Seven “Last Address” plaques installed in Moscow

Seven plaques were installed in Moscow this weekend as part of the Last Address memorial project.

The Last Address project aims to commemorate Russian citizens sent to forced labour camps during the Stalin era by placing small plaques on the buildings where they lived before being apprehended by the Soviet secret police. The plaques feature the names, occupations, dates of birth and death of the gulag victims, as well as the year that they had their names cleared of all charges, known as “rehabilitation”.

The first plaques were installed in Moscow on 10 December 2014, which was also Human Rights Day, and now over 100 such plaques can be found in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities. A map that pinpoints locations where plaques have already been placed is available on the project’s website.

Last Address is not affiliated with the government, and as such does not receive public funding, but has raised more than 1.5 million rubles (US$22,300) in an online crowdfunding campaign.