Memorial Center for the History of Political Repression Perm-36

The museum-reserve "Perm-36" is located on the territory of the former forced labor colony of the Armed Forces 389/36 in the village of Kuchino, Chusov city district, Perm region.

In 1946, wooden barracks were built here for prisoners of colony No. 6 of the Molotov Department of Correctional Labor Camps and Colonies of the NKVD.

After Stalin’s death and subsequent amnesties, the prison population changed. Instead of criminals, “households” and “deputies” in the colony arrived former employees of law enforcement agencies, courts and prosecutors convicted of various crimes.

In 1972, the most dangerous political prisoners, according to the authorities, were transferred from Mordovian camps to the Perm region.

It was at this time that the colony was named VS 389/36 or Perm-36. Nearby were two more similar colonies – Perm-35 and Perm-37.

In 1980, at the colony "Perm-36" was created a special regime area for "especially dangerous state criminals." Among the prisoners of the Perm political camps were authors and distributors of anti-communist literature, members of human rights groups, religious, national and other organizations: Vladimir Bukovsky, Sergey Kovalev, Anatoly Marchenko, Yuri Orlov, Nathan Sharansky, Gleb Yakunin and others. Of the three political camps that existed at that time in the Perm region, this site was the toughest – prisoners were kept only in cells behind double metal doors.

Camp Perm-36 was closed in 1988.

The history of the museum begins in the early 1990s, when historian V.A. Shmyrov put forward the idea to museumify the abandoned camp. The leadership of the Perm region supported this project, and in 1994 a museum and archive complex “Memorial of Victims of Political Repression” was created on the site of the former ITK-36. The establishment of the museum was supported by the Administration of the Perm region, the Administration of the Perm region and public organizations. In 2000, the complex was awarded the status of a monument of history and culture of regional importance.

In 2014, the State Autonomous Cultural Institution of the Perm Territory “Memorial Complex of Political Repressions” was created (since 2019 – the State Budgetary Cultural Institution of the Perm Territory “Perm-36 Memorial Museum-Reserve of the History of Political Repression”). Since that time, a lot of work has been done on the formation of the museum fund, the creation of exhibitions and expositions, the organization of educational events to preserve the memory of the victims of political repression.