"Conscience cannot be delegalized". On the closure of Memorial International - Instytut Pileckiego
"Conscience cannot be delegalized". On the closure of Memorial International
On 28 December, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation endorsed the request from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia and ordered the closure of Memorial International.
Suwałki, 17 January 2022
"Conscience cannot be delegalized". On the closure of Memorial International
On 28 December, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation endorsed the request from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia and ordered the closure of Memorial International. This is a major blow in the fight for the memory of millions of victims of Communist terror in the former Soviet Union and other countries of East-Central Europe – including the victims of the Augustów Roundup.
Since its establishment in 1989, Memorial International has been fighting for historical truth – truth based on a thorough and accurate analysis of documents, especially those held in Russian archives, access to which is either restricted or in some cases completely denied. The achievements of historians affiliated with Memorial include finding Lavrentiy Beria’s note of 5 March 1940 in which he approved implementation of the Katyn Massacre, as well as documents concerning the Polish Operation in the USSR in the years 1937–1938. They also established a monumental database of victims of political terror in the USSR, which comprises more than 3 million people, including hundreds of thousands of Poles who had suffered repression at the hands of the Soviet regime.
It was the Memorial historians who discovered and published numerous crucial documents on the course and aftermath of the Augustów Roundup – the greatest crime committed against the Poles after the Second World War. Among these documents is a Soviet dispatch dated 21 July 1945 which was disclosed to the public in 2011 and confirms that those who were detained in the Augustów Forest in July 1945 were executed by the repressive apparatus of the Soviet regime in an unknown location. The families of the victims of the Augustów Roundup were thus confirmed in their suspicions that their loved ones had been brutally murdered.
We know that Russian archives still hold classified documents that could help answer the most pressing questions, especially concerning the location of the death pits that contain the remains of the victims of the Augustów Roundup. In this way, after so many years, it would be possible to find them, identify them and give them a proper burial. We are deeply convinced that one day all these documents will be disclosed, and the truth about Communist crimes will be revealed. For this reason, the decision to abolish Memorial International, one of the last guardians of that truth in Russia, has been met with strong objection on our part.
We send our feelings of appreciation and support to Memorial International – all its members, activists and friends. We sympathize with persecuted Russian historians, archivists and champions of human rights. We wish to thank you for your patient hard work during all these years and declare our readiness to support all activities aimed at promoting the historical truth and the memory of the victims of 20th-century communist crimes.
Memorial is “the conscience of Russia”, and conscience cannot be delegalized.
Initiators:
Magdalena Gawin, Director of the Pilecki Institute
Danuta Gregorowicz, President of the Association of Siberian Deportees – Augustów Branch
Danuta Kaszlej, President of the Home Army Historical Club in Augustów
Zbigniew Kaszlej, President of the Augustów Branch of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers
Rev. Stanisław Wysocki, President of the Association for the Remembrance of the Victims of the Augustów Roundup
Signatories:
Dr Wojciech Kozłowski, Deputy Director of the Pilecki Institute
Bogna Janke, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
Ambassador Andrew Bremberg, President & CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC)
David Satter, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC)
Dr Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC)
James Bartholomew, Director of the Museum of Communist Terror
Prof. Ewa Thompson, Rice University
Prof. Claudia Weber, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski, University College London
Prof. Wojciech Śleszyński, Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok
Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz, Podlasie Voivodship Monument Conservator
Prof. Tadeusz Rutkowski, University of Warsaw
Prof. Patrycja Grzebyk, University of Warsaw
Prof. Maciej Urbanowski, Jagiellonian University
Prof. Grzegorz Berendt, Institute of History of the University of Gdańsk
Prof. Zbigniew Stawrowski, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Prof. Paweł Kaczorowski, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Prof. Wojciech Fałkowski, University of Warsaw
Prof. Marek A. Cichocki, Collegium Civitas
prof. Małgorzata Gmurczyk-Wrońska, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Prof. Mariusz Wołos, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, The Pedagogical University of Cracow
Prof. Włodzimierz Bolecki, Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Prof. Marek Kornat, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Prof. Maciej Janowski, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Prof. Piotr Madajczyk, The Institute of Political Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Prof. Paweł Skibiński, University of Warsaw
Prof. Jakub Wojtkowiak, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Prof. Grzegorz Kucharczyk, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Prof. Andrzej Zawistowski, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
prof. Witold Stankowski, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Prof. Roger Moorhouse, University of London
Prof. Piotr Nowak, University of Białystok, "Kronos" quarterly
Prof. Piotr Kulicki, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Dr Oktawian Kuc
Dr Filip Doroszewski, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Dr Maciej Pieczyński, Institute of Literature and New Media of the University of Szczecin, the weekly "Do Rzeczy"
Dr Karol Nawrocki, President of the Institute of National Remembrance
Dr Maciej Wyrwa, Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding
Dr Marcin Zwolski, Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok
Dr Tomasz Danilecki, Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok
Dr Wojciech Stanisławski, Polish History Museum
Dr Dmitrij Panto, Museum of the Second World War
Dr Paweł Ukielski, Deputy Director of the Warsaw Uprising Museum
Dr Jerzy Brzozowski, Director of the District Museum in Suwałki
Dr Adolf Juzwenko, Director of the Ossoliński National Institute
Dr Łukasz Michalski, Director of State Publishing Institute PIW
Dr Mikołaj Mirowski, editor-in-chief of "Pleograf" quaterly, National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute FINA
Dr Radosław Wiśniewski, Borderland Museum in Działdowo
Dr Dariusz Karłowicz, Teologia Polityczna
Dr Joanna Kurczab, The Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Dr Mikołaj Getka-Kenig, The Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Dr Wojciech Łysek, The Institute of Political Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
Dr Dorota Sadowska, University of Warsaw
Tomasz Stefanek, Plenipotentiary of the Director for Program Affairs in the Pilecki Institute
Dr Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat, The Institute of Political Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Krystian Wiciarz, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Agnieszka Konik, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Jerzy Rohoziński, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Marcin Panecki, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Bartłomiej Kapica, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Anna Ciałowicz, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Mateusz Werner, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Barbara Świtalska-Starzeńska, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr John Cornell, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Dominika Uczkiewicz, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Mariola Serafin, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Dr Anna Stróż-Pawłowska, Pilecki Institute
Bartosz Gralicki, Plenipotentiary of the Director for the Commemoration of the Augustów Roundup (the Pilecki Institute)
Halina Matvijenko, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Emilia Dziewiecka, The Center for Totalitarian Studies of the Pilecki Institute
Albert Stankowski, Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Robert Kostro, Director of Polish History Museum
Barbara Schabowska, Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Artur Hofman, Chairman of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland
Tadeusz Radziwonowicz, Director of the National Archives in Suwałki
Katarzyna Meissner, Director of the National Institute of Music and Dance
Ewa Sznejder, Director of the Museum of Nature in Drozdowo
Katarzyna Ziętal, Director of the Center of Community Archives
Małgorzata Pankowska-Dowgiało, Center of Community Archives
Barbara Bojaryn-Kazberuk, Director of the Podlaski Cultural Institute
Piotr Legutko, Director of TVP Historia
Dariusz Jaworski, Director of the Book Institute
Zbigniew Gluza, President of the KARTA Center
Natalia Krzywicka, The Institute of National Remembrance
Alina Nowobilska, The Pilecki Institute
Monika Maniewska, The Pilecki Institute
Olga Lebedeva, The Pilecki Institute
Anna Łozińska, The Pilecki Institute
Krzysztof Wiśniewski, The Pilecki Institute
Bartłomiej Zygmunt, The Pilecki Institute
Jakub Fornalczyk, The Pilecki Institute
Kamila Sachnowska, The Pilecki Institute
Paulina Wiśniewska, The Pilecki Institute
Weronika Dorociak, The Pilecki Institute
Iwona Jabłońska, The Pilecki Institute
Agnieszka Kleczkowska, Lodz University of Technology
Adam Zawadzki, Chairman of the “Thank you for Freedom” Foundation
Małgorzata Gorczewska, Vice Chairman of the Freedom and Peace Foundation
Henryka Rzepecka, Association for the Remembrance of Siberian Exiles
Dariusz Zalewski, Vice Chairman of the Freedom and Peace Foundation
Marek Krukowski, Chairman of the Council of the Freedom and Peace Foundation
Witold Kowalewski, the Starost of Suwalki County
Artur Łuniewski, the Vice Starost of Suwalki County
Mirosław Karolczuk, the Mayor of Augustow
Alicja Dobrowolska, Chairman of the Augustow City Council
Andrzej Matusiewicz, “Suwalski Słownik Biograficzny”
Krzysztof Kosior, great-grandson of Witold Pilecki
Tomasz Wróblewski, journalist
Piotr Semka, journalist
Piotr Gursztyn, journalist
Magdalena Łysiak, journalist
Bronisław Wildstein, journalist
Dawid Wildstein, journalist
Filip Memches, journalist
Callum Wall
Ryszard Waszkiewicz
Katarzyna Szatkowska
Urszula Mozol
Wojciech Stankiewicz
Wojciech Zagrajek
Jan Łuczyszyn
Paweł Bortkiewicz
Robert Okinczyc
The statement is open for signing. We encourage both organizations and individuals to voice their support for Memorial. Contact us at: augustow@instytutpileckiego.pl
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