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Platform of European Memory and Conscience to be established in Prague
14.10.2011
On Friday, 14th October, heads of 19 organisations dedicated to researching and raising awareness of the European totalitarian legacy will sign the founding document of the platform. Among the initiators there are six organisations from the Baltic States.
The ceremony will take place in the Lichtenstein Palace in Prague and will include the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Vice-President of the European Parliament László Tökés.
Mr Uve Poom, head of one of the founders—the Unitas Foundation—expressed his enthusiasm for the newly created platform: “So far we have mainly focused more on the Baltic co-operation and this will make the creation of Pan-European projects considerably easier. The Unitas Foundation has a special focus on innovation in education and we hope to share our activities with other platform members. For example, our project “Different Nations—Shared Experiences” could be of help to other European nations wishing to share their history and raise consciousness on past events.
The Platform of European Memory and Conscience unites governmental and non-governmental institutions and organisations active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education on totalitarian regimes. The European Parliament and the European Commission were among the numerous institutions which called for the creation of a Pan-European co-operation network to increase collaboration among national research institutes specialising in the subject of totalitarian history.
Other founders from the Baltic States in addition to the Unitas Foundation include the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, the Occupation Museum Association of Latvia, the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, and the Occupation of Latvia Research Society.
The Unitas Foundation was established in 2008 by the former two-time Prime Minister of Estonia, Mart Laar, the US philanthropist Mr Damian von Stauffenberg and entrepreneur Meelis Niinepuu with a mission to build reconciliation within and between societies divided by totalitarianism.
Unitas Foundation
