MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Two sentences inscribed above the refurbished entrance hall of Moscow's Kurskaya metro station are causing great agitation for survivors of Russian labor camps.Yuri Fidelgoldsh, who had five ribs removed after imprisonment six decades ago, is one of the offended survivors.



This slogan at a Moscow metro station has stirred controversy: "Stalin reared us on loyalty to the people."



"Stalin reared us on loyalty to the people," says the inscription above the pristine marble floors of the metro station. "He inspired us to labor and to heroism."



Fidelgoldsh, now 82, doesn't use the metro station much, but he has been there to see the restoration. When he invokes the name "Stalin," he gets angry. "For people who were imprisoned, punished and whose parents were killed, this is still in their hearts," Fidelgoldsh says.



Kremlin critics are outraged by the restored motto at the station. They say it's the latest attempt by the government to rehabilitate the image of Joseph Stalin, the late Soviet leader largely responsible for the division of Europe, the deaths of nearly 20 million people and the creator of the Eastern Bloc.



"I have no positive emotions towards Stalin," Fidelgoldsh adds. "He's a college dropout who went into politics and became a leader of a party which fit his needs. He didn't exactly impress me with his 'great' mind." Watch report on the rehabilitation of Stalin's image »



The phrase at the metro station came from the original Soviet national anthem, written in 1944 by Sergey Mikhalkov. During the de-Stalinization process that began under Nikita Khrushchev after Stalin's death in 1953, statues and other vestiges of his immense cult of personality were removed. In 1977, Mikhalkov rewrote the anthem to delete references to Stalin, and the metro station removed the original inscription of his words.



The entrance hall to the station underwent extensive renovation over the past year, complete with new columns and polished marble floors. It's located on the main metro line around the city's center, through which tens of thousands of commuters pass every day.



On a recent day, a woman named Nadia said she had no problem with the slogan honoring Stalin. She grew up after the fall of the Soviet Union and during the prosperous Putin years. "I think we shouldn't be ashamed because this is a part of our history. We have to somehow accept the history," said Nadia, who didn't want to give her last name.



The Kremlin declined comment for this story. Pavel Suharnikov, the press director for Moscow Metro, said, "We do not wish to discuss this matter anymore, but I will say that I don't see any political motivation behind the restoration of Kurskaya."



Travelers at the metro station first saw the words hailing Stalin at the start of 1950, when the station opened as one of the grand post-World War II constructions. It was contracted by Stalin himself.



"This metro station was built by prisoners of gulags who were in there for no reason, just because. They were the ones building this station. I think all of this is simply wrong," says Valeri M. Shevchenko, a musician, whose father suffered at the hands of Stalin's regime.



"They came in the morning, Stalin's police, took everyone outside and shot my grandfather in front of his family. My grandmother and her eight children, including my father who was 8 at the time, were sent to work camps. Only three children survived."



As Shevchenko looks around the metro station today, he shakes his head.



Irina Sherbakova, Moscow director of the Russian-based International Memorial Society, says this new "re-Stalinization" is a step back for democracy in Russia. "It's clear that our nation has declined to accept democracy and individual freedoms, as a principle."



The Memorial Society is a community of dozens of human rights organizations in different regions of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Georgia that formed in 1990.
what is the reasoning for this Which subway station was restored? Who does the slogan hail?
"This metro station was built by prisoners of gulags who were in there Moscow's Kurskaya "Stalin
question: what is the reasoning for this, answer: "This metro station was built by prisoners of gulags who were in there | question: Which subway station was restored?, answer: Moscow's Kurskaya | question: Who does the slogan hail?, answer: "Stalin