Self-Reflection on October Ost Moscow Massacre

As a teenager, I did not fancy going to theaters. Not that events at these shows were never exciting but because of the noisiness of the theaters and I had hardly known any actors to influence me into the trade.. In other words, there was nothing in common between theater and my heart. Instead, I spent most of my time leisure time watching cartoons on television and on occasional times, movies. However, things changed after visiting the Nord Ost Moscow Theater. The experience on the maiden visit was so illuminating that I vowed to revisit the place someday. This explains my emotional reaction the Nord Ost Moscow Theater siege of October 2002.

I vividly recall the October Ost Moscow Massacre which took place on 23 October 2002. As events about the siege unfolded on television, remembered how I had been in the same theater watching that show- the Nord Ost musical- a month before the Massacre. I was visiting family and family friends in Moscow when one of the family members suggested that we visit the theater. The theater is located in the Dubrovka area, Moscow. Upon entering the building, I was hypnotized by the intricate layout of the building; a monstrous architecture, well-lit with lights of different colors shining on the boisterous attendees; and the orderliness of both the actors and attendees made it a lifetime experience. By the time my friend and I walked out of the event, I had attached intense emotions to the theater and promised myself to visit the place frequently. This is the reason as to why it appeared scaring to watch on television Chechen rebels lay siege on the theater a month later. The media reports that terrorists had invaded the building sent chills down my spine and I imagined how the situation would have been if I had been taken as one of the hostages. The unfolding situation made me feel like I had visited the theater the previous day.

As I later learned from live media broadcasts, the siege began at around 9:0s0 PM when about 50 masked and heavily armed men and women drove into the main hall of the theater and started firing in the air. Like in any other attack, there was widespread panic and attempts to escape from the building. Indeed, live television coverage featured some of the people that had escaped through the window. These escapees were responsible for alerting the police who promptly moved to the scene. According to the witnesses who were being interviewed by journalists as the saga unfolded, the hostage-takers came from Chechnya. I learned later that they took people hostage as retaliation for what they considered atrocities committed by Russian forces in Chechnya. The siege went on for three days. Although police rescued a majority of the hostages, media reports indicated that 130 hostages died in incident alongside the attackers. The horrendous scenes of the dead being ferried to the morgues and the injured being rushed to hospital touched my heart quite intensely. For a moment, I started imagining how I would have escaped the building. Probably not, I mused.

The rescue operation sent shock waves worldwide with other countries condemning Russia for the manner in which it handled the crisis. The use of a poisonous gas which knocked all the occupants of the building unconscious leading to some hostages dying was condemned. I was dumbfounded to learn this- what would have happened to me if I were one of the hostages that day? How would have coped with the choking gas? The security forces explained that using the gas was the only option to get the terrorists and rescue the hostages yet I could not figure out why such callous decision was taken. But then I remembered the cliche in the security circles: Kill a few rescue many. The international community, however, condemned the actions of the police and termed it careless arguing that it further endangered human life. The incident resulted in low turnouts at the theater in subsequent years.

For days I kept wondering what would have happened to me if the incident had taken place a month earlier. Although the outcome of the siege scared me to death, my love for theater did not diminish an inch. I felt comforted by the fact that those who died in the siege did so in pursuit of their happiness. I will not let a few cowards stifle my love for theater, I encouraged myself thoughtfully. In fact, my enthusiasm for theater grew and watching live performances became part and parcel of my life. I vowed to visit the Nord Ost Moscow Theater someday as an honor to those that perished in the siege and also as an act of defiance against intimidation. The incident further enlightened me on the conflict in Chechnya. Before the incident, the Russian militarys presence in the region did not appear to me as an issue of concern in life. I developed the interest to learn about the conflicts and how it is affecting the lives of ordinary Russians in general.

As I reflect on the incident 15 years later, all I feel is that I belong to the family of those who died in the incident. The massacre has shade some light on how geopolitics of states and politics of expansion affect ordinary citizens. Today, I feel more enlightened on how the world has become interconnected; an atrocity in one country affects another, if not the whole world. Above all, theater-going remains an important activity in my life.