ALZHIR museum

The "Arch of sorrow" represents museum and memorial complex symbolizing the entrance to the holy land, where two worlds meet - the living and the dead, where past meets present. At the same time, the "Arch of sorrow" represents a woman, who mourns her husband, children and youth... Passing under the "Arch of sorrow, do not forget to bow your head in memory of suffered women!

Two monumetns, "The despair and weakness", "Struggle and hope" are like family history, forever separated by the cruel time.

Above the flower one can see white doves - the symbol of peace. The composition of "Freedom and captivity" embodies the fate of those who remained prisoners of "A.L.ZH.I.R." forever, and those who escaped from the dungeons to freedom.

The museum exhibition is located on the perimeter of the hall, involving visitors in an enclosed circle, and plunges into the historical past of Kazakhstan. In 12 showcases you can see copies of sentences, photographs, diagrams, maps, copies of the arrests and execution of documents, objects of ancient lifestyle, weapons, all this reflect the stages of struggle of the Kazakh people against mass repression. Among the fighters for independence Kenesary Kasymov may be noted, the one who rebelled against the colonial policy of the Russian Empire.

A major role in the fate of Kazakhstan was played by representatives of the political party "Alash" – Alikhan Bukeikhanov, Ahmet Baitursynov, Myrzhakyp Dulatov and others. Trying to establish a democratic republic, they rejected totalitarian rule that denied in certain cases the traditions, culture, language and people's way of life.

Anyone could become a victim of unprecedented terror, regardless of their nationality or social status. State and public figures like Turar Ryskulov, Nygmet Nurmakov, Temirbek Zhurgenev, outstanding scientists – Sanjar Asfendiyarov, Mukhametzhan Tynyshbaev, poets and writers – Saken Seifullin, Mağjan Jumabayev and thousands of representatives of the Kazakh intellectuals lifes were ruined by Stalin.

January 6, 1938 first women with children up to three years arrived to Akmola camp. They were women from all over the Soviet Union: from Moscow and Leningrad, Ukraine and Belorussia, Georgia and Armenia. Struggling all the way to the camp under inhuman conditions of ''Stalin's wagon''. Crowded and stuffy in summertime, frosty in winter, with the lack of food and water, endless supervision and shouts from the guards accompanied women days, weeks, and even months on their road to Akmolinsk. All this is reflected in the ''Stalin's wagon'' mounted on the museum grounds.

Among female prisoners of "A.L.ZH.I.R." there were widely known throughout the former Soviet Union singer Lidiya Ruslanova, actresses Tatiana Okunevskaya and Natalia Sats, the wifes of poets and writers. All of them no matter famous or not, had to work with their own hands, building huts in the snow and heat, plowing, grazing cattle, manualy digging ditches to the kitchen-gardens. The exhibition hall provides a comprehensive view on prisoners everyday work and life in the "A.L.ZH.I.R." camp.

In "A.L.ZH.I.R." camp diorama one can see fragile and exhausted female prisoners, surrounded by armed guard, and barking dogs, iron beds and scraps of children's letters.

In "Interrogator’s office’’ one can see a person with tired eyes. At this moments you realize that only those with the strong spirit and honest conscience could bear all the moral and physical suffering. The names in memory of 7620 female prisoners who faced all the hardships of labor camp is presented on the Memorial Wall.