“Memory activism” is a recent term, and one that we are very fond of: the expression defines very neatly what we do at Memorial. We have put together a brief history of the term and what it represents.

In many Russian cities, local authorities have intensified their efforts to destroy name plaques marking the addresses of people caught up in the Stalinist Great Terror. Thousands of such plaques exist, set up by a widespread civil society movement called “Last Address”. Despite the campaign to destroy these sites of memory, activists are spontaneously working to restore the plaques. Memorial believes it is important to highlight these “small” acts of civic resistance.