MEMORIAL
ELKOST Intl. literary agency handles world rights in ALL TITLES published by MEMORIAL International Human Rights Society.
2022 Nobel Peace Prize (Sweden),
2022 Karl-Wilhelm-Fricke-Preis (Germany),
2022 Premio Speciale Luchetta (Italy),
2022 Theodor Heuss Prize (Germany),
2021 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (Switzerland),
2012 Kustosz Pamięci Narodowej (Poland),
2009 Sakharov Prize,
2009 Victor Gollancz Award,
2008 Hermann Kesten Prize (Germany),
2007/2008 Nobel Peace Prize nominee,
2005 Max van der Stoel Award (Netherlands),
2004 Right Livelihood Award,
2004 UN HCR Nansen Refugee Award,
2001 Erich Maria Remarque Prize (Germany)
Memorial (Russian: Мемориал) is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in Russia and other post-Soviet states. Memorial's full name is MEMORIAL Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society.
Memorial was formally established in Moscow in January 1989 as an international historical and civil rights society.
Between 1987 and 1990, while the USSR was still in existence, 23 branches of the society were set up and became active. When the Soviet Union collapsed, branches of Memorial in east and south Ukraine remained affiliated to the Russian network.
Some of the oldest branches of Memorial in northwest and central Russia, the Urals and Siberia have since developed their own websites, documenting independent local research and publicising the crimes of the Soviet regime in their region.
A movement rather than a centralised organisation, by 2018 there were over 60 branches of Memorial and affiliated organisations scattered across Russia. A quarter of these branches were established in 2014 or later. They share similar concerns about human rights, documenting the past, educating the young, marking Days of Remembrance for the "victims of political repression" and guarding against a return to the totalitarian past, but the focus varies from region to region, depending on local needs, membership and circumstances.
There are also a number of foreign branches of Memorial: in Germany, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Georgia
Since the passing of the Russian foreign agent law in July 2012 Memorial has come under increasing official pressure. On 4 October 2016 Memorial International was declared a "foreign agent" by the RF Ministry of Justice; soon after the Research and Information Centre at St Petersburg Memorial was awarded the same status.
On 28 December 2021, the Supreme Court of Russia ordered the International Memorial Society and its regional branches to close. On 31 December 2021, a joint statement was released by the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom criticising the Russian court decisions to shut Memorial and calling on Russia "to uphold its international human rights obligations and commitments".
On 17 June 2022, supporters of Memorial Human Rights Centre in Moscow have set up a new civil society group, Human Rights Defence Centre Memorial, as an unincorporated association (which is not a ‘legal entity’ in law).
For details about MEMORIAL see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_%28society%29
MEMORIAL own webpage: http://www.memo.ru/eng/
Along its other activities, Memorial conducts research into the history of political repression and publicizes the findings in books, articles, exhibitions, museums, and websites of its member organisations.
TITLES BY MEMORIAL:
Ivan Chistyakov's DIARY OF A GULAG PRISON GUARD
Irina Sherbakova's ONLY A MIRACLE COULD SAVE US