Union ]. Finally , the modernity of the ALZHIR Museum is in contrast to the neglect of one of the mass graves located on the outskirts of the village , with no signs and littered with rubbish . Only a metal fence encloses the site where four monoliths , two also from 1989 , stand in memory of the anonymous women buried there .
2 . Monument to the victims of repression in Alzhir , Akmol . Picture by Marc Díaz Planas .
Continuing south , after an approximately four-hour train journey , we reach the town of Karagandy . On the outskirts is the Museum of Memory of the Victims of Repression in the Dolinka Settlement , also known as the KarLag Museum . For many years , the region was one of the main coal mining sites in the entire Soviet Union and the KarLag labour camp provided the workforce for this activity . Today , the town is a living testimony to Stalin ’ s repression : many of its inhabitants are the children and grandchildren of Germans , Poles , Koreans and other people deported in the 1930s and 40s . The museum is located in the village of Dolinka , in the camp ’ s administrative building , which was almost in ruins until it was rebuilt in the late 2000s in keeping with its original design . Although officially opened in 2001 , it did not open to the public until 2011 . During its time in operation , from 1930 to 1959 , sources reveal that between 800,000 and 1 million prisoners were held there . In contrast to the ALZHIR complex , almost the entire museum is specifically focused on the KarLag ( only one of the 30 exhibition spaces is not devoted to an area directly related to the camp ). Also noteworthy
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