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Gulag Museum at Perm-36
10 Gagarina Boulevard
Suite 122
Perm 614 990
Russia
Tel: 7-3422-212-5762
Fax: 7-3422-663-412
Russian Sites of Conscience Network
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Reconciliation
Oleg Vorobyov joined other zeks (prisoners) in a reunion at the formal dedication of the camp barracks of Perm-36, a memorial to the estimated 20 million people who were imprisoned in the Gulag.
Oleg served 6 years in Perm-36. He recalled that even after perestroika, prisoners who survived the camps were treated as dangerous criminals on parole. The eventual formal recognition of their “rehabilitation” was often a letdown.
“Look at my rehabilitation document – I was rehabilitated in Dzerzhinsky district of the city of Perm on Communist Street. That’s all it says.” His sentence was simply erased as if it had never happened.
Most of the former prisoners dismissed any talk of bringing the former jailers before the international court.
“There have been enough of courts, enough blood.” Said Sergie Pononmaryov, who was in the camp in the early 1970’s. There was some solace – and quiet pride – in the mere fact they emerged unbroken. Still, they would like wider recognition of how they were wronged.”
From “Back to the Gulag,” Newsweek 9.25.95
