Photography and Political Repressions in Stalinís Russia: Defacing the Enemy

8vo, hardcover 170pp. This book is devoted to the phenomenon of removal of people declared "public enemies" from group photographs in Stalinís Russia. The book is based on long-term empirical research in Russian archives and includes 57 photographs that are exceptional in terms of historical interest: all these images bear traces of editing in the form of various marks, such as blacking-out, excisions or scratches. The illustrative materials also include a group of photographs with inscriptions left by officers of Stalinís secret police, the NKVD. To approach this extensive visual material, Denis Skopin draws on a wealth of Stalin-era written sources: memoirs, diaries and official documents. He argues that this kind of political iconoclasm cannot be confused with censorship nor vandalism. The practice in question is more harrowing and morally twisted, for in most cases the photos were defaced by those who were part of victimís intimate circle: his/her colleagues, friends or even close family members.