A new director for the Gulag History Museum

The Moscow Department of Culture has appointed Anna Trapkova, director of the Moscow Museum, as head of the Gulag History Museum. “Running this institution alongside the Moscow Museum is a great responsibility and a serious challenge for me. This is a very interesting place with enormous development potential and in which it is important for me to make my contribution”said Anna Trapkova.

This appointment confirms the departure of the former director, Roman Romanov, the reasons for which remain unknown, since the sudden closure of the Gulag Museum in November 2024. The museum had officially announced its closure for alleged violation of fire safety rules, but the reason is more political. The Moscow Time reported in November that the museum’s closure had been ordered by “senior Kremlin officials and Russian security services” and that the alleged safety violations were just one “smoke screen”.

According to Russian journalist Ksenia Korobeynikova, the new director’s mission would be to “reach a compromise” between the museum and the authorities as well as “rethink its concept and its permanent exhibition”. In short, a step into line. The Gulag History Museum is still closed and Anna Trapkova said the museum’s reopening date is not yet known.

Founded in 2001 by the city’s former mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, the museum located north of the capital is dedicated to the history and memory of the gulags. With a collection of official state documents on the camps, the museum organizes numerous shows, concerts and conferences in memory of the victims of Stalinist executions (1937-1938), which does not please the Russian authorities.

After the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin’s nationalist positions strengthened, leading to numerous repressive measures against civilians who defied the regime. Among these measures is the closure of the Russian NGO Memorial, whose creation in 1989 makes it the oldest group of victims of Stalinist repression.

Anna Trapkova previously worked at Rambler & Co, at the Liberal Mission Foundation, at the Institute for Regional Policy, and was Deputy Director of the Department of State Support of Art and Folk Art at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Since 2017, she has been Deputy General Director for Reconstruction and Development Projects at the Garage Museum, and from 2014 to 2017, she was Deputy Director for Development at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

Gulag History Museum in Moscow.

Similar Posts