After the Gulag
Book Launch & Discussion with Author Dr. Tyler Kirk
From 1929 to 1958, hundreds of thousands of prisoners and exiles from across the Soviet
Union were sent to the harsh yet resource-rich Komi Republic in Russia's Far North.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, former prisoners sent their autobiographies to Komi's
local branches of the anti-Stalinist Memorial Society and history museums.
Dr. Tyler Kirk, Assistant Professor of History and Arctic and Northern Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks released his book, After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia's Far North. Join us for a book launch and discussion.
After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia's Far North, uses these previously
unavailable personal records, alongside newspapers, photographs, interviews, and other
non-state archival sources, After the Gulag sheds new light not only on how former
prisoners experienced life after release but also how they laid the foundations for
the future commemoration of Komi's dark past. Bound by a "camp brotherhood," they
used informal social networks to provide mutual support amid state and societal oppression.
Decades later, they sought rehabilitation with the help of the newly formed Memorial
Society—the civic organization largely responsible for the de-Stalinization of the
Soviet Union. In sharing their life stories and family archives with Memorial, they
sustained an alternate history of the Soviet Union.
Offering an unprecedented look at the legacies of mass repression under Stalin, After the Gulag explores how ordinary political prisoners from across the Soviet Union navigated life after release, using memoirs, letters, and art to translate their experiences and shape the politics of memory in post-Soviet Russia.
Dive deeper into a history of memory in Russia’s Far North alongside Dr. Tyler Kirk on Thursday, February 29th, 2024 at 7pm AKST in the BP Design Theatre located on the fourth floor of the Joseph E. Usibelli Engineering Learning and Innovation Building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ Campus. Parking on campus is free after 5 p.m. This event will be live-streamed through Zoom during the event but will not be recorded. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
This event is brought to by the UAF Department of History and the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library.