The Platform of European Memory and Conscience () is an

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

al project of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

bringing together government institutions and NGOs from EU countries active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

regimes. Its membership includes 68 government agencies and NGOs from 15 EU member states and 8 non-EU countries including

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Its members include the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

, the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, the

Stasi Records Agency The Stasi Records Agency () was the organisation that administered the archives of Ministry of State Security (Stasi) of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It was a government agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. It wa ...

and the

Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is a non-profit anti-communist organization in the United States, set up by an Act of Congress in 1993 to raise money to create "a national memorial to honor the victims of communism". The org ...

. The platform has offices in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

(formerly). The president of the platform was Göran Lindblad (politician) (2012-2017), later Łukasz Kamiński, former president of the Polish

(2017-2022). In the current term of office Marek Mutor serves the president of Platform. The platform was founded in

on the occasion of the summit of Prime Ministers of the

Visegrád Group The Visegrád Group (also known as the Visegrád Four or the V4) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-operation in military, e ...

on 14 October 2011. The signing ceremony took place in the Lichtenstein Palace under the auspices of Czech prime minister

Petr Nečas Petr Nečas (; born 19 November 1964) is a Czech former politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Civic Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, and as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1993 to 20 ...

, Polish prime minister and president of the European Council

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

, and Hungarian prime minister

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

. Its goal is described as helping "prevent intolerance,

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

, anti-democratic movements and the recurrence of any

rule in the future." The initiative was originally proposed by the

Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes ( or ÚSTR) is a Czech government agency and research institute. It was founded by the Czech government in 2007 and is situated at Siwiecova street, Prague- Žižkov (the street is named after ...

and the

Government of the Czech Republic The Government of the Czech Republic () exercises executive power in the Czech Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (Chairman of the Government), the deputy prime minister and other ministers. It ...

, and the 2008

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

; on 2 April 2009, the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

passed a resolution in favour of the initiative, and in June 2009, the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

welcomed the initiative. The Platform of European Memory and Conscience was founded as an initiative of the Polish EU presidency in 2011, after the project had been promoted by the Czech EU presidency already in 2009 and by the Hungarian EU presidency in 2011. The secretariat of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience was originally hosted by the

, and the platform has received a strategic grant from the International Visegrád Fund. The founding institutions included government agencies of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

, as well as several NGOs. The organisation's strategic partners include the International Visegrád Fund and the

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...

. The motto of the platform is "

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

matters."

History

On 8 April 2008, the Slovenian EU Presidency and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

organised the European Public Hearing on Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes. The hearing called for the establishment of a foundation which would increase "public awareness at the EU level, develop cultural and educational projects and notably provide support to networking of national research institutions specialised in the subject of totalitarian experience, provide support for the European and national research and educational projects." In June 2008, the international conference European Conscience and Communism was hosted by the Czech Senate Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions. The resulting

called for the establishment of an ''Institute of European Memory and Conscience''. In 2009, Czech EU Presidency and the

invited all member states to participate in the joint establishment of a Platform of European Memory and Conscience. Following a meeting in Prague in November 2008, representatives of 19 states and 12 partner institutions decided to establish a Working Group on the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, which was co-ordinated by the

. As of 2011, the working group included 35 institutions and organisations from 19 European countries. The working group co-operates closely with the

Reconciliation of European Histories Group The Reconciliation of European Histories Group is an informal all-party group in the European Parliament involved in promoting the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, Prague Process in all of Europe, aimed at coming to terms ...

, an all-party group in the

which is chaired by former European Commissioner

Sandra Kalniete Sandra Kalniete (born 22 December 1952) is a Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader. She served as Foreign Minister of Latvia 2002–2004 and as European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisherie ...

. On 18 March 2009, the Czech EU Presidency hosted the European Public Hearing on European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After, as "the third step towards the establishment of a European Platform of Memory and Conscience to support the activities of institutions engaged in reconciling with totalitarian regimes in Europe." On 2 April 2009, the European Parliament adopted (553:44:33) a resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism, which called "for the establishment of a Platform of European Memory and Conscience to provide support for networking and cooperation among national research institutes specialising in the subject of totalitarian history, and for the creation of a pan-European documentation centre/memorial for the victims of all totalitarian regimes." In its 15 June 2009 conclusions, the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council welcomed the initiative to create the Platform of European Memory and Conscience and requested that the European Commission provide financial instruments for the activities. In February 2010, the Working Group on the Platform of European Memory and Conscience hosted the international conference Crimes of the Communist Regimes in the Czech Senate and the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic under the auspices of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The conference resulted in the adoption of the Declaration on Crimes of Communism, which called "upon EU member states to increase the awareness raising and education about crimes of communism," and stated that "the creation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, as supported by the European Parliament and the EU Council in 2009, must be completed at EU level." In its 9–10 June 2011 conclusions on the memory of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes in Europe, the EU

Justice and Home Affairs Council The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) is one of the configurations of the Council of the European Union and is composed of the justice and home affairs ministers of the 27 European Union member states. Composition JHA is composed of the just ...

invited all interested parties to make use of existing EU programmes to establish a Platform of European Memory and Conscience. The then-incumbent Polish EU Presidency founded the Platform of European Memory and Conscience with the participation of the governments and government institutions of a number of other EU countries on 14 October 2011. The Platform has received a strategic grant from the International Visegrád Fund.

Executive board, Supervisory board, board of trustees and secretariat

The first president of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience was Göran Lindblad (former MP, Sweden, who drafted the Council of Europe resolution 1481); he was succeeded in 2016 by Łukasz Kamiński. The executive board members included Siegfried Reiprich ( Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten, Germany), Paweł Ukielski ( Warsaw Rising Museum, Poland), Zsolt Szilágyi (Head of Cabinet of László Tökés,

Vice-President of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the President of the European Parliament, president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau (European P ...

), and Toomas Hiio (Estonian Institute of Historical Memory). Andreja Valič Zver (Study Centre for National Reconciliation, Slovenia) was a member 2011–2015. As of November 2020, the executive board consists of Dr. Wolfgang-Christian Fuchs, (DE), CEO of the German Union of Victims of Political Tyranny; Zsolt Szilágyi, (RO), political scientist; Toomas Hiio, (EE), Research Director, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory; Dr. Andreja Valič Zver, (SI), Director of the Slovenian Study Centre for National Reconciliation; Marek Mutor, (PL), Director, Remembrance and Future Institute; Prof. Antoine Arjakovsky (FR), Research Director at the Collège des Bernadins in Paris. The platform has offices in

and

(formerly). Neela Winkelmann served as managing director of the Platform between 2011 and 2018, and was succeeded by Peter Rendek. As of November 2020, the supervisory board consists of Dr. Földváryné Kiss Réka, (HU), Chairperson of the Hungarian Committee of National Remembrance; Dr. Monika Kareniauskaitė, (LT), The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania; Dr. Paweł Ukielski, PO, Warsaw Rising Museum, Poland. In 2012, the institution's board of trustees was elected. The first elected members were

MEP,

Vytautas Landsbergis Vytautas Landsbergis (; born 18 October 1932) is a Lithuanian politician and former Member of the European Parliament. He was the first Speaker of Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania after its independence declaration from the Soviet Union. He ...

MEP, Tunne Kelam MEP, László Tökés MEP, and Milan Zver MEP. As of 2016, the Board of Trustees includes the original members as well as Paweł Robert Kowal MEP, Werner Schulz MEP, Monica Macovei MEP, Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė MEP, former Czech senator Martin Mejstřík, former Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra, former Solidarność leader Wojciech Roszkowski MEP, historian

Stéphane Courtois Stéphane Courtois (; born 25 November 1947) is a French historian and university professor, a director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies (ICES) in La ...

, journalist

Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds Polish citizenship as well. Ap ...

, former prime minister of Slovenia

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), better known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since ...

, and Czech actor Ondřej Vetchý. As of 2019, the Board of Trustees includes the original members as well as Göran Lindblad and former MEP Pavel Svoboda.

Activities

The platform will co-ordinate the study of the totalitarian past on the European level. According to Daniel Herman, the director of the

, one of the first joint projects might be a European history textbook. On 5 June 2012, the Platform of European Memory and Conscience and the

hosted the conference Legal Settlement of Communist Crimes in the

, under the auspices of

Hans-Gert Pöttering Hans-Gert Pöttering (born 15 September 1945) is a German lawyer, historian and conservative politician ( CDU, European People's Party), who served as President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009 and as Chairman of the C ...

and

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he serv ...

, devoted to the issue of forming a special court tribunal for the crimes of communism, and "raising the issue of justice for the most serious crimes committed by the Communist dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe from the national to a European level." The conference was a response "to growing calls for strengthened international justice formulated e.g., in the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism." Following the conference, the Platform of European Memory and Conscience founded an international legal expert group to "work on a road map for establishing a supranational institution of justice" devoted to the "crimes committed by the Communist dictatorships."Platform will seek establishment of a supranational court for international crimes committed by Communists
Platform of European Memory and Conscience, 7 June 2012 As of November 2020, some of the main ongoing projects of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience include; 1) The ''Lest we Forget: Memory of Totalitarianism in Europe'' reader for secondary school students. The 1st edition was printed in 2013 and includes the stories of 30 people affected by totalitarianism from 16 European countries. Work on a 2nd edition with more (Western) European language and story additions is ongoing as of November 2020. 2) The international travelling exhibition ''Totalitarianism in Europe.'' 3) The ''pan-European Memorial for the victims of totalitarianism in Brussels.'' 4) The ''Justice 2.0'' restorative justice campaign towards surviving victims and perpetrators of Communism. 5) The ''Across the Iron Curtain'' educational board game. 6) A yearly Conference of the Members, as well as various other thematic conferences, seminars and workshops, such as the ''Past for the Future'' Conference, which was organised in cooperation with the

Collège des Bernardins The Collège of Bernardins, or Collège Saint-Bernard, located no 20, rue de Poissy in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, is a former Cistercian college of the University of Paris. Founded by Stephen of Lexington, abbot of Clairvaux, and built from 1 ...

on 16 and 17 November 2020.

Member institutions

;Founding members * : Hannah Arendt Center (membership frozen by members) * :

(membership cancelled by member in 2014), Security Services Archive, * : Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, Unitas Foundation * : Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, Hannah Arendt Society, Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten, the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records * : Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society, House of Terror Museum * : The Occupation Museum Association of Latvia, the Occupation of Latvia Research Society * : Secretariat of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania * : Foundation History of Totalitarian Regimes and their Victims * :

, Warsaw Rising Museum * : Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile * : Ján Langoš Foundation * : Study Centre for National Reconciliation * : Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism ;Additional members * : Institute for Democracy, Media & Culture * : Citizens' Initiative for Dismantling the Soviet Army Monument * : Black Ribbon Day Foundation * : Czech and Slovak Association of Canada * : Centre for Documentation of Totalitarian Regimes * : Confederation of Political Prisoners of the Czech Republic * : Memory (Paměť) * : Post Bellum * : Political Prisoners.eu * : Prague Academic Club 48 * : The Memory Traces * : Union of Auxiliary Technical Units – Military Forced Labour Camps * : Kistler-Ritso Eesti Foundation. Museum of Occupations *:

*: Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide (Gariwo) * : International Association of Former Political Prisoners and Victims of Communism * : Meetingpoint Music Messiaen * : Icelandic Research Centre for Innovation and Economic Growth * : Koknese Foundation * : Center for the Study of Totalitarianism, State University of Moldova * : Instituto Mais Liberdade * : The Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Anticommunist Resistance * : Timișoara Society * : Inconspicuous Heroes * : Nation's Memory Institute * : Truc sphérique * : Nova slovenska zaveza * : Center for Research on the Liberation Movement * : Foundation to Preserve the History of Maidan * :

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People () is the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars in period between sessions of the Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People. The Mejlis is a member institution of the Platform of E ...

* : National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide * :

Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM, ), also translated as the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, is the central executive body operating under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Established on 31 May 2006 as a special org ...

*
The State Archive of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance
* :

Joint Baltic American National Committee The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) is a non-profit organization that monitors issues affecting Baltic-American communities in the United States and the nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. JBANC functions as the pu ...

* :

References

External links