By RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities

Authorities in Russia's Far Eastern town of Debin have shut down a museum devoted to prominent writer Varlam Shalamov, who was widely known for his short stories about his years in a gulag in the Kolyma area, the most notorious part of the Soviet “correctional” system. RFE/RL correspondents reported on November 30 that the museum, located in a local hospital where Shalamov was successsfully treated for starvation-related illnesses in 1943, was closed following debate around the building's possible demolition. In the end, the building was not condemned, but the museum was shut. Regional authorities have refused to comment.