The decision for Editions Noir sur Blanc to publish this book was made the moment I laid eyes on the face of Aleksei Zheltikov, a locksmith in the Moscow subway, arrested on July 18, 1937, and photographed in prison the night he was executed.
This man with an unforgettable expression was one of the 750,000 victims of the Great Purge, victims who remained, until now, anonymous. On Stalin’s order, over the course of fourteen months, these individuals from highly diverse social backgrounds were “erased,” their families left in the dark about their fate.
Now the Polish photographer Tomasz Kizny has conducted a vast investigation on the victims of the Purge across the whole of Russia. His work was supported by the civil rights society Memorial, which opened its archives to Kizny. The result demands admiration. It is a cornerstone for the collective memory of Russia, restoring dignity to these innocent victims of the Purge.
This is an essential book. It is our honor to publish it.
Vera Michalski
La Grande Terreur en URSS 1937-1938
Tomasz Kizny, Dominique Roynette
Translate by Véronique Patte and by Agnès Wisniewski
Editions Noir sur Blanc
Format : 28 x 31,5 cm, 412 pages
ISBN 978-2-8825-0303-9
Prix: 40 Euros
