Source: HRO.org (info)

• Primorye region  Victims of repression  Human rights education

A new statue of dissident, former political prisoner, author and Noble Prize winner Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn has been put up in the center of Vladivostok in Primorye.

On September 8th, Russian online newspaper Rosbalt, citing PrimaMedia, reported that the statue was officially opened for viewing on the Karebelnaya waterfront in Vladivostok. Solzhynistyn’s son Ermolai attended the opening ceremony.

The statue’s sculptors are Peter Chegodaev and architect Anatoly Melkin.

After his years in exile, Aleksandr Solzhenistyn returned to his native country through Vladivostok, a fact which the mayor of Vladivostok, Igor Pushkarev, pointed out at the opening ceremony:

“Our city is young, but it’s history is truly rich. On this day, we remember that after long years in exile in the United States, the great writer and thinker, patriot and citizen, and Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returned to his native country through Vladivostok. To this day I still remember how, as a student, I came to the central square where thousands of people had congregated to meet and to listen to Aleksandr Isaevich. Thank you to everyone who contributed financially to this project, that is to the management and staff of Vladivostok’s fishing port. Thank you to all who took part in the creation of this monument and, of course, thank you to everyone who has come today to the Karebelnaya waterfront to pay their respects to this writer,” said Igor Pushkarev, as reported by vladnews.ru.

See the materials of International Memorial Society dedicated to the memory of Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

Translated by Sasha Shapiro