1. Russia Redux • Возвращающаяся Россия

Perm (11.2010)

Founded in 1723, Perm is a heavily industrialized region with more than 80 plants and factories. The easternmost city on the western continent, this city of almost 1,000,000 was closed to foreigners for decades due to it importance as an armaments manufacturing center. During WWII much of Soviet industry and many cultural artifacts were moved to Perm as the city, which lies 866 miles east of Moscow, was deemed far enough away from the Front. Many artists and men of letters, including the Kirov Ballet Troupe, were also evacuated to the region. Perm's darker past revolves around its notoriety as the home of Perm-36, one of the USSR's harshest & most infamous Gulags. Closed only in 1987, Perm-36 is the only gulag in Russia which remains standing. Today it serves as a memorial and education center.

Still a manufacturing powerhouse, today's Perm is imbued with a new vibrancy as it positions itself as a burgeoning avant-garde cultural center. Will Perm's cultural revolution turn it into the next Bilbao? Though difficult to predict, the city pulsates with a new energy that young people, in particular, find difficult to ignore. Whereas 60% of Perm's youth previously wanted to leave for the bright lights of Moscow, a common problem in Russia's regions, now only 8% think of leaving. In Russia's regions, that's enough to be called a revolution.
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Perm 36 bunks.
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Perm 36 bunks.

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  • Portrait of Serge Diaghilev, founder of the Ballet Russes. A hometown boy made good.
  • Surrounded by tutus in the Diaghilev Museum. (Perm, Russia)
  • The dining room of the Diaghilev family home. (Perm, Russia)
  • Student choir at the Diaghilev Gymnasium.  Хор репертирует рождественские песнопения в гимназии С. Дягилева. (Perm, Russia)
  • Гимназистки. Gymnasium students.
  • Урок хореографии. Гимназия им. С. Дягилева. Choreography lessons at the Diaghilev Gymnasium. (Perm, Russia)
  • Diaghilev Gymnasium student.  Девочка, учащася в гимназии им. С. Дягилева в Перми.
  • Perm concert hall foyer.
  • Perm concert hall.
  • Waiting for the show to begin.
  • Performance of the ballet "Coppélia". The prima-ballerina is a Japanese girl studying in Perm.  "Коппелия" Делиба в Пермском театре оперы и балета. Любопытно, что главную партию танцует японка, живущая в Перми.
  • Coppélia ballet performance. (Perm, Russia)
  • Coppélia ballet performance. (Perm, Russia)
  • Coppélia ballet performance. (Perm, Russia)
  • Outside Perm 36, a Soviet gulag in which approximately 1,000 prisoners, most deemed 'enemies of the state' were housed at any one time. Closed only in 1987, Perm 36 is is the only gulag that hasn't been torn down. Today it serves as a memorial.
  • Perm 36 guard tower.
  • In front of a barracks at Perm 36.
  • Remaining barracks at the Perm 36 Gulag.   One of the USSR's harshest Gulag camps, Perm 36 is located about 100 kilometers from the city of Perm in the Ural Mountains. Built in 1946, this camp, and others in the region, housed about 150,000 prisoners, approximately one-third of the working population of the region. This barracks housed 250 men, mostly political prisoners.<br />
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The camp was closed in 1987 and is now a memorial to Gulag victims.
  • Perm 36 barracks. About 6% of the prison population here died every year.
  • Perm 36 bunks.
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