Lecture: “‘I had to take my son and my mother into exile’: Experiences of parents and children in the Gulag”

Jehanne Gheith, Duke University

Based on multiple interviews with Gulag survivors and children of Gulag survivors, this talk explores how the Gulag experience changed the experience of intimate relationships, causing radical disruptions that often lasted a lifetime. In particular, we’ll look at the experience of mothers and children as they move into exile, as babies are born in the Gulag camps, and as children tried to relate to parents who have been arrested. We will think together about short-term and long-term effects of these multiple disruptions and how they continue to affect people today.