Arseny Roginsky

Russian historian, Soviet dissident and Memorial founder (1946-2017)

Arseny Borisovich Roginsky (Russian: Арсе́ний Бори́сович Роги́нский; 30 March 1946 – 18 December 2017) was a Soviet dissident[1] and Russian historian. He was born in Velsk, a town in the Arkhangelsk Region (Northwest Russia).

Roginsky in April 2012

From 1975 until his arrest in August 1981, he was editor of Memory (Pamyat), a samizdat, i.e. uncensored, almanac of historical studies that was published abroad after 1978. Roginsky was sentenced to four years in a corrective-labour camp and was released in 1985.

During perestroika Roginsky was one of the founders of Memorial, an international historical and civil rights society. that came into existence in the late 1980s.[2] He served as its head from 1998 until his death.[3][4] A first attempt was made by the authorities to close Memorial in 2014. If Memorial was closed, commented Roginsky at the time, then the organisation's many branches would have to re-register and thereafter restore contacts across the country.[5]

Roginsky died in Tel Aviv, Israel on 18 December 2017 at the age of 71.

References change

  1. Buckley, Neil (26 April 2011). "Stalin's horrors still throw Russia into turmoil". Financial Times.
  2. Glasser, Susan (1 June 2004). "Putin talk worries independent groups". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  3. Shevtsova, Lilia (2010). Lonely power: why Russia has failed to become the West and the West is weary of Russia. Carnegie Endowment. p. 301. ISBN 978-0870032981.
  4. Parfitt, Tom (31 March 2015). "Proportion of Russians who respect Stalin is growing, poll suggests". The Telegraph.
  5. "Russian Justice Ministry asks to close Memorial Rights Group". Radio Liberty. 10 October 2014.