85 years ago, on December 14, 1939, the Soviet Union was excluded from the League of Nations. This was a consequence of the Soviet attack on Finland on November 30, 1939.

Ihor Mozho, 37, was sentenced to 5,5 years of penal colony on charges of "participating in a terrirorist organization".

Nonna Halka, 46, and her nephew Vyktor Meshnyakov, 26, were sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment each, on charges of espionage.

Serhiy Panasenko was sentenced to 15 years of strict penal colony and a fine of 550 thousand roubles on charges of terrorism.

The focus of Memorial has always been on the person. It is through the stories of specific, often unknown, people that Memorial’s unique perspective on 20th-century history is revealed. The research competition that Memorial has been holding for high school students for the past 20 years is dedicated to such stories and destinies. This is not just a tradition for us — it is our philosophy. It combines the historian’s rigorous study of sources and facts with deep, human empathy.

“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.

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don is hearing a criminal case against Ukrainian citizen Serhiy Kuris, charged with "espionage", "participation in a terrorist organization" and "training for terrorist activity".

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ukrainian citizen Oleksiy Musafirov to 18 years in penal colony. Musafirov, 45, served in Ukrainian army's Azov brigade. He was charged with "participation in a terrorist organization" and "training for terrorist activity".

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don is hearing a criminal case against 18 Ukrainian citizens linked to the Aidar Brigade, who are charged with "participation in a terrorist organization" and "training for terrorist activity".

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ukrainian citizen Mykola Pohrebniak to 17 years in penal colony for "participation in a terrorist organization" (Azov Brigade).

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don is hearing a criminal case against Ukrainian citizen Serhiy Kosolap, charged with "participation in a terrorist organization" and "training for terrorist activity".

On Monday, September 2, the KARTA Center in Poland issued a statement revealing that the center is on the verge of bankruptcy and about to cease its activities. Its board and staff notify that, since June 2024, it has been difficult for the organization to finance its projects and publications and to pay for maintaining its premises. The staff of KARTA Center have not received salaries for two months and yet continue to work, as they stay true to its main goal of documenting and popularizing history.

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don is hearing a criminal case against Ukrainian citizens charged with "participation in a terrorist organization" and "attempted violent coup". All defendants have been linked to Azov Brigade, a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine.

This year, Europe – and not only Europe – will commemorate the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. In the aftermath of the war, it seemed that humanity would never forget this tragedy and would be able to learn from it. For Russians, the phrase "as long as there is no war" became a kind of proverbial incantation for several generations.

Today we publish a letter that came from one of our media subscribers. The author of this text has spent more than thirty years researching the fate of his grandfather - engineer Petr Petrovich Rempel, who died in the gulag camps in the 1940s. During this time, strange circumstances have come to light in the story - it is possible that Petr Petrovich was indeed involved in the underground work of resistance to Soviet power.

Fifteen people were released from prison in Russia in a spectacular prisoner swap on 1 August, 2024, but hundreds and most likely thousands of political prisoners remain incarcerated. How many, exactly? The two well-known Russian organizations that keep count are Memorial and OVD-Info, whose estimates and criteria differ. Our colleagues explain what the numbers mean and why many more political prisoners remain unrecognized and uncounted.

On August 1, we waited with bated breath for news - and now what was very hard to believe has become a reality: the world-famous Russian political prisoners, among them our colleague and fellow Memorial member Oleg Orlov, have been released. They have been pardoned by Vladimir Putin’s secret decrees, they have finally been reunited with their loved ones, and their lives (one hopes!) are no longer in danger.

The General Assembly of the International Memorial Association, established in 2023 by 15 Memorial organizations from different countries, was held this June.

On July 19 in Petrozavodsk (the capital of Karelia, a region in the Northwest of Russia), the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia started a significant historical trial, dedicated to the events of 1941-1944 and apparently related to the considerably worsened relations between Finland and Russia after 24 February 2022.

Organizations within the Memorial network have been publishing podcasts about Soviet terror and memory of it and human rights issues at the post-Soviet region. Podcasts in the Russian language are listed at the Russian version of this page.

A cassation appeal on the case of Mikhail Krieger, who was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony for his posts on Facebook was held in Moscow on July 4th. The decision of the court was to keep the previous decision unchanged. During his detention, Mikhail married Aisha Astamirova, a Moscow region Memorial member herself. We talked to Aisha about her activism and protest experience, Mikhail’s arrest and imprisonment, and how to care for oneself and not give up.

On the anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, we publish Aren Vanyan's essay on the Zeithain prisoners of war camp (1941-1945) and the family memories of the Soviet soldiers who died there. This text was written as part of the research for the Ehrenhain-Zeithain Memorial site.

We have talked to Estonians of several generations about the impact that the mass deportations of Estonians in the 1940s have had on the lives of their family and their country.

Russian authorities have been methodically trying to undo the efforts to preserve the memory of mass executions in Sandarmokh, Karelia, during the Great Terror. Our volunteer reports on her recent trip there.

The South District military court in Rostov-on-Don is hearing a criminal case against nine Ukrainian citizens: Oleh Bohdanov, Serhiy Heidt, Serhiy Kabakov, Yuri Kayov, Serhiy Kovalsky, Denys Lyalka, Serhiy Ofitserov, Konstantin Reznik and Yuri Tavonzhnyansky, charged with "international terrorism" and "organizing terrorist a group". We are following this and other illegal trials of Ukrainians who were forcibly moved to Russia.

Yury Dmitriev is a historian from Petrozavodsk, head of the Karelian Memorial and political prisoner. He is currently serving a fifteen year prison term on fabricated charges.

Activist Mikhail Krieger, member of the Solidarnost movement and the board of Moscow Region Memorial, has been detained since November 3, 2022. He was sentenced to seven years of penal colony for posts on social media.

Human rights defender Bakhrom Khamroev has been in prison since February 24th, 2022, the first day of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. He was wrongfully sentenced to 13 years and 9 months of imprisonment in a penal colony on “terrorist” charges.

Human rights activist and one of Memorial's founders, Oleg Orlov was unjustly sentenced to 2,5 years of penal colony by a Russian court. We have prepared a historical account of the Pre-Trial Detention Center #2 in the city of Syzran where Oleg Orlov was awaiting his court of appeal. The history of this penitentiary, one of Russia's oldest, dates back about three centuries.

Oleg Petrovich Orlov, a human rights activist and one of the founders of Memorial, was imprisoned from February 27 to August 1, 2024. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for an article in which he called the current Russian regime fascist. Orlov was released in the prisoner swap between Russia and Belarus and Western countries.

As Kharkiv is being fiercely shelled by the Russian army, a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Defense Group, Iryna Skachko, describes the history of the “Word” (Slovo) House . This apartment building was built in Kharkiv in the 1920s to house Ukrainian writers, most of whom would later be executed or sent to camps, in a matter of years.

Soviet power carried out policies of forced Russification in Ukraine, as well as a number of repressive and murderous measures targeting ethnic and national groups, in particular during the Great Terror of the 1930s. Ukraine’s minorities - Jews, Poles, Greeks, Germans and others - were subjected to varying degrees of oppression. In the parlance of the Soviet police, campaigns targeting specific nationalities were known as “national operations”. We have translated the text of a presentation by Ukrainian researcher Roman Podkur that he gave in December 2023 at a conference organized by Memorial France and titled “Imperial Violence”.

Memorial Krasnoyarsk has been collecting information about the victims of Soviet terror in Krasnoyarsk Krai since 1988. The group prepared a multi-volume Book of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions. Last year they published the registers of those deported from Lithuania to Krasnoyarsk Krai last year. Today, we want to talk about our colleagues' work on the echelon lists of Germans deported from the VG ASSR (Volga Germans Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).

Hundreds of people are now imprisoned or detained pending trial in Russia as a result of politically motivated cases. You can support them by writing a letter.

Unfortunately, the Russian prison system only processes letters to inmates that are written entirely in the Russian language (more on that below). If you cannot write in Russian, you will have to have your message translated for it to reach the prisoner. Contact us if you need help.

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.

2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the  deportation of the Crimean Tatars, a crime perpetrated by Stalin’s regime. This is indeed a mournful date, particularly dark because repressions against Crimean Tatars continue to this day, arguably as a direct follow up to the Soviet period. Activists call this a “hybrid deportation.”

International Memorial Association's statement on February 24, 2023, one year after Russia's full-scale invasion into Ukraine

Today we are talking about Alexey Navalny’s tragic death in a Russian prison.

We are talking about a political murder with direct roots in the Soviet past.

Statement by human rights groups on the unjust verdict and sentence in politically motivated case against Russian human rights defender Oleg Orlov

The International Memorial Association is anxiously watching the violation of human rights in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. We call upon international communities, human rights activists in all the countries and the UN organs, to immediately demand the release of all political prisoners in Russia, stop prosecution for expressing anti-war opinions, and take all available legal and diplomatic measures to reach this goal.

Statement by the board of International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center on February 24, 2022

Memorial cannot be “dissolved”, just as a human being cannot be deprived of their innate ability to keep memories and reflect. Memorial is more than an organization or a civic movement: it consists of people across the globe that share the same values and are willing to know the truth about their countries’ tragic past. That is why Memorial has survived and keeps going. On May 16, 2023, in Geneva, 15 Memorial branches operating in 9 countries formalized this, having established the International Memorial Association. 

Until May 2015 there had been a memorial plaque to the Ukrainian poet and human rights activist Vasyl Stus attached to the building of the Faculty of Philology of Donetsk National University, Universitetskaya Street, 24. Stus studied at the Ukrainian department of this faculty from 1954 to 1959.

A businesswoman from Mariupol, Valeria Kaminska got out of the city and went to live in Lviv (West Ukraine). She was interviewed by Volodymyr Noskov and Denys Volokha.