Memorializing ‘Iron Felix’: New monuments to Soviet secret police founder unveiled in Simferopol and Krasnodar

The Crimean city of Simferopol and the Russian city of Krasnodar both unveiled monuments to Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky on September 11, the 144th anniversary of his birth. Both monuments drew criticism from representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, who condemned memorializing one of the architects of the Red Terror as an insult to its victims. The monument in Krasnodar was erected outside of a secondary school that was named after Dzerzhinsky in 2017, at the request of the school's staff and the local FSB. In total, there are more than 40 monuments to Dzerzhinsky located across Russia. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/09/13/memorializing-iron-felix