Today, May 31, on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression, the “Saraishyq” Museum-Reserve held a lecture-exhibition titled “Silent Witnesses: Through the Language of Archives and Artifacts” at the Atyrau Humanitarian College named after Kh. Dutbayeva within the framework of the scientific-practical round table “The Timeline of History: The Bitter Truth of the Past.”
The lecture-exhibition was organized based on the results of the research project “Prorva and Astrakhan Camps in the GULAG System: History, Memory, and Legacy (1932–1950),” implemented by the museum-reserve between 2020 and 2022 with grant support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As part of the event, the project leader, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor Ulzhan Tolegenkyzy Akhmetova, delivered a presentation titled “Research on the History of the Prorva-Astrakhan Camps in the Atyrau Region (1932–1950),” while Scientific Secretary Amangeldi Zhumabayev presented a report on “Silent Witnesses of History: The Tragedy of Political Repression Reflected in Museum Artifacts.”
The exhibition featured historical documents discovered in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Directorate for the Astrakhan Region of the Russian Federation, the Special State Archive of the Atyrau Region Police Department, and the State Archive of the Atyrau Region. In addition, visitors were presented with artifacts found during the research expedition “Saraishyq – Prorva – Burynshyk – Qulsary – Atyrau – Saraishyq,” conducted at the sites where the Prorva-Astrakhan camps were once located.