An Officer’s Daughter | Generation Gulag: Olga Shirokaya

Olga Shirokaya knew her arrest was inevitable. She watched as Stalin eliminated his inner circle, including her father. Then while her university class watched, the KGB arrested Olga. All these years later when she thinks who is to blame, she remembers a nation where millions lived in fear but also where millions participated in the system of terror.

Generation Gulag is a series of nine short documentary films that uncovers the impact of Russia’s campaign to rewrite the history of Gulag survivors. The series features interviews and animated illustrations of the survivors’ memories, offering an accessible medium for understanding the dangers of recent campaigns to make history books fit new political narratives.

This story was first published by Coda Story. Watch the Generation Gulag series here.