Suppressed by the Saviour (suppressedbythesaviour.net)
During the thirty year rule of Stalin millions of innocent citizens were imprisoned in the forced labour camps of the Gulag, exiled or excuted. Russia has never fully confronted this dark history.
Today, Putin’s regime glorifies the idea of a strong leader. Stalin is praised for leading the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany. The fact that he was the architect of the Gulag is silenced or downplayed. According to a recent poll, 38 percent of the Russians think Stalin was the most outstanding person in history and almost half of the population believes that the repression was necessary to maintain order in the country. Even the victims of Stalin’s 1924-1953 regime sometimes share this view on history.
For six months, photographer and journalist Hester den Boer travelled Siberia. She visited former Gulag campsites, interviewed victims of the Stalinist terror, met with historians- some under prosecution themselves – and talked to people who think Russia is in need of a strong leader like Stalin. In her project, she brings these opposing views together.
Suppressed by the Saviour gives a unique and intimate insight into Russia’s past and the current climate of growing repression. Den Boer approached her subject both textually and visually by means of a travelling exhibition, a nonfiction book and a web application made on the storytelling platform Slices. The trilingual app – in English, Dutch and Russian – serves to complement and expand on the journalistic content of the book, while making it accessible to the international and Russian community.
During the thirty year rule of Stalin millions of innocent citizens were imprisoned in the forced labour camps of the Gulag, exiled or excuted. Russia has never fully confronted this dark history.
Today, Putin’s regime glorifies the idea of a strong leader. Stalin is praised for leading the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany. The fact that he was the architect of the Gulag is silenced or downplayed. According to a recent poll, 38 percent of the Russians think Stalin was the most outstanding person in history and almost half of the population believes that the repression was necessary to maintain order in the country. Even the victims of Stalin’s 1924-1953 regime sometimes share this view on history.
For six months, photographer and journalist Hester den Boer travelled Siberia. She visited former Gulag campsites, interviewed victims of the Stalinist terror, met with historians- some under prosecution themselves – and talked to people who think Russia is in need of a strong leader like Stalin. In her project, she brings these opposing views together.
Suppressed by the Saviour gives a unique and intimate insight into Russia’s past and the current climate of growing repression. Den Boer approached her subject both textually and visually by means of a travelling exhibition, a nonfiction book and a web application made on the storytelling platform Slices. The trilingual app – in English, Dutch and Russian – serves to complement and expand on the journalistic content of the book, while making it accessible to the international and Russian community.