Assembly of Captive European Nations or ACEN was an organization founded on September 20, 1954, as a coalition of representatives from nine nations in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

under

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

domination after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Former political and cultural leaders from

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

were members of the organization. Its main office was in New York, with branch offices in Bonn, London and Paris. Representatives from post-1948

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

were not allowed to join the organization as the country was an important western partner in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

region.

History

The goals of the ACEN were, in their own words:

to provide liberation from communist dictatorship by peaceful means, to educate public opinion on the actual situation behind the Iron Curtain, and to enlist the cooperation and assistance of governmental and non-governmental institutions.

Funding was provided by the Free Europe Committee. When that organization suspended financial assistance to ACEN in January 1972 because of its own budget reductions, the offices of ACEN were closed and publication activities came to a halt. During its lifetime the organization published pamphlets and periodicals in English, as well as some of the members' own languages. It also sponsored symposia and exhibitions, in particular it promoted the commemoration of Captive Nations Week. It provided background information to members of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

regarding the political and economic situations in their homelands situated behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

. The records of the ACEN and its member organizations are preserved in th
Immigration History Research Center Archives

University of Minnesota Libraries The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 12 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 8 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are col ...

Chairmen

ACEN chairmen were: * Vilis Māsēns (Latvia): 1954–1958 *

Stefan Korboński Stefan Korboński (2 March 1901 – 23 April 1989) was a Polish agrarian politician, lawyer, journalist, and a notable member of the wartime authorities of the Polish Secret State. Among others, he was the last person to hold the post of Govern ...

(Poland): 1958–1959 * Petr Zenkl (Czechoslovakia): 1959–1960 * Vaclovas Sidzikauskas (Lithuania) 1960–1961 *

Ferenc Nagy Ferenc Nagy (; 8 October 1903 – 12 June 1979) was a Hungarian politician of the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party, Smallholders Party who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until his forced resignation in 1 ...

(Hungary): 1961–62 *

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; ) also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 t ...

(Bulgaria): 1962–1963 *

Alexander Kütt Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

(Estonia): 1963–1964 *

Vasil Gërmenji Vasil ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: Васил, Georgian: ვასილ) is a Bulgarian, Macedonian and Georgian masculine given name. It may refer to: * Vasil Adzhalarski, Bulgarian revolutionary, an IMARO leader of revolutionary bands * Vasil A ...

(Albania): 1964–1965 * Vaclovas Sidzikauskas: 1965–1966 * Stefan Korboński: 1966–1967 * Georgi Dimitrov 1967–1968 *

Jozef Lettrich Jozef Lettrich (17 June 1905 in Turčianske Teplice — 29 November 1969 in New York City) was a Slovak writer and politician. Lettrich is best known as the leader of the non-Communist, big tent Democratic Party (Slovakia, 1944), Democratic Part ...

(Czechoslovakia): 1968–1969 * Alfreds Bērziņš (Latvia): 1969–1970 * Vasil Gërmenji: 1970–1971 * Stefan Korboński: 1971–1972

Archival collections

Assembly of Captive European Nations records
Immigration History Research Center Archives,

References

Bibliography

* Feliks Gadomski (ACEN Secretary General), ''Zgromadzenie Europejskich Narodów Ujarzmionych. Krótki Zarys'' (New York: Bicentennial Publishing, 1995). * Andrzej Nowak, "Polityka ujarzmionych", ''Arcana'' 1997, no 5, 154. * Piotr Stanek, "Powstanie i działalność Zgromadzenia Europejskich Narodów Zjednoczonych (ACEN) w świetle Archiwum Feliksa Gadomskiego", in: ''Prace uczestników studium doktoranckiego. Historia'', red. A. Filipczak-Kocur, Opole 2007, 69–99. * Anna Mazurkiewicz
"Assembly of Captive European Nations: 'The Voice of the Silenced Peoples'"
in: Anti-Communist Minorities: The Political Activism of Ethnic Refugees in the United States, red. Ieva Zake, New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009, 167–185. * Anna Mazurkiewicz
"'Niejawna ingerencja rządu w swobodną wymianę poglądów' – Zgromadzenie Europejskich Narodów Ujarzmionych w zimnowojennej polityce USA"
in: ''Tajny oręż czy ofiary zimnej wojny? Emigracje polityczne z Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej'', red. S. Łukasiewicz, Lublin, Warszawa 2010, 255–263. * Anna Mazurkiewicz, "Assembly of Captive European Nations" in: ''The Polish American Encyclopedia'', red. James S. Pula, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Inc. 2011), s. 20–21

* Anna Mazurkiewicz
The Schism within the Polish Delegation to the Assembly of Captive European Nations 1954-1972
in: The Polish Diaspora in America and the Wider World, red. Adam Walaszek, Janusz Pezda, (Kraków: Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2012), p. 73-110. Updated version was published in the U.S.: The Schism within the Polish Delegation to the Assembly of Captive European Nations 1954–1972, in

* Pauli Heikkila, "Estonians and the Stockholm Office of the Assembly of Captive European Nations" in
East Central Europe in Exile. Transatlantic Identities
red. Anna Mazurkiewicz (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013), p. 247-264. * Anna Mazurkiewicz, “’The Little U.N.’ at 769 First Avenue, New York (1956–1963),” in: ''East Central Europe in Exile. Transatlantic Identities'', red. Anna Mazurkiewicz (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013), p. 227-245. * Anna Mazurkiewicz, "Relationship between the Assembly of Captive European Nations and the Free Europe Committee in 1950-1960" in: ''The Inauguration of "Organized Political Warfare" - The Cold War Organizations Sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe / Free Europe Committee'', red. Katalin Kadar Lynn (Saint Helena, CA: Helena History Press, distr. CEU Press: Budapest-New York, 2013), 91-130. * Anna Mazurkiewicz
"'Join, or Die'—The Road to Cooperation Among East European Exiled Political Leaders in the United States, 1949-1954"
''Polish American Studies'' 69, no. 2 (2012): 5-43. * Anna Mazurkiewicz

''Studia Historica Gedanensia'' 5 (Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2014). {{Authority control Former international organizations, ACEN International organizations based in Europe Anti-communist organizations in the United States

History

Chairmen

Archival collections

See also

References

Bibliography