About the Museum

About the Museum

“Virtual Space of Memory. Museum of Crimean Resistance” is a place of remembrance dedicated to people who, since 2014, have resisted the temporary Russian occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and who have become victims of Russian occupation and the Kremlin’s political persecution. They include those who openly opposed the occupation, helped others, and documented crimes, as well as people persecuted by the Russian repressive system because of their Ukrainian citizenship, refusal to accept Russian documents, pro-Ukrainian position, religious beliefs, civic activism, journalistic work, or public statements. They are unlawfully detained, abducted, imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced on fabricated charges. In these stories, a person’s freedom is taken away not because of a crime, but because they refuse to accept the occupation and the rules imposed by it.

The Museum tells the stories of people whom the Russian occupation authorities seek to reduce to criminal case numbers, court verdicts, and statistics. Yet behind every case is a real person: their family, profession, dreams, and everyday life. That is why the Museum places at its centre not only the fact of repression, but also the human story, the memory of the individual, and the voices of their loved ones.

A special place in the Museum’s work is given to cooperation with civic and human rights organisations, relatives of political prisoners, and released Crimean political prisoners. This includes cooperation with organisations and people who, for years, have worked to ensure that those whom Russia attempts to isolate from the world are not forgotten: documenting persecution, supporting families, collecting testimonies, reporting on trials and sentences, and working for the release of those unlawfully imprisoned.

The voices of those who have returned from Russian captivity are of particular importance to the Museum. Released Crimean political prisoners constantly speak about those with whom they were imprisoned. They tell of people who remain in captivity, of the conditions of detention, humiliation, torture, illness, and psychological pressure. These accounts often contain harrowing details that cannot be conveyed through the language of dry court documents. At the same time, they tell stories of human resilience, mutual support, and the ability to withstand even those circumstances in which a person is deliberately deprived of everything.
Alongside them are the relatives of those who remain in Russian prisons or captivity. For years, they have waited for their loved ones, supported them, spoken about them publicly, and refused to let the world forget their names. Their voices are especially important to the Museum: they help reveal behind a political case not only the circumstances of persecution, but an entire life and a family whose existence has been transformed by Russian repression.

Another important area of the Museum’s work is international museum cooperation. Since 2014, the project’s curators have been working with the Berlin-based Mauermuseum – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, a museum that for decades has preserved stories of the struggle for freedom and human rights. This cooperation makes it possible to place the stories of political prisoners within a broader European context — through objects, personal stories, and museum practices that help tell the story of resistance to repressive systems. One such example is a set of prayer beads made from bread by Server Mustafayev in a Russian prison for his son. The original object is preserved at the Mauermuseum in Berlin. In the “Virtual Space of Memory. Museum of Crimean Resistance,” this object is presented as a digital artefact: visitors can see it, learn about the story behind its creation, and understand what it means to a person in captivity who is thinking about his son. In this way, the Museum can bring together original material testimonies preserved in different countries into a single story — the story of Crimean resistance.

Crimean resistance is part of the history of Ukraine — a history that should be known throughout Ukraine and around the world. Russian repression against Ukrainian citizens did not begin in 2022. It began immediately after the occupation in 2014. While the world was still trying to understand what was happening, activists and journalists in Crimea were already being persecuted, homes were being subjected to unlawful searches, people were being abducted, criminal cases were being fabricated, and lengthy prison sentences were being handed down. At the same time, for years Russia has sought to impose its own version of events on the world through disinformation, propaganda, and the distortion of history. That is why the Museum is not only a space of memory, but also a tool for countering Russian disinformation and propaganda. The truthful stories of individuals, documents, and testimonies from political prisoners and their families make it possible to see events as they actually happened and to resist Russia’s attempts to erase the Ukrainian presence and rewrite the history of resistance on the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula.
The Museum preserves this memory together with those who document crimes, support political prisoners and their families, have returned from captivity, or continue to wait for their loved ones. It helps pass this memory on — from those who experienced these events to those who need to know about them today and in the future.

Memory helps us call crimes by their proper names, prevents victims from disappearing into statistics, and reminds us of the price at which society defends freedom. This is a Museum about those who resisted and continue to resist. About those whom Russia sought to silence. About those who returned and continue to speak for themselves and for those who still cannot speak for themselves. About people whose names Ukraine must know and whose stories the whole world must hear.