Comer, Margaret; (2023) Portraying Perpetration, Victimhood, and Implication at Sites of Soviet Repression in Moscow. Slavic & East European Journal , 67 (3) pp. 303-323.

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Abstract

This article will consider the possible resonances of Michael Rothberg’s “implicated subject” at memorials, memorial museums, and museums related to historic violence and oppression. It will conceptualize this figure’s respective absences and presences at sites dealing with victims of Soviet political repression in contemporary Moscow, Russia. The nature of Soviet repression, especially in the Great Terror era, meant that former perpetrators at all levels of power often later became victims of the same systems of repression. Debate over who “counts” as a victim—e.g., whether previous work for the secret police disqualifies one from being considered a victim of a later wave of repression—is ongoing. Using case studies such as the controversy over the list of names of victims at the Kommunarka shooting ground, a site of NKVD mass killings, and the itineraries of digital tours of sites related to repression in Moscow, this article will examine whether and how different historic actors are considered through the lens of implication at and across sites. It will identify places where a discourse of implication could be presented but is instead absent and will further consider the societal and political implications of not officially reckoning with a past of perpetration, especially as these denials can be used to justify contemporary violence. The article will also introduce a complementary subcategory, the “implicated victim,” in order to better conceptualize the shifting boundaries between perpetration, victimhood, and bystanding, as these apply to the case of Soviet repression and its contemporary memorialization.

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