Histories

Russian Human Rights Memorials

While doing research today, I came across two affiliated human rights sites in Russia.  Both seem interested in archiving, remembering, and teaching about oppression of the past and present in Russia and the old Soviet Union.

Memorial

Memorial is a movement which arose in the years of perestroika. Its main task was the awakening and preservation of the societal memory of the severe political persecution in the recent past of the Soviet Union.

  • Memorial is a community of dozens of organizations in different regions of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Georgia.
  • Memorial is a group of specialized research, human rights, and education centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and several other cities.
  • Memorial is a museum, a repository of documents, and a number of specialized libraries.

Memorial is the Solovetskii stone on Lubianka Square in Moscow, placed across from the KGB headquarters on 30 October 1990. On that date in 1974 prisoners in the Mordvinian and Perm’ political camps voted to declare a Day of Political Prisoners in the USSR. In 1991, on the initiative of Memorial, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR officially recognized this date as a Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression.

Link to Memorial

Human Rights Center “Memorial”

“Memorial” began initially as an historical and educational association with a significant part of its work dedicated to protecting human rights. Each of “Memorial”‘s regional divisions is involved in protecting human rights, specifically in vindicating the rights of former prisoners.

The organization appeals to society to not forget the cruel and massive human rights violations in our country’s [Russia’s] past, but also not to ignore that human rights violations continue to occur.

Link to Human Rights Center “Memorial”

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