Focus groups conducted at Gulag museums and exhibitions in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ukhta and Tomsk in Russia in 2019 and 2020 provided a more exploratory format that allowed family histories of repression to emerge. These histories often involve ‘victimless’ stories. These are accounts where participants’ relatives took evasive action or experienced a near miss. Below some examples of these accounts are provided (all names are pseudonyms). Focus groups conducted at Gulag museums and exhibitions in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ukhta and Tomsk in Russia in 2019 and 2020 provided a more exploratory format that allowed family histories of repression to emerge. These histories often involve ‘victimless’ stories. These are accounts where participants’ relatives took evasive action or experienced a near miss. Below some examples of these accounts are provided (all names are pseudonyms).

Focus groups conducted at Gulag museums and exhibitions in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ukhta and Tomsk in Russia in 2019 and 2020 provided a more exploratory format that allowed family histories of repression to emerge. These histories often involve ‘victimless’ stories. These are accounts where participants’ relatives took evasive action or experienced a near miss. Below some examples of these accounts are provided (all names are pseudonyms).