Sadness and joy

At the beginning of June, I with a group of friends went to Alzhir Memorial about 18 miles outside of Astana. Alzhir is one of the main two memorial gulag sites in Kazakhstan. This particular one was a concentration camp for the wives and children (and sisters) of the “betrayers of the homeland” during Stalin’s regime. It served as a political concentration camp for women from all over the Soviet Union. It operated from the1930s to the early 1950s and had several high-profile prisoners including famous artists and actresses. More than 18 thousand women went through this camp. So sad! The museum itself was fairly small but had some interesting artifacts.

The Arch of Sorrow, the entrance to the memorial.

One of the photographs in the museum showing the arriving prisoners.

Depicting a scene of an interrogation by the NKVD.

In the cell.

Map of the Gulag network

The marble wall that goes around the museum with the names of all prisoners that went through this camp.

In the first week of June we also had a party with our friends from church, an embassy family the Holmgrens, since they were moving to their new post in Georgia (the country) this summer. We had a big crew of expats and volunteers. The Holmgrens cooked up a big American breakfast for dinner meal that included waffles with fixings, hash browns, sausage, and real bacon. Bacon is something that you cannot find in Kazakhstan, and Spencer was especially interested in that one. We had a lot of fun and will miss them dearly.

Some of the party goers.

Me with my friend Ramona Stice. They lived in Astana for a couple of years but moved back to the US last summer. They came over for a 2-week visit, and we were very happy to have them even if it was for a short time.

Friends for life!