Who recounts the Stalinist past? Mnemonic roles, acts of remembering and life-scripts in Russian families.

This article examines why certain family memories of the Stalinist Gulag in Russia are shared while others remain unspoken, emphasizing remembering as a socially patterned act. Drawing on 16 focus groups conducted in four Russian cities, the study finds that grandmothers predominantly serve as mnemonic actors who recount family histories of repression, often in veiled or affective ways that emphasize resilience, near misses, or positive aspects of the Soviet past rather than direct victimhood. These narratives are shaped by culturally shared life-scripts that favor socially appropriate, often optimistic recollections, which influence what memories are transmitted within families and to others. The research highlights the gendered pathways of memory transmission and suggests that indirect experiences of repression, or "non-Gulag" memories, play a significant role in family narratives. The article also advocates for the use of focus groups to explore the social dynamics of remembering and calls for further study on how political and cultural contexts shape memory practices in Russia.