The project repression against civilians was presented in April 2021 in tens of different countries as an interactive 3D exhibition in three languages.
The project entitled "Under the Pressure of the Totalitarian Regime" is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the secret operation "North" - the largest religious repression in the USSR, against members of the peaceful organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. Two professional photographers, Egon Ligi (Estonia) and Viorel Gurița (Moldova) have joined my photo project. The project presents almost 30 living eyewitnesses and their thrilling biographies from three European countries. The photos illustrate people of different ages, as a result, the stories of migrants are very diverse. It gives you a concept of their life and the viewer can clearly understand what it meant to fall under the steel arm of Soviet repression through the eyes of people of various ages. Additionally part of the photo story includes people who were on the side of the Soviet government.
The goal of the project is to inform society in a modern way about what innocent people faced 70 years ago by innovatively presenting accurate scientific information considering the global pandemic situation.
In collaboration with historical scholars, we have thoroughly researched the history of those events with the help of declassified KGB archives of Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. As a result, we were able to outline the new findings, which shed more light on this deportation, specifically we determined that the operation "North" is the largest religious deportation in the history of the USSR.
Also, there are more than a hundred authentic photos that were collected from 4 European countries, which tell us about the places, work, social conditions, and life of exiles.
The project involved: software developers, 3D modelers, visualizers, painters, photographers, designers, directors, videographers, artists, composers, interpreters, historians, philologists, journalists, sound directors, and many others.
This set of media materials will be available on the following website
