When Memorials Cease to Commemorate: The Museum of the History of Political Repression in Tomsk as a Place of non-Patriotic Remembering

Abstract

Thisarticleexaminestourists’experiencesofvisitingtheTomskMemorialMuseum of Political Repression. Through a semiological reading of the exhibitions and textual analysis of visitor books, I show how despite the museum’s proclaimed purposeasaplaceofremembrance,touristsframetheirvisitsintermsofeducation and entertainment. Referring to memory as a discursive practice, I demonstrate how the exhibition does not fit the dominant patriotic discourse, wherein actors are remembered for their contributions to the Motherland. Because those killed in Gulags are represented as victims rather than heroes, their story remains insignificant and immemorable to many Russians.