Platform of European Memory and Conscience
Encyclopedia
The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an educational project of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 bringing together government institutions and organisations from EU countries active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of totalitarian regimes. It was founded in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 on the occasion of the summit of Prime Ministers of the Visegrád Group
Visegrád Group
The Visegrád Group, also called the Visegrád Four or V4, is an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their European integration...

 on 14 October 2011. The signing ceremony took place in the Lichtenstein Palace under the auspices of Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas
Petr Necas
Petr Nečas is the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Leader of the Civic Democratic Party. He was sworn into office on 28 June 2010....

, Polish Prime Minister and President of the European Council Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....

, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán is a Hungarian populist and conservative politician and current Prime Minister of Hungary...

. Its goal is described as helping "prevent intolerance, extremism, anti-democratic movements and the recurrence of any totalitarian rule in the future". The project was originally proposed by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

 and the Government of the Czech Republic, and the 2008 Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism , which was signed on 3 June 2008, was a declaration signed by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, including past signatories of Charter 77 such as Václav Havel, which called for condemnation of and...

; on 2 April 2009, the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 passed a resolution in favour of the initiative, and in June 2009, the Council of the European Union
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

 welcomed the initiative. The Platform of European Memory and Conscience was founded as an initiative of the Polish EU presidency
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...

 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 is hosted by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

, and the activities of the Platform are funded by the International Visegrád Fund
Visegrád Group
The Visegrád Group, also called the Visegrád Four or V4, is an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their European integration...

. The founding institutions included government agencies of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, and Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

.

The elected President of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience is Göran Lindblad
Göran Lindblad
Lars Göran Axel Lindblad is a Swedish politician and member of the Moderate Party. He served as a member of the Swedish parliament 1997–2010, representing the constituency of Gothenburg. He served as a replacement member of parliament 1993–1997, and again since 2010...

 (former MP, Sweden, who drafted the Council of Europe resolution 1481
Council of Europe resolution 1481
In the resolution 1481/2006 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly issued on January 25, 2006 during its winter session, the Council of Europe "strongly condemns crimes of totalitarian communist regimes"....

). The Executive Board members include Andreja Valič Zver (Study Centre for National Reconciliation, Slovenia), Siegfried Reiprich
Siegfried Reiprich
Siegfried Reiprich is a German human rights activist and author. He was involved in the resistance against the communist regime of the German Democratic Republic , which led to him being expelled from university and eventually banished from the GDR...

 (Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten
Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten zur Erinnerung an die Opfer politischer Gewaltherrschaft
Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten zur Erinnerung an die Opfer politischer Gewaltherrschaft is a public foundation founded by the Free State of Saxony, which owns and supports memorials to the victims of Communism and National Socialism...

, Germany), Paweł Ukielski (Warsaw Rising Museum
Warsaw Rising Museum
The Warsaw Uprising Museum , located in the Wola district of Warsaw, Poland, is a museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944...

, Poland), and Zsolt Szilágyi (Head of Cabinet of László Tökés
László Tokés
László Tőkés is a Romanian politician of Hungarian ethnicity, currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament and Vice President of the European Parliament ....

, Vice President of the European Parliament
Vice President of the European Parliament
There are fourteen Vice Presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the President in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament.-Role:...

). The Managing Director is Neela Winkelmann (Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

).

History

On 8 April 2008, the Slovenian EU Presidency and the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 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 cultual 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
Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions (Czech Republic)
The Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions is a committee of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic concerned with matters of education, science, culture, human rights and petitions. It consists of nine members. The current chair of the committee is Jaromír...

. The resulting Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism , which was signed on 3 June 2008, was a declaration signed by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, including past signatories of Charter 77 such as Václav Havel, which called for condemnation of and...

 called for the establishment of an Institute of European Memory and Conscience.

In 2009, Czech EU Presidency and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

 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 coordinated by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

. As of 2011, the working group included 35 institutions and organisations from 19 European countries. The working group cooperates closely with the Reconciliation of European Histories Group
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 Process in all of Europe, aimed at coming to terms with the totalitarian past in many countries of Europe...

, an all-party group in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 which is chaired by former European Commissioner Sandra Kalniete
Sandra Kalniete
Sandra Kalniete 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 Fisheries in 2004...

.

On 18 March 2009, the Czech EU Presidency hosted the European Public Hearing on European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After
European Public Hearing on European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After
The European Public Hearing on European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After was a European public hearing organised by the Czech Presidency of the European Union in the European Parliament on 18 March 2009...

, 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
European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism
The European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism was a resolution of the European Parliament adopted on 2 April 2009 by a vote of 533-44 with 33 abstentions, in which the European Parliament condemned totalitarian crimes and called for the recognition of...

, 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
General Affairs Council
The General Affairs Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union and meets once a month. Meetings bring together the Foreign Ministers of the Member States...

 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
Jan Fischer (politician)
Jan Fischer was Prime Minister of the caretaker government of Czech Republic in 2009−2010. A lifelong statistician, he was previously the president of the Czech Statistical Office since April 2003.- Personal life and education :...

. The conference resulted in the adoption of the Declaration on Crimes of Communism
Declaration on Crimes of Communism
The Declaration on Crimes of Communism is a declaration signed on 25 February 2010 by several prominent European politicians, former political prisoners, human rights advocates and historians, which calls for the condemnation 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
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

 invited all interested parties to make use of existing EU programmes to establish a Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The 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 initial activities of the Platform are funded by the International Visegrád Fund
Visegrád Group
The Visegrád Group, also called the Visegrád Four or V4, is an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their European integration...

, and the project is coordinated by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

.

Activities

The platform will coordinate the study of the totalitarian past on the European level. According to Daniel Herman
Daniel Herman
Daniel Herman is a Czech government official and former Catholic priest. He has been spokesman of the Czech Bishops' Conference. In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes by the Czech government.He was born in České Budějovice, and began studying...

, the Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

, one of the first joint projects might be a European history textbook.

Member institutions

  • Bulgaria: Hannah Arendt Center
  • Czech Republic: Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
    Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
    The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes is a Czech government agency and research institute, founded by the Czech government in 2007. Its purpose is to gather, analyse and make accessible documents from the Nazi and Communist regimes...

    , Security Services Archive,
  • Estonia: Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, Unitas Foundation
  • Germany: Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial
    Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial
    The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is a museum and memorial located in Berlin's north-eastern Lichtenberg district in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen, part of the former borough of Hohenschönhausen...

    , Hannah Arendt Society, Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten
    Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten zur Erinnerung an die Opfer politischer Gewaltherrschaft
    Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten zur Erinnerung an die Opfer politischer Gewaltherrschaft is a public foundation founded by the Free State of Saxony, which owns and supports memorials to the victims of Communism and National Socialism...

    , the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Archives
  • Hungary: Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society, House of Terror Museum
  • Latvia: The Occupation Museum Association of Latvia, the Occupation of Latvia Research Society
  • Lithuania: 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
    Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
    The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania is a state research institute in Lithuania dedicated to investigation of the crimes against humanity and other persecutions during the Soviet and Nazi occupations , including mass deportations, the Holocaust in Lithuania, and annihilation of...

  • Netherlands: Foundation History of Totalitarian Regimes and their Victims
  • Poland: Institute of National Remembrance
    Institute of National Remembrance
    Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...

    , Warsaw Rising Museum
    Warsaw Rising Museum
    The Warsaw Uprising Museum , located in the Wola district of Warsaw, Poland, is a museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944...

  • Romania: Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile
    Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania
    The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania is a government-sponsored organization whose mission is to investigate the crimes and abuses conducted while Romania was under communist rule prior to December 1989...

  • Slovakia: Ján Langoš Foundation
  • Slovenia: Study Centre for National Reconciliation
  • Sweden: Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism
    Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism
    The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism is a Sweden-based non-profit and non-governmental human rights organization, founded in 2008, with the stated purpose of "spreading essential information on the crimes of communism and to promote vigilance against all totalitarian...

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