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RFI’s La Marche du monde

The Sound Archives—European Memories of the Gulag are the result of Alan Blum, Marta Craveri and my own desire to enable European survivors of Soviet repression to bear witness. This non-profit was based on the awareness that these women and men were the only people left who could describe their own experience.

It was, therefore, a matter of urgency to record their life stories before, during and after their time in the camps. One million Europeans were deported to the Gulag, a fact long concealed by the Iron Curtain, and still not fully known about. To let these witnesses’ voices be heard now, with all their expressions of identity and emotion, the major international public broadcaster RFI, known globally for its expertise and quality, chose to join this ambitious and innovative project. European memories of the Gulag were for the first time presented and compared by a unique team of scholars. RFI is proud to have contributed to producing the first sound archives of European memories of the Gulag.
Because of the sound quality of these Gulag archives, the listener can hear, feel and understand the very particular experience of these women and men as they speak.

Listening to them is a duty.

Valérie Nivelon
Journalist and producer of La Marche du monde

In 2011, Valérie Nivelon was awarded the Société Civile des Auteurs Multimédia prize for the best radio broadcast of 2010 for the series Goulag: les Européens parlent (the Gulag: Europeans speak).
These French-language programmes are available as podcasts. To access them, select Français in the language menu top right ➚.