Irina Lazarevna Scherbakowa (Sherbakova) (in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Ирина Лазаревна Щербакова) (born 1949) is a

historian of the modern age, an author and a founding member of

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

. She was awarded the Carl von Ossietsky Prize for Contemporary History and Politics in 2014, and the

Goethe Medal The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...

in 2017. She has been studying Russia's modern history since the 1970s. ''Memorial'' was designated a "foreign agent" by Russia in 2016. In 2022 Memorial was co-awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

Life

Sherbakova was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1949. Her parents were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. After completing her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

German studies German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...

in 1972 Sherbakova worked as a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and became a translator of German

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

. In the late 1970s Sherbakova began to interview

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

survivors and witnesses to

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

afraid to be recorded on tape. In 1988 she became one of the founding members of the organisation called Memorial and during

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

was among those who requested that the authorities resolve the cases of the crimes committed in Russia under

. In 2014 Sherbakova was chosen as recipient of the German

Ossietzky Award The Ossietzky Award () is a prize awarded by the Norwegian chapter of P.E.N., for extraordinary contributions to freedom of speech. The prize is named after writer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Carl von Ossietzky. Recipients * Aziz Nesin (19 ...

, which includes a prize of 10,000 euros. The judges chose her because of her campaign to study Russia's recent troubled history and for encouraging German–Russian relations. In 2017, the year after ''Memorial'' had been labeled a "

foreign agent A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the Diplomatic immunity, protections offered to those working in their official capacity fo ...

" by the

Russian Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation () is a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for the Legal system of Russia, legal system and Prisons in Russia, penal system. The Ministry of Justi ...

, Sherbakova was awarded the

. Irina Sherbakova's work has been translated and republished by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

. In 2019 she accused the Russian establishment of trying to rehabilitate

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

as a national hero while forgetting his human rights abuses, which claimed millions of lives. In 2022 ''Memorial'', Russia's first

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, and most respected rights group, was co-awarded the

less than a year after it had been ordered to shut down during a wave of repression against critical voices. In 2025 Sherbakova told Austrian broadcaster ORF that US President Donald Trump's one-sided Ukraine politics were a gift to

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's government: "Trump wants to sell

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

to Putin," she said.

Links

Norbert Frei and Susanne Buckley-Ziste
interviewing Irina Scherbakowa
in 2016 (in German).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scherbakowa, Irina 1949 births Living people Writers from Moscow 20th-century Russian historians 21st-century Russian historians