In the brandnew Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, a highlight from the collections of the IISH is on show: the manuscript of the memoirs of the Russian writer and advocate of freedom of speech Alexander Herzen (1812-1870), Byloe i dumy (English-language edition My Past and Thoughts, the Memoirs of Alexander Herzen). Herzen left his fatherland in 1847 to fight a propaganda war against the Tsarist regime and the restrictions to freedom of speech in Russia.
The archive of Alexander Herzen resides at the IISH since 1938. The lending and exhibit of this manuscript takes place on the occasion of the Russia-The Netherlands Year of Cultural Exchange 2013.
The exhibition in the Jewish Museum, from 7 November until 12 December, accompanies a project on illegal publications Samizdat - Limits.
The Herzen papers have been digitized, the manuscript of Byloe i dumy is online available from our website.
http://socialhistory.org/en/news/alexander-herzen-back-moscow