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Memorial (society)

メモリアル

Memorial

Profile

Gender
Unknown
Born
1989-01-28 （Moscow, Russia）
Nationality
Russia
Languages
Russian, English
Residence History
Moscow, Russia (headquarters) → Berlin, Germany (major non-Russian chapter)

Career

Occupations
Human rights organization, Non-profit, Civil society organization
Active Years
1989-
Affiliations
Memorial branches in Russia, Memorial Germany (Memorial Deutschland), Memorial Italy, Memorial Belgium, Memorial Czech Republic, Memorial France
Influenced By
Andrei Sakharov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Influenced
Civil society movements, Historians and archival documentation initiatives

Awards

Right Livelihood Award
2004
Organization: Right Livelihood Foundation
Result: 受賞
Nansen Refugee Award
2004
Organization: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Result: 受賞
Hermann Kesten Prize
2008
Organization: Association of German Publishers / awarding bodies
Result: 受賞
Sakharov Prize
2009
Organization: European Parliament
Result: 受賞
Victor Gollancz Prize
2009
Organization: Society for Threatened Peoples
Result: 受賞
Freedom of Expression Prize (Index on Censorship)
2012
Organization: Index on Censorship
Result: 受賞
The Guardian of National Memory Award
2012
Organization: Institute of National Remembrance (Poland)
Result: 受賞
Pax Christi International Peace Award
2013
Organization: Pax Christi International
Result: 受賞
Nobel Peace Prize
2022
Organization: Norwegian Nobel Committee
Result: 受賞（共同受賞）
OSCE Democracy Defender Award
2022
Organization: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Result: 受賞（共同受賞）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Victims of Political Terror in the USSR (database)

2005 Historical database / archive

An online database compiling names and records of victims of political repression in the USSR. By its fifth edition it reportedly contained over three million entries.

Political repressionRemembranceHistorical documentation

Russia's Necropolis of Terror and the Gulag (map/website)

2016 Online map / memorial project

A mapped directory of burial sites, commemorative places and memorials, documenting preservation status and contextual information about sites related to mass repressions and the Gulag.

MemorializationHistorical geographyPreservation and research

Bibliography

  • Victims of Political Terror in the USSR (database)
  • Those Killed in Katyn (ed. Aleksandr Gurianov)
  • Those Killed in Kalinin, buried in Mednoye (ed. Aleksandr Gurianov)

Adaptations

  • Cooperation on documentary films (e.g. materials appearing in 'Of Caravan and the Dogs')

Translations of Works

  • English and multilingual versions of databases and publications (e.g. Open List)

Style & Themes

Recurring Motifs
Remembrance and commemorationDocumentation of state violenceRecovery of individual victim histories

Legacy

Memorial has played a central role in recording Soviet and post-Soviet political repression and preserving victims' memory. Despite domestic pressure and court-ordered liquidation in Russia, it has continued work via foreign chapters and online archives and has received international recognition.

Museums

  • Sandarmokh Memorial Complex Karelia, Russia Opened in 1997

Academic Societies

  • Networks of historians
  • Human rights research groups

Archives

  • Victims of Political Terror in the USSR (base.memo.ru)
  • Russia's Necropolis (en.mapofmemory.org)
  • Open List (openlist.wiki)

In Popular Culture

  • Mention in documentaries and news (e.g. 2024 documentary 'Of Caravan and the Dogs')

Quotes

  • The recipients "have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power."
    Source: Norwegian Nobel Committee (Nobel Peace Prize announcement) (2022)

Trivia

  • Founded on 28 January 1989 in Moscow.
  • Ordered closed in Russia in late 2021 but continued activities via foreign chapters and online.
  • Operated a network of more than 50 Russian organizations and multiple foreign chapters.