Consul General Tim Sandusky Takes Part in Pilorama-2009

2009/07/25

Consul General Tim Sandusky Delivers Opening Remarks at the Pilorama Civil Forum

Consul General Tim Sandusky participated in the 5th Pilorama Civil Forum July 25-27 at the Perm-36 Memorial Museum in Perm region. The Perm-36 Memorial Museum is located on the site of a prison that was part of the Soviet GULag system until 1988. Pilorama is a unique event that combines the discussion of human rights issues with a music and arts festival on the grounds of the former prison camp. The festival gets its name from the sawmill where inmates worked in the “industrial zone” of the camp.

Diplomats from the Berlin office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Germany, Poland, and Finland also participated. Former inmates of the GULag system and Russian human rights activists led the discussions. In addition to the Museum’s standing exhibits on the history of the camp, visitors could also see a display commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a collection of Soviet-era prison literature and an exhibit about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The festival also featured a retrospective of the films of Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Despite intermittent rain, the free outdoor festival attracted over 6,000 visitors. They were entertained by theatrical presentations, poetry readings and musical performances.

In his remarks at the Forum’s opening ceremony, the Consul General said, “By supporting civil society and freedom of expression, we can together build a future in which creativity and prosperity replace fear and hopelessness.” Accompanying himself on guitar, the Consul General gave a musical performance entitled “Songs of Hope and Simple People” which included a rendition of Bob Dylan’s classic “I Shall Be Released.”