Presentation of projects and books of International Society "Memorial" at Frankfurt Book Fair

The Society "Memorial" (Russia) is an independent confederacy of 86 national and regional organizations from 6 countries (Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Germany) engaged in the history of totalitarianism, perpetuating the memory of victims of political repressions, defending human rights in modern Russia and conducting large enlightening work among the youth in the field of civil and historical education. "Zveniya", a publishing center of "Memorial", issued dozens of books on these themes.

Presentations of the Society's books and exhibitions, discussions on the problems of historical memory and human rights in present-day Russia are to take place at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Well-known Russian and foreign public figures, human rights activists, historians, and journalists will participate in these actions. The directors of enlightening and human rights projects: Svetlana Gannushkina, Arseny Roginsky, Grigory Shvedov, Aleksandr Cherkasov, and Irina Scherbakova will represent "Memorial".

October 9 - a presentation of the collection "Russia's Memory. Young Men Are Opening Lost History". It includes the best of 6,000 research works of Russian pupils who participated in the society's competition "The Man in History, Russia - XX century". The presentation is to be followed by the discussion "What Memory About the Past Does Modern Russia Need?"

October 10 - a press conference and an opening of the exhibition "Long Echo. Russia - XX Century: Constants and Variables"; the discussion "Russia's Past today - Long Echo" on myths and stereotypes of the last period and the present one.

October 11 - a presentation of the passional "Women-Prisoners of ALZHIR"; the discussion "Woman's Face of GULAG"; and the open discussion "Is There a Possibility for the Soviet Past To Come Back?"

October 12 - a presentation of the book "Here Live People. Chechnya: the Chronicle of Violence. Part 1 - July-December 2000"; the discussion "Human Rights in Russia. Refugees. Ethnic Discrimination".

A situation in the armed conflict zone in Chechnya, a stance of displaced persons, the persecution of "persons of Caucasian nationality" - these are not only issues with which the gravest abuses of human rights in Russia are connected, but also the most disturbing tendencies of the country's development on the whole.