Exhibition European GULAG (6 June - 30 June 2023) - Twentieth Century Memorial Museum

When we hear the word 'Gulag', we probably first think of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago: a system of thousands of forced labour camps spread across the entire expanse of the Soviet Union. However, an almost identical system existed in every country that the Communists took over after the Second World War. For more than a decade, at least 800 camps operated in the territory of the present-day European Union and its immediate neighbours. Nearly 1 500 000 people were imprisoned there, of whom 130 000 died. These camps constituted a veritable 'European gulag'. Its history is now somewhat sidelined, and not only in countries that did not experience communism. The forced labour camps and their victims have faded from memory even in the former Eastern Bloc, and no material trace of most of them remains. Only a few former camps have now been turned into museums. With this exhibition we want to revive the memory of the thousands of victims of the communist labour camps and their suffering.

The exhibition under the auspices of the Deputy Mayor of the Capital City of Prague. The exhibition will be held from 6 to 30 June 2023 at the Ambit Gallery in the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of the Snows at Jungmannov Square, Prague 1. The opening is on 7 June 2023 at 6 pm.

The original English version of the exhibition was prepared by the Platform for European Memory and Conscience in cooperation with a number of institutions. It was created by an international team of historians. The Czech version of the exhibition was prepared by the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century. An English-Czech catalogue is also published to accompany the exhibition. There are also worksheets for project lessons in history and social studies.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on Wednesday 7 June 2023 at 6 pm in the refectory of the Convent of Our Lady of the Snows on Jungmann Square. It will include a debate with historians Adam Hradilko, Jan Dvořák, Zdeněk Bauer and Łukasz Kamiński. Moderated by Petr Blažek.

Partners of the exhibition: Nemzeti Emlékezet Bizottsága (Committee of National Memory, Hungary) | Eesti Mälu Instituut (Estonian Institute of Historical Memory) | Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras (Lithuanian Research Centre of Genocide and Resistance) | Instituti i Studimeve për Krimet dhe Pasojat e Komunizmit (Institute for the Study of Communist Crimes and their Consequences, Albania) | Instytut pamięci narodowej (Institute of National Memory, Poland) | Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs (Museum of the Occupation of Latvia) | Institute of Memory of the Nation (Slovakia) | Memorialul Inchisoarea Pitești (Memorial of Pitești Prison, Romania) | Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Czech Republic) | Cabinet of History and Documentation of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic (Czech Republic)

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the Centre of History Zajezdnia in Wrocław. The transport and installation of the exhibition was made possible by cooperation with the Polish National Foundation. The project is realized with the financial support of the Capital City of Warsaw. The project is supported by the Prague Foundation.

We would like to thank the Mining Museum Příbram - Memorial Vojna Lešetice for the opportunity to film the invitations to the exhibition and the film about the Memorial in the authentic environment of the former labour camp.