44 Lenin Avenue

A researcher's journey to Siberia

Architecture of Repression

The building at 44 Lenin Avenue was of course originally an educational institution. It became a site of repression (*nods to Foucault*), serving as one of two local headquarter buildings for the OGPU/NKVD from 1922-1944. Structurally, this involved converting the basements (of both buildings, if I’m not mistaken) into a remand or investigative prison (следственная […]

Vandalized Monument: An update

Filed under: Monument square — Wilson Bell at 7:46 pm on Wednesday, March 22, 2017  Tagged , ,

Good news on the “Stone of Sorrow” that was vandalized back in November. At first, police had reported that there was nothing they could do, because the stone wasn’t an officially designated monument, despite the years of ceremonies and the consecration of the monument in 1992. This decision had the staff of the NKVD Remand […]

Monument vandalized

Filed under: Monument square — Wilson Bell at 8:33 pm on Thursday, November 24, 2016  Tagged , , ,

I haven’t posted much since the summer, in part because I am no longer “in the field.” Just a brief update, here. The monument “to the victims of Bolshevik repression” was vandalized just a few days ago, as someone used red spray-paint to place a bust of Stalin on the back of the monument. In […]

In Tomsk

Filed under: Monument square — Wilson Bell at 6:21 am on Wednesday, June 22, 2016  Tagged , , ,

    I arrived in Tomsk on Friday, and spent the weekend exploring and adjusting to the time difference (14-hours ahead of Kamloops, although only five hours ahead of Central Europe, where I had spent ten days before heading to Russia). Just wanted to post, here, the photos from the square adjacent to 44 Lenin Avenue. […]