Russian historians raise alarm after Stalin victim’s prison card destroyed

MOSCOW, (Reuters) - Russian historians have raised concern authorities are playing down Stalin-era crimes after they learned that police destroyed the archive records of a victim of the Soviet dictator’s purges, citing a previously unknown government directive.

The Russian deputy interior minister has denied such records are being systematically destroyed. But the incident has given new life to allegations that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is discounting dark chapters of the Soviet past and glorifying triumphs like its World War Two victory instead.

Researcher Sergei Prudovsky was told by regional police in correspondence seen by Reuters that the registration card of Fyodor Chazov, who was sentenced to forced labour in a camp in the gold-mining region of Magadan in 1938, had been destroyed.

The police force in Magadan, which was home to some of the harshest camps in Stalin’s gulag system, cited a government order from September 2014 which police said designated registration cards more than 80 years old for destruction.

The finding prompted the head of Moscow’s state Gulag History Museum to appeal to the Kremlin’s human rights commissioner, asking him to launch an official investigation.

Millions were sent to forced labour camps or shot under Josef Stalin’s rule and the personal details of those who were released were kept on registration cards that were meant to be stored indefinitely.

“The registration card is the last thing that remains and it was destroyed after 2014 (in this case). Of course we couldn’t ignore this event. It really alarmed us and we appealed to the president’s human rights adviser,” museum director Roman Romanov said.

Hundreds of Russians have appealed in recent months to the Gulag History Museum for help obtaining official information about grandmothers and grandfathers who were caught up in the notorious purges, Romanov told Reuters on Saturday.