Transitional Justice Attempts in Kazakhstan: Reviewing the past, looking toward the future

The Soviet regime left serious wounds in Kazakhstan, yet after declaring its independence in 1991 the republic chose to deal with those legacies through a very narrow transitional justice program that primarily included symbolic commemoration and inconsistent rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist crimes. This chapter is the first to overview efforts to reckon with the Soviet abuses in Kazakhstan; a country that is still engaged in its post-Soviet political, economic, and social transition. Drawing on government documents, media reports, and secondary literature, this chapter explores the ideas, interests, and institutions that have designed and carried out transitional justice for the victims of two large-scale tragedies in Soviet Kazakhstan under Stalin: the famine of 1931–3, and the purges of 1937–53.