiasm. And it was natural that the guiding and organizing role played by the Communist Party and its leaders was emphasized permanently throughout the whole Soviet period of history. As soon as the majority of citizens realized the gap between the image of propaganda's «bright future» and reality, the fall of the Soviet regime became just a matter of time. раздел #1 mythology & ideology of the USSR page 11 section #2 political repressions in the USSR page 13 Political Repressions in the USSR The second section of the Exhibition deals with the his tory of political repressions in the USSR in the period from 1917 to the mid1950's. The socalled dictatorship of the proletariat in the person of the Bolshevik Party considered it inevitable to start the political repressions in the USSR construction of a new society with total repression against real and potential enemies of the regime. Early II on, opposition newspapers were closed, rival political parties banned, the Constituent Assembly was dis missed, and former landlords, noblemen, entrepreneurs, clergymen, army and police officers were deprived of suffrage. However, as time went by, it became clear that repressions were not a temporal measure but the very essence of the new regime. A few months after the revolution passed, a policy of enforcement was applied to peasantry (the most numerous segment of Russia's population) in the form of «pro drazverstka» (surplus appropriation system). This made civil war inevitable. The main instrument of civil war was terror – «red» and «white». After the war, many prominent representatives of humanitarian intelligentsia were exiled abroad and the party of socialist revolutionaries (SR) was set on trial (1922). Meanwhile, the Church suffered a fatal attack: its valuables were confiscated in the interest of the struggle against hunger; many priests were arrested and shot. In 1928, the socalled «Shakhty case» became a rehearsal for political show trials of the 1930's. In the late 1920'searly 1930's, dispossession of kulaks (wealthy peasants) and mass collectivization resulted in plunder and exile to remote areas of millions of peasant families. So far, independent peasantry was eliminated. The horrible hunger of 19321933 with 7 million starved to death was a direct conse quence of this policy. In the early 1930's, the system of Main Administration for Camps (abbre viated in Russian as GULAG) was formed. Inefficient forced labor of convicts was implied in construction
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