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"THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT IN ITS PLACE BUT RUINS"Dolinka village head Igor Lenev gave us a tour of the former Karlag administrative building. The three-story building is hidden behind overgrown trees and brush, in a park once tended by prisoners that has gone back to nature. Almost hidden in the grass are the remains of a fountain, also built by prisoners. They say that goldfish once swam in it.
The village boss is not happy with the buying and selling of such a famous structure.
"If this building falls into private hands, in a month there won't be anything left in its place but ruins," Igor Nikolaevich frowned. "Six, seven years ago they sold it to a private enterprise, and the building was in normal condition. The owner used it for a year. He pulled out the marble and plaster finishings. That's what our elderly residents said, I wasn't mayor back then. Later there was a lawsuit and the sale was annulled. But... this act of vandalism was already carried out, now you can't even go into one wing of the building: the floor is dismantled. The other wing is in more or less normal condition, for now, but people have been creeping in and stealing everything."
And how can they not this? On the doors of the shabby three-story building hangs a warehouse lock, and the first floor windows are boarded up, poor defense against vandals. Getting inside is no problem - the windows of the once terrible structure have no glass. Inside the rooms, outlets and light switches have been torn out. Here and there the floor is torn up. Even the wall tiles have been yanked out by overly zealous 'guests'.
IT IS NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE
Until recently, this historic building was carried on the books of the justice administration, and should hve been protected from vandals around the clock. The justice administration just gave up, and asked the government property committee to assume responsibility for the troublesome building. As soon as this was done, the government property committee put it up for sale. By the way, there were two conditions underwhich one could purchase this 'piece of history' last Monday: first, one had to pay 3.5 million tenge, and secondly, invest another 2 million tenege (about $14,000) in it over the next three years. In such a way, demolishing the building for construction materials could be avoided. Could be, and so is this why no takers for the former Karlag headquarters could be found? There has already been a lot of fuss, so perhaps it was not worth the trouble.
"It would have been possible to open a club, restaurant, or store here," said the village boss. "But I think that might have been immoral. To turn it into a museum, well, I don't believe in this. One has to find an altruist, a benefactor who would want to donate to it. A museum is a commercial enterprise, of course, and given time you can make money from it, but this is a long process."
A museum within the walls of the old Karlag headquarters has been a cherished dream of village boss Igor Nikolaevich for two years.
"Now and then we have foreign guests who promise to help with the building's renovation. Not long ago Romanian Ambassador Soare came, and said: 'Show me the room were there will be information about Romanian prisoners and I'll speak with the president about getting the the money.' We've had lots of these offers. If there were to be a museum in this building we'd have tours coming in. People would pay attention to the village."
GOOD ADVICE
It would seem that nothing was simpler. People have lots of ideas and plans, you just put a map in their hands. Nonetheless, there are no potential buyers on the horizon, and the building, meanwhile, is being stolen down to the bricks.
"We're losing the building. In Dolinka they've already ransacked one place," admitted the deputy chairman of the Karaganda territorial government property committee, Sergey Grebenshchikov, in an interview on Kazakhstani television station KTK. "This building is still property of the republic, and it needs to be transferred to private ownership."
Sergey Alekseevich presented a brief diagram to the interested parties. Dolinka's village mayor and the head of the cultural department should go to their district chief, who directs the appropriate letter to the government property committee, and within a short time this committee gives their reply. In essence, that is all.
"I think that the matter would be decided within a month," stated Sergey Alekseevich optimistically.
When the building passes from republic to community property, determining its fate will be a bit simpler. The owner would then be the regional head, but a lot would depend on the eloquence of the officials at the department of culture: could they convince the governor that the former Karlag administration building should be 'settled' by a museum honoring the victims of political repression?
| Better late than never THUS FAR THE BUILDING IS NOT A HISTORICAL LANDMARK But it should become one sometime in a week This tale about the sale of a historically valuable building would never have happened if the government had taken it under protection in time. "Who gives it this status? The government assumes responsibility for protecting a site. Such a building should never have been sold," commented Tulkibay Tuleuov, head of the Karaganda district agency for protection of cultural and historic landmarks. "The paperwork on the former Karlag headquarters is 80 to 90% complete. This week it'll be checked by the district commission, which includes historians, archeologists, sculptors, artists, and representatives of the cultural department. The commission will decide whether it's worth taking this property under its protection and presenting it to the district chief. If the district chief agrees with the commission's opinion, then the object will come under government protection as locally important. I don't think that anyone will be against this. By the way, this building is already included in Karaganda's cultural heritage program. In fiscal 2006-2007 it should be receive funding." |
| Special Opinion "HAVE NO FEAR!" Journalist Ekaterina Kuznetsova, who has been studying the history of the Karlag for the last 20 years, provided the following: "The main camp administration buildings for the entire GULAG were constructed in a single architectural project, so it is worth saving this building for that reason alone. It only needs renovation, and should stand for many more years. It was an administrative building. In the basement was the special section, and depository of documents. On the second floor were the agricultural section other divisions of the Karlag, as well as the director's office. The first floor has a lot of uses - it could be made into a library, for instance, while the second floor should definitely be made into a museum. This would be the rational solution. Have no fear about this building. It is 'clean', no one was tortured or shot here." |
