Online Resources
Online resources for Historical Dialogue, in Thematic Groups
ARCHIVES
- Archive and oral history collection now open for research: ‘Final Account – Third Reich Testimonies,’ available here.
- The JDC Archives’ New York 1975-1989 Collection, which documents the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s global humanitarian activities, is now available to researchers.
- Digital Syria Initiative
- The Blavatnik Archive Foundation (BAF) has two new collections: the Kantsedikas Family collection and the RowleSoviet Ephemera Collection
- The FDR Presidential Library and Museum has recently launched a new YouTube series with updates on the Morgenthau Holocaust Collections Project, a digital history and path-finding initiative to raise awareness of the FDR Library’s unique but under-explored resources for Holocaust Studies.
- Online Wiener Archive for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust
- Archival Resources for COVID Response: Society of American Archivists
- Archives Are Accessible Map, International Council of Archives
- Association of Research Libraries, COVID-19 Resources
- COVID-19 and the Global Library Field
- COVID-19 News & Resource Pages
- COVID-19 Resources for Libraries and Museums, Institute of Museum and Library services
- Libraries Are Making
- Mitigating COVID-19: The Contribution Research
ARTS
- Art in the Time of Corona
- COVID-19 Resources for Artists
- Museums and Covid-19, Association of Art Museum Directors
- National Endowment for the Arts: COVID-19 Resources
- The Vanguard: Contemporary Arts in Africa, 2020
- Once upon a time and never again: In memory of 1133 children killed as a result of the war in Kosovo 1998-2000. A virtual exhibit.
- 23.5 Online Workshop – A Look at Armenian Culture and History Through Hrant Dink’s Office
- Recording: Art and Memory: Bearing Witness to History, Creatively, ICES
- Recording: Art in Education: Connecting Histories and Human Experiences, ICES
- Recording: Art Talk with Victoria Lomasko, Jagath Weerasinghe & Krasimira Butseva, ICES
- Recording: Art Talk with Julian Chehirian, Ayesha Price & Hanusha Somasundaram, ICES
COLONIALISM
- Conversations from the Leading Edge: Ep 61 – Colonialism and COVID-19: A Global Pandemic in Need of a Local Response
- Madeleine Shield, How should we respond to shame? Podcast
DIGITAL HUMANITIES/MEDIA
- Let’s Talk Reparations is a new podcast from the African American Redress Network in collaboration with Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. This episode spotlights Brown Grove, a historic African American community in Virginia. Faced with decades of environmental racism—the community is organizing to halt construction of a Wegmans distribution center.
- Roma Peoples Project (RPP)
- #DHJewish – Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities: dhjewish.org
- Voices of Ukraine Podcast Series
- Vol. 33, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2021 of History & Memory
- Truth in the Americas Initiative
- Holocaust and Genocide Research Partnership (HGRP).The HGRP is a national research and public engagement consortium comprising of institutions at the forefront of research and learning:
- The Wiener Holocaust Library (London)
- The Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London
- The Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association (Leeds)
- The University of Huddersfield.
The HGRP aims to be the leading voice in the UK for research-led public engagement, education, and heritage practice about the history and memory of the Holocaust and genocide.
- Resources for Photographers and Creative Freelancers
- WITNESS Video Lab COVID-19 Response Hub
GENOCIDE / MASS ATROCITY PREVENTION
- Mapping Inclusive Memory initiatives in the Western Balkans
- Assessing COVID-19’s effects on mass atrocities and atrocity prevention, USHMM
- Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Digital Resource Library
- AIPR Policy Brief on Implications of COVID-19 for Atrocity Prevention, AIPR
- Online exhibition Burma’s Path to Genocide (USHMM)
- Responsibility to Protect Resources, Global Center for the R2P
- The Role of Civilians and Civil Society in Preventing Mass Atrocities, USHMM
HISTORY EDUCATION (in and out of the classroom)
- Addressing Anti-Semitism in Schools: Training Curricula
- Rethink Education Platform
- Facing History and Ourselves: Resources during COVID-19
- Memory Sites Workshop, Hrant Dink Foundation
- Podcasts ‘On Being’
- The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook
- RETHINK Teachers’ Guide on Remembrance Education
HATE SPEECH
- Hate Speech and Discriminatory Discourse in Media 2019 Report, Hrant Dink Foundation
- Hate Speech Explained, Southern Poverty Law Center
- Hate Speech Tool Kit, Article 19
- Hate Violations in International Law, Rights for Peace
- Madeleine Shield, How should we respond to shame? (a podcast)
- SPLC Hate Map
- United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech
HOLOCAUST
- United Nations Podcast Series: In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding Hope
- Eternal Echoes is an interactive learning resource covering the Holocaust.
- Anne Frank House worldwide activities
- Contemporary Jewish Museum
- Summary of the Conference, International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust
- EHRI online course in holocaust studies
- Exploring short survivor testimonies, Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center
HUMAN RIGHTS
- Civic Health Index of Bulgaria (Sofia Platform)
- Global Conflict Tracker
- Standard Human Rights. Addressing the Topics of Flight, Forced Migration, Asylum and Racist Discrimination in Education Practice
Civil Rights and Social Justice COVID-19 Series - COVID and Human Rights Resources from the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- COVID-19: Human Rights and Health Information and Resources – Staying Healthy Together (UNSW, Sydney)
- Human Rights Library Collections, Columbia University
- Supporting Human Rights Online in Times of Crisis: A Collection of Useful Resources
- The Network of Concerned Historians (NCH)
- COVID-19: Human Rights Defenders & Civic Freedoms
- Human Rights Documentation Tool Kit
MEMORY
- Memory Activism: Collaborative Processes of Counter-Memorialization, NSCAD University
- The Zip Code Memory Project
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS
- cja.huji.ac.il/hmm/browser.
php?mode=main (Digital database on “Holocaust Memorial Monuments) - Activity Guide, Field Trip Monument Lab
- Contested Legacies: Public Monuments in Global Perspective, Columbia Global Thought
- Podcast: My Body is a Confederate Monument by Caroline Randall Williams (Common Ground)
- Timeline of the Monuments in the U.S., The Southern Poverty Law Center
- Whose Heritage: Public Symbols of the Confederacy Map, The Southern Poverty Law Center
- Yale Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming
- The Confederate Monument Debate: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments with Difficult Pasts, World Monuments Fund
- Un/making a Monument
MUSEUMS
- 12 World Class Museums You Can Visit Online
- Covid-19 Impact: MuseumNext: “Reorganize, Reuse, Rethink, Relaunch.”
- COVID-19 Resources for Libraries and Museums, Institute of Museum and Library services
- COVID-19 updates, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries
- Cultural Spaces as Living Monuments
- Database of Confederate Symbols, The Southern Poverty Law Center
- Museums and Covid-19, Association of Art Museum Directors
- Objects of Comfort: New Digital Collection Gallery!, Tenement Museum
- The 75 Best Virtual Museum Tours Around the World
- The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Museum Resources, E-Learning, and Online Collections
- Virtual Tour of the POLIN Museum in Poland
- Exhibition 360 – Once Upon a Time and Never Again, Kosovo
- A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics by Sally Yerkovich
- Virtual Tour of the Exhibition “Shoah” at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
- Recording: Museums in Transition: Responding to changing discourses and technologies, ICES
ORAL HISTORY
- Spanish Civil War Memory Project (SCWMP)-NEW!
- COVID Story Project
- Documenting and Interpreting Conflict Through Oral History
- NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Archive by Incite
- Storytelling in the Time of COVID-19 Webinar (free), Story Center
- Teach testimony Across Curriculum, iWitness USC
- Your Story, Our Story, Tenement Museum
PEACEBUILDING
- Conflict, Development, and Covid-19 Resources (compilation of resources)
- COVID-19 and Peacebuilding by International Alert
COVID-19 and the impact on local peacebuilding by Peaceinsight - Peacebuilding Assessment for Heritage Recovery and Rehabilitation, ICCROM
- Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States Archives UNOHCHR
RACE
- 1619 America Slavery Project, NYT
- Black Lives Matter: Race & Power in Philanthropy & Development, Future Summit 2020
- Talking About Race: National Museum of African American History & Culture
- U.S. African American Redress Project
RELIGION
SLAVERY
- Anti-Slavery International: Covid and Slavery
- COVID-19 and Modern Slavery: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Future of the Fight
- Interactive map of the spread of slavery in the U.S.
- The Impact of COVID on Modern Slavery, Explained
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE
- New! Transitional Justice in Gambia: The Victim’s Podcast
- ICTJ Special Report on COVID
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, UN
- Transitional Justice and Social Cohesion (Re)Construction in African Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Report
- UN Truth and Reconciliation Commission Archives
TRAUMA
Other resources:
Narratives and Representations of the French Settlers of Algeria
‘Narratives and Representations of the French Settlers of Algeria’ is a two-year AHRC funded project which examines the cultural impact of mass migration across the Mediterranean, focusing primarily on literary and artistic representations of and by French colonial settlers from Algeria who were repatriated to France as exiles in 1962. The project examines and analyses fictional representations produced about and by the European settler community of Algeria. By bringing together two fields of study – settler colonial studies, and migration studies relating to memory and trauma – it interrogates the reductive categories of colonizer/colonised and victim/perpetrator with which the settler community has historically been associated. Through this approach, it aims to arrive at a more productive understanding of how France’s colonial history in Algeria shapes how the nation relates to its past, and how postcolonial minorities conceptualise themselves and their relationship to the nation.
Facing Whiteness
Facing Whiteness explores how Americans who identify as white or partially white think about their racial identities, along with a variety of other issues. Over the course of 19 months (2017-18), we focused on three communities: Battle Creek, Michigan; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Richmond, Virginia. In each location, we participated in and observed local life: we attended church services and political meetings; visited local stores to discuss business and the community; and chatted with many, many people over coffee. Local participants became involved in Facing Whiteness through these social networks, completing our intake survey and, in some cases, participating in filmed interviews and later surveys.
The Facing Whiteness website houses many of the project’s outcomes, including: the full interview transcripts of all 110 participants, along with video excerpts, biographical information and participant-submitted photographs; visuals from the intake survey of over 850 residents, as well as a request form for access to all of the de-identified survey data; demographic, socioeconomic and political information about the three study locations; and an interactive timeline of the project. We hope the website will serve as a resource to those communities and individuals involved in conversations about race in America today.
A Glimpse into the Archives
The purpose of this exhibition is to allow the general public to contextualize, access, and understand the value of the archives of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR) and for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which are now in the custody of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. The exhibition features a selection of interesting items to illustrate the diversity of the records in the archives. The items include photographs of artifacts used as evidence in court, drawings made by witnesses, and an extract from a historic trial judgement. The exhibition, which can be found on the Mechanism’s website, aims to create an interactive experience. Each image has descriptive details and links to databases where other records can be found.
Adult Education and Oral History Contributing to Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation
This project aims to build bridges between Turkey and Armenia’s populations through adult education, intercultural exchange and oral history research. The project particularly addresses the young generation in both societies, as they will play a key role in shaping relations between the two neighbouring countries in the near future. It aims at building up and strengthening relations between the youth in order to promote dialogue and bring about mutual understanding. Moreover, the project focuses on remembering the Turkish – Armenian past by telling individual stories from both societies (by the means of oral history research). Given their interconnected history and the fact that Turkey and Armenia are in the process of coming to terms with a complex, conflicted and intertwined past, the sharing of the memories of ordinary individuals is seen as a valuable contribution to the process of reconciliation and democratization. We believe that remembering the past, accepting responsibility and achieving forgiveness are important means towards a peaceful future for the two neighbouring societies.
Aegis Trust
The Aegis Trust campaigns against crimes against humanity and genocide. Aegis undertakes policy-based research on the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity and campaigns for the protection of groups under threat.
Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University
The Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University (ACKU) was established in 1989 as a central depository for information on Afghanistan. Since its inception, ACKU has collected more than 58,000 documents, 40 percent of which are in the local Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. The mission of ACKU is to collect, store and share information with a wide body of readers in both Afghan urban and rural settings. It also provides a congenial environment for interactions and interchange by Afghans, international students and researchers, and policy makers. By providing research, education, and public programs and by preserving and providing wider access to its collection, ACKU helps ensure that the people of Afghanistan once again have important resources about their history, culture, and development during one of the country’s darkest periods.
aka Kurdistan
akakurdistan.com is a a borderless space, provides the opportunity to build a collective memory with a people who have no national archive. Images and recollections serve as testimony to the long and suppressed history of the Kurds.
Al Khalil Cultural Center
The Khalil Al Sakakini Cultural Center is dedicated to the promotions of arts and culture in Palestine. In its program area “Palestinian narratives” the center develops projects that deal with Palestinian cultural heritage and memory.
American Indian Genocide Museum
The purpose of this museum is to bring historical truth to light through the means of education using actual documentation of events that have transpired in the near extermination, and in some cases, the total extermination of native tribes and cultures. It is a memorial to the victims of ethnic cleansing. Racism, discrimination and injustice will be addressed with the purpose of promoting public awareness that these elements of genocide which existed in the past, continue to exist today. A further purpose of the museum will be to address prejudice which is generated toward native peoples through biased reporting of history.
Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center: Peace, Progress, Human Rights
The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center is both a cultural institution and a public organization promoting the formation of civil society in Russia. The mission of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center is to contribute to the preservation of the historic memory of tens of millions of victims of the political repressions and crimes of the Soviet regime, and to contribute to the establishment of the values of an open democratic society and state in today’s Russia, as advocated, and shared by Andrei Sakharov.
Architecture and Memory
Uniform November “Seeing the Built Environment Through a Peacebuilding Lens” – Website addressing the challenges of viewing memory through the re-use of Architecture in a post-conflict context.
Archivo Virtual de Derechos Humanos y Memoria Histórica
Virtual Archive on Human Rights and Historical Memory of ColombiaTestimony, interviews, letters, manuscripts, press releases, television and radio reports, photograps, singing, results from memory workshops, books, magazines, communication pieces and copies from judicial records, handed in by community leaders, social organizations, public organizations that develop investigations themselves, as well as the National Center for Historical Memory’s research fellows.
Archives and Dealing with the Past
The project Archives and Dealing with the Past provides support to actors in the field of transitional justice and dealing with the past related to the protection, preservation and management of human rights archives.
Asociación para la Recuperación de Memoria Historica
The Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica or ARMH is a Spanish organization that collects the oral and written testimonies about the victims of the regimes of Francisco Franco and excavates and identifies their bodies that were often dumped in mass graves. It is a group of about 50 Spanish archaeologists, anthropologists and forensics scientists. The group tries to identify the places of execution through records and interviewing the locals. Sometimes they also receive anonymous information about them. They try to exhume the bodies and identify the remains of the victims with DNA tests and other forensic methods. As of September 2006, ARMH had conducted 40 excavations and found remains of 520 victims. As of October 2009 the group had identified the remains of 1.700 victims.
Badil
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Bones of Contention, A film by Andrea Weiss
Today the families of LGBT victims under Franquismo lead a grassroots effort to uncover unmarked graves and identify the bones of their loved ones, despite opposition from the Spanish government. How does a country excavate a past that is actively suppressed?
Berghof Foundation, Dealing with the Past
Learning about the other sides’ grievances and acknowledging injustices, committed by one’s own sides’ representatives are a crucial element of sincere encounters. They can even become stepping stones of reconciliation between former enemies. To achieve sustainable peace, and secure fruitful discussion and reflection about the past between former conflict parties, various methods and approaches have been developed in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. They can be subsumed under the label of “dealing with the past”. These approaches vary profoundly, depending on the conflict analysis as well as target groups, cultural and ideological factors, general circumstances and needs in the conflict region. They range from expert commissions rewriting schoolbooks in a conflict sensitive manner to group therapy for victims to help overcoming trauma. The Berghof Foundation has been engaging in this context for many years, researching and developing various approaches to dealing with painful pasts in various conflict settings. At present, the Caucasus Programme entertains a trilateral process on “Dealing with the Past” in the Georgian-Abkhaz-South Ossetian conflict setting.
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence collects and publishes testimonies from soldiers who have served in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since September 2000. It holds lectures, house meetings, and other public events which bring to light the reality in the Territories through the voice of former combatants. It also conducts tours in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills region, with the aim of giving the Israeli public access to the reality which exists in its own back yard, yet is rarely portrayed in the media.
Buenos Aires Program on Political History
The Historiapolitica.com site offers materials of interest for the academic community – investigators, educational and students, and generally to all the interested in the problems of the Argentine political history of the twentieth century.
Camouflage Comics: Dirty War Images
Camouflage Comics: Dirty War Images aims at producing reflections – both in the form of verbal and visual material – on the interplay between art, dictatorship and human rights in general and the legacy of the Argentine “dirty war” (1976-83)… These analyses, although they are mainly concerned with the cultural production of a recent past, also shed light on the new comics, urging us to interpret the ‘new’ in light of the ‘old’ – and vice versa. In addition, this site contains a discussion-blog where these subjects can be explored in full, with a view of generating new visuals/essays and insights – not specifically related to the ‘case’ of Argentina, but covering a large array of topics, ranging from comics, censorship, (restrained) artistic practices, human rights, the institutionalization of memory, etc.
Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation
The Palestine Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation provides professional training programs and ongoing consultation. We help organizations enhance their knowledge and skills in order to sustain principled negotiation and mediation approaches to conflicts. Target populations are key “multipliers” in Palestinian society, with priority given to schools (teachers, students and parents, youth security forces, leaders of non-government organizations working for peace and reconciliation, student leaders, women’s groups, government officials and others). In the framework of its history program CCRR brings palestinian and israeli history teachers together to discuss textbooks and how to find ways to teach the history of the region and the conflict, taking the other side into account.
Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe
The Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that seeks to foster democratic, pluralist, and peaceful societies in Southeast Europe by advocating principles of social responsibility, sustainable development, and reconciliation among the peoples in the region. These goals are accomplished via seminars, conferences, research projects, exchange programmes, opinion polls, and publications. One of Center’s programs is the Joint History Project, which is a long-term participative project that brings together historians, teachers, pedagogues, CSOs and students to work together towards the emergence of democratic and peaceful societies in the region, through multi-perspective history education.
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Cultural Memory and Traumas
The TRAME Centre is dedicated to the research and study of individual and cultural memory genres, places and representations within conflict and post-conflict situations. In particular, much attention is devoted to violence, collective traumas and the role of forms of testimony in the broader projections of post-conflict issues. The Centre will contribute to debates on memory and memory studies, a field where these different but interconnected subjects are explored.
Center for the Living Arts: Healing the Wounds of History Institute
This project produces public events and seminars for people identified with polarized groups, and promotes intercultural communication, mutual understanding, and conflict resolution through the expressive arts. Healing the Wounds of History is a process in which experiential techniques are used to work with a group of participants who share a common legacy of historical trauma.
Centre for the Study of Peace and Reconciliation
The enter for the Study of Peace and Reconciliation (CsPR) conducts social scientific research on peace and reconciliation, and the related issues of conflict, violence, memory and expression. At the same time CsPR explores ways to contribute practically to peace-building. CsPR aims to: 1) Combine studies on Japan’s past and present experiences of war, peace, and war memories with the ongoing peace-building efforts around the world through organizing and promoting social scientific research projects on peace and reconciliation; 2) Organize and promote interdisciplinary academic exchange with scholars and institutions in Hitotsubashi University, Japan, and overseas; 3) Foster an environment that encourages civic groups, private corporations, academic institutions, and the government to think and work together; 4) Build multi-media digital libraries and archives to accumulate, organize, preserve, and improve access to the vast amount of research information in the relevant fields, making CsPR an information center for peace and reconciliation studies; 5) Facilitate education and graduate research on peace and reconciliation studies through CsPR’s various research projects and other activities; 6) Organize and promote public events and open lectures to raise awareness in local communities.
Center for Research in Memories, Narrative and Histories
Drawing on long-standing research strengths in humanities, arts and social sciences at the University of Brighton, the Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories brings together researchers with related and complementary interests, providing a focus for research development and a platform for engagement with the wider academic community.
Centre of Research and Documentation of Japan’s War Responsibility
The Center for Research and Documentation on Japan’s War Responsibility (JWRC) was established in April 1993. We are dedicated to fulfilling Japan’s responsibility to Asians victimized by Japan during WWII. The JWRC is supported by its membership of individuals, who range from historians, legal experts, and writers to conscientious citizens. Since the JWRC was established, it has been publishing Kikan Senso Sekinin Kenkyu (Quarterly Journal: “Study on War Responsibility”), in which certain study results are made public.
Chechen Archive
The Chechen Archive collects, preserves, catalogues and gives access to video, photo and audio materials documenting the wars and related human rights violations in the Chechen Republic. The Chechen Archive is a step towards memory, truth and justice.
Children and Armed Conflict (CAC) Accountability Resource Database
The Children and Armed Conflict (CAC) Accountability Resource Database is a reference tool for policymakers and practitioners working to advance accountability for serious violations against children in armed conflict. The database features a selection of practical resources that are related to different aspects of CAC accountability.
Chinese Alliance for the Commemoration of Sino-Japanese War Victims
The Chinese Alliance for Commemoration of the Sino-Japanese War Victims is a Hong Kong based organization founded in 1988. Our goal is to unite Chinese around the world as well as peace-loving people regardless of their nationalities. We collect material and research on the suffering, casualty, and losses of Chinese people incurred by the Sino-Japanese War (1931-45).
CHRGJ Launches “Job Board” for Human Rights Opportunities
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University has just launched a new “Job Board” on its website, a page for job postings and similar opportunities in the human rights field that may be of interest To have your posting appear on the page, please email: Audrey Watne at watnea@exchange.law.nyu.edu.
Civil Peace Service
The Civil Peace Service is a German state organization that employs different techniques in conflict resolution and prevention in conflict and post-conflict countries. The organization has a strong interest in narrative projects.
Civic Academy Foundation
The Civic Academy Foundation came into being as a result of the Council of Europe’s suggestion to set up a foundation to create and administer the Sighet Memorial project, which was adopted by the international forum. Among its goals are civic education, youth education, a good knowledge of Romania’s past, and, to this end, the restoration of the contemporary Romanian history that was falsified during the period of the communist dictatorship.
Conflict Sensitivity for Peacebuilders
DM&E for Peace
Court Upholds 50-Year Jail Term in Sierra Leone War Crimes Case (NY Times)
An international panel of appeals judges unanimously upheld a 50-year jail sentence on Thursday given to Charles G. Taylor, the former president of Liberia, for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in a case cast as a watershed for modern human rights law.
Cuban National Reconciliation: Task Force on Memory, Truth, and Justice
The task force had four objectives: 1) To review and evaluate the experience of truth commissions and the different models of imparting justice in times of transition. 2) To summarize as reliably as possible the dimension of human rights violations from all sources over the past four decades. 3) To characterize the Cuban experience and outline the “¡Nunca Más!” that should emerge from it. 4) To substantively address the call for national reconciliation.
Cultures of History Forum
The Cultures of History Forum is an online platform concerned with how the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe address and negotiate their 20th century history in public. The Forum’s aim is to facilitate conversation between academia and a wider public on issues of history and memory in Europe and to foster dialogue and critical understanding. Contributions are structured along three key areas: museums and exhibitions; public debates and controversies; and official acts and government programs.
Days and Memory
New blog by the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, University of Illinois
Dealing with the Past in Spaces, Places, Actions, and Institutions of Memory: A Comparative Reflection on European Experiences
The project aims to identify the opportunities, conditions, challenges, and obstacles for processes of confronting the past in different contexts. Increasingly, other regions plagued by “history wars” look to Germany for guidance about commemoration, memorialization, and remembrance.
District Six Museum
As an independent space where the forgotten understandings of the past are resuscitated, where different interpretations of that past are facilitated through its collections, exhibitions and education programmes, the Museum is committed to telling the stories of forced removals and assisting in the reconstitution of the community of District Six and Cape Town by drawing on a heritage of non-racism, non-sexism, anti-class discrimination and the encouragement of debate.
Documentation Center of Cambodia
The Documentation Center of Cambodia has two main objectives. The first is to record and preserve the history of the Khmer Rouge regime for future generations. The second is to compile and organize information that can serve as potential evidence in a legal accounting for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. These objectives represent our promotion of memory and justice, both of which are critical foundations for the rule of law and genuine national reconciliation in Cambodia.
ERIO launches new project “Keeping the memory alive: the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”
The European Roma Information Office project aims to create an International Remembrance Network to raise awareness about the Roma and Sinti Holocaust in order to fight discrimination, prejudices and stereotypes about these communities.
Estonian Institute of Historical Memory
The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory was established by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2008 in order to provide the citizens of Estonia with a thorough and objective account of the status of human rights during the Soviet occupation of Estonia. The Institute will commission research into the details of life under Soviet rule, and intensify the collection of individual memories, in order to determine precisely and without ideological bias how, and to what extent, the human rights of the people of Estonia were violated. The Institute’s mission also fulfills an obligation to the citizens of Estonia, so that they may better understand what they themselves or their parents and grandparents endured under Soviet rule. The results of the Institute’s research, and its contribution to international debate on this subject, are intended to create a reliable data base for a broader study both of developments within Estonia under Soviet rule, and of their ramifications for modern Estonia and for the whole of Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Europe Center of Stanford University
The Forum on Contemporary Europe (FCE) at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) has launched a multi-year collaborative project with research institutes in Europe and the Greater Middle East. The aim of this collaboration is to study how divided societies—viewed in international context, with a focus on the Middle East, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority—reconcile diverging notions of the past, and of democracy, development, and education. Participants are investigating how societies debate internally and attempt to reconcile differences of opinion and political positions regarding these issues.
European Parliament: Reconciliation of European Histories
Reconciliation of European Histories – an informal group of Members of European Parliament – provides a platform for the MEPs to play an active role in improving reconciliation and converging the European historical narratives.
Experiencing History: Jewish Perspectives on the Holocaust
The Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has recently released a new digital tool, Experiencing History: Jewish Perspectives on the Holocaust, aimed to facilitate your teaching. Experiencing History is aimed at college- and university level instructors who teach Holocaust-related courses, broadly defined. It features online collections of carefully selected Jewish primary sources, from diaries, letters and newspaper articles to photography, moving image and sound. The sources are grouped into thematic collections that allow for easy classroom integration. Each source is introduced and annotated by a Holocaust scholar, in order to provide enough historical context for a productive in-class discussion or an assignment. While context and annotation provide important background, the tool is flexible enough to allow for a number of different educational, disciplinary, methodological and other approaches, so you can use it for courses at different levels and in different disciplines.
Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citzenry. By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.
Fushat ‘Amal – A Space for Hope
Fushat ‘Amal, a Space for Hope, is an interactive digital space designed to bring to the public some of the individual stories of the thousands of persons who went missing in Lebanon over the past four decades, and whose families continue to struggle to learn their fate.
The Future of Transitional Justice in Brazil
Interview with Marcelo Torelly
Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania is a state institution which investigates all manifestations of genocide and crimes against humanity, the persecution during the Soviet and Nazi occupations, and the armed and peaceful resistance to the occupations. The objectives of the Centre are to establish historical truth and justice; to investigate the physical and spiritual genocide of Lithuanians carried out by the occupying regimes between 1939 and 1990, and the resistance to the regimes; to immortalise the memory of the freedom fighters and the genocide victims; and to initiate the juridical evaluation of the aftermath of the occupying regimes. The Centre also researches the policy of the occupying regime in the Vilnius district from 1920 to 1939 and the processes of resistance to it.
Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research
Textbook and Conflict Research Program: There are two ways of analysing the relation between textbooks and conflict, based on an understanding of conflict as the – socially constructed and communicated – incompatibility of different people’s positions. If we focus on socio-political conflicts, we are essentially interested in the way in which such conflicts are reflected in textbooks and the way in which textbooks trigger conflicts. If we focus on textbooks, we can define their function in conflicts as follows: as a medium which sustains conflicts and passes on patterns of thought, and thereby encourages future conflict and even violent behaviour; or as a way of dealing with or preventing conflict. The very origins of ‘textbook work’ lie in conflict prevention, which is based on the attempt to rid textbooks of their potential to perpetuate conflict.
Geschichtswekstatt Europa
Geschichtswerkstatt Europa is a programme of the foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“ addressing the issue of European remembrance. Its aim is to strengthen dialogue between young Europeans comparing the differences and similarities in historical perceptions of the collective experience of oppression in the 20th century at a national, regional and local level. The Institute for Applied History coordinates the funding of projects in cooperation with the European University Viadrina. The International Forum is organised by the Global and European Studies Institute at the University of Leipzig.
Guernica Peace Museum Foundation
The mission of the Gernika Peace Museum Foundation is to preserve, display, publicise, conduct research and educate visitors in the basic ideas of the culture of peace, and the past and present relation of this culture to the history of Gernika-Lumo, so that, together with other history and peace organisations, Gernika-Lumo, the province of Bizkaia and the Basque Country be used as local, regional, national and international references in the search for peace and culture.
Guía de Archivos y Fondos Documentales
A resource related to repressive processes in the Southern Cone of Latin America. This guide provides information regarding the documentary heritage of the repressive process in this region in the second half of the XX Century. It was made during 2013 / 2015 by Instituto de Politicas Publicas en Derechos Humanos de MERCOSUR. http://www.ippdh.mercosur.int/ It covers information about Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.
http://atom.ippdh.mercosur.
Gulag bibliography
Bibliography/metadata project on Russian/Soviet labour camp narratives and published the first version, focusing on memoirs of the Soviet Gulag: http://sarahjyoung.com/
Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia
The Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia is a nonprofit, nonpartisan worldwide federation of over 40 grassroots organizations. Founded in 1994, our mission is to preserve the historical truth of the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945) in order to secure justice for victims, safeguard humanity from repeating mistakes of the past, and bring about genuine reconciliation and lasting peace among all people.
Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future
In remembrance of the victims of National Socialist injustice, the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Die Stiftung “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft,” or EVZ) works to promote human rights and understanding between peoples. It also upholds its commitment to the survivors. The Foundation is thus an expression of the continuing political and moral responsibility of the state, industry and society for the wrongs committed in the name of National Socialism. The Foundation supports international projects in the following areas: 1) a critical examination of history, 2) working for human rights, and 3) commitment to the victims of National Socialism.
H-Memory
H-Memory is a discussion network open to all academics and researchers concerned with Memory Studies. This inter-disciplinary field interests itself in how humans remember and represent that memory, be it through literature, monuments, historical works, or in their own private lives.
Healing Through Remembering
Healing through Remembering is an extensive cross-community project made up of a range of individual members holding different political perspectives working on a common goal of how to deal with the legacy of the past as it relates to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Heritage Museums and Memorialisation in Kenya
This site celebrates research on contemporary heritage developments in Kenya, with some comparative reference to South Africa.
The Historica-Dominion Institute
The Historica-Dominion Institute is a national charitable organization that was launched in September 2009 through the amalgamation of two existing organizations: The Historica Foundation of Canada and The Dominion Institute. The Historica Foundation of Canada was launched in October 1999 with a mission to help all Canadians come to know the fascinating stories that make our country unique. The Dominion Institute was formed in 1997 by a group of young professionals, concerned about the erosion of a common memory and civic identity in Canada. Using groundbreaking public opinion research and innovative TV, new media and in-school programs, the Dominion Institute helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians connect in meaningful ways with the country’s history, shared citizenship and democratic institutions and values. The Dominion Institute’s developed programs under three themes – memory, democracy and identity. Many of these programs continue at The Historica-Dominion Institute.
Historriculum
Historriculum is a gathering spot for creative pedagogy, training, curricula and experiential ed on historical dialogue, legacies, politics & exploration in the present.
Human Rights Education Institute of Burma
HREIB brings together diverse organizations documenting human rights violations in Burma. HREIB aims to create an accurate historical record of abuses committed under military rule. Through workshops, seminars, and field visits, Truth Project partners improve their documentation skills and engage in joint advocacy campaigns while also preparing for future transitional justice mechanisms, such as a truth commission and/or community-based historical memory projects.
Impunity Watch has published a Policy Brief (English, Spanish and French) that is one outcome of their ongoing research on memorialisation. The Brief is targeted at policymakers, donors and similar actors who are involved or considering being involved in memorialisation in post-conflict and/or transitional contexts. A number of Principles are contained in the document that are derived from their research, a comparative analysis of the findings and the Exchange Forum that was held in Cambodia. More info can be found here and here, plus links to the various other documents from the research project.
Imre Kertesz Kolleg Jena
The Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena Europe’s East in the 20th Century. Historical Experiences in Comparison at the Friedrich-Schiller-University is an institution of interdisciplinary and transnational research. The Kolleg’s scholars and international fellows jointly conduct research and benefit from ideal preconditions for intensive scientific labour and fruitful exchange. Due to common dialogue, a critical reassessment of ones own research, methodological approach, and scientific thesis, crucial findings in the field of Eastern European history of the 20th century are expected, thus enriching the scientific landscape. For its fellows, the Kolleg is an Institute for Advanced Studies offering an opportunity to further scientific work and to use the extraordinary potential of an international and interdisciplinary setting for scientific exchange, critical and supportive dialogue. The Kolleg actively addresses the scientific community by its manifold events and publications. It is expected to reach beyond its geographic limits by means of an interactive portal, dealing with contemporary questions concerning Eastern European cultures and histories.
Insight on Conflict
An up-to-date resource that provides information on peacebuilding organizations in current areas of conflict such as Palestine, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, etc.
Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism
The IICC/UOK (Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism) was founded in 2006. The aim of the organization is to honor the victims of Communism and to raise awareness of Communist crimes, with a special attention to the younger generations. The IICC/UOK also promotes vigilance towards other totalitarian and anti-democratic movements. The IICC/UOK publishes information materials and media, surveys, reports, and teaching materials, participates in the public debate, and organizes film screenings, seminars, hearings, media events and exhibitions related to the subject.
Institute for Studies of the Recent Past
The Institute for Studies of the Recent Past encourages and supports research of modern Bulgarian history. The Institute, relying on the achievements of modern social and humanitarian sciences, is studying the Communist regime as thoroughly as possible, not only as an ideological and political phenomenon, but also from a historical, psychological, social, and even anthropological point of view. The crimes of the regime have to be explicitly named, but its changes over the years also need to be analysed, in order to reveal the model’s hidden similarities and persistency. Through the years of its existence the Institute has initiated and implemented numerous projects and activities. With different scope and dimension they all try to provoke the institutional, educational social and individual capacity to know and understand the Communist past.
International Association for Genocide Scholars
The International Association of Genocide Scholars is a global, interdisciplinary, non-partisan organization that seeks to further research and teaching about the nature, causes, and consequences of genocide, and advance policy studies on prevention of genocide.
Interfaith Encounter Association
The Interfaith Encounter Association is dedicated to promoting peace in the Middle East through interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural study. We believe that, rather than being a cause of the problem, religion can and should be a source of the solution for conflicts that exist in the region and beyond.
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience
Founded and formerly known as the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums, this site profiles historic sites specifically dedicated to remembering past struggles for justice and addressing their contemporary legacies. The Coalition provides member sites with direct funding for civic engagement programs; organizes learning exchanges ranging from one-on-one collaborations to international conferences; and conducts strategic advocacy for sites and the Sites of Conscience movement.
Iraq History Project
The Iraq History Project (IHP) gathers and analyzes personal narratives from victims, their families, witnesses, perpetrators and others regarding human rights violations committed during Saddam Hussein’s regime. These testimonies document the experience of torture, massacres, assassinations, rape, chemical weapons attacks, disappearances, and other acts of systematic repression. The IHP’s victim-centered historical record of past violations is designed to facilitate national reconciliation, encourage the implementation of policies that assist victims of past and present violations, and help build the foundations for the defense and protection of fundamental human rights in Iraq.
Iraq Memory Foundation
In order to have a future, and to lay the foundations of justice for the future, the people of Iraq must come to terms with the atrocities perpetrated in their name during three decades of Ba’thist rule. The ultimate rationale behind the Iraq Memory Foundation (MF) is that the truth can help heal a society that has been politically and physically brutalized on a large scale. The Iraq Memory Foundation has no “higher” purpose than to place the Iraqi experience of suffering and oppression, between 1968 and 2003, in the global context of the history of pain and suffering. The MF seeks to do this by filming and archiving the individual stories of many thousands of survivors and witnesses of atrocity. The MF also seeks to digitize, index and classify the totality of the documents recovered from the outgoing regime that deal with Iraqi pain and suffering.
JusticeInfo.net
JusticeInfo.net is an independent media platform of Fondation Hirondelle, together with academic partners Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR) and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). JusticeInfo.net provides news and analysis of justice developments in transition societies, such as the work of Truth Commissions, tribunals investigating serious human rights abuses, peace and reconciliation processes.
Justice in Perspective
A website that provides updates and resources on truth commissions and “alternative forms of inquiry into the past.” This is an excellent first resource for the various truth commissions, past and present, across the globe.
Kigali Memorial Centre
The Centre contains a permanent exhibition of the Rwandan genocide and an exhibition of other genocides around the world. One of the principle reasons for the Centre’s existence is to provide educational facilities for a younger generation of Rwandan children, some of whom may not remember the genocide, but whose lives are profoundly affected by it.
Korea Chongshindae’s Institute
Since our establishment in July 1990, our voluntary research staff has been devoted to disclosing the truth about the Chongshindae, which, for half a century after the Second World War, had been neglected, and thus to bringing forth a correct understanding and appropriate solutions to the consequent problems. The Institute’s activities mainly include research on the suffering Halmoni, research on materials related to the ‘military comfort women’, education and publicity on these matters, and projects in coalition with relevant social organizations.
Las políticas de la memoria: Balance de una década de exhumaciones en España.
This project proposes an interdisciplinary, international and comparative analysis on the impact of the exhumations of mass graves from the Spanish Civil War in contemporary Spain, with the double aim of producing systematic scientific knowledge on the process fostering a deeper and critical understanding of this complex process of revisiting the traumatic past and, on the other hand, feed public debate with this scientific analysis.
Latin American Transitional Justice Network
The Rede Latino-Americana de Justiça de Transição (RLAJT) or Latin American Transitional Justice Network was established in 2011 by the Brazilian Amnesty Commission, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in cooperation with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). While still in its constitutive phase, the institution’s stated key objective is to facilitate and promote the communication and expertise in the field of transitional justice and spread knowledge about the Latin American experience. This new network may play an increasing role in the field of transitional justice studies. Its webpage provides a series of resources on transitional justice in Latin America including publications, video and audio material, and weblinks to important Latin American institutions such as truth commissions. In the future the RJLAT webpage is going to host the organization’s yearly reports.
Legacy of Hope Foundation
The Legacy of Hope Foundation is a national Aboriginal charitable organization whose purposes are to educate, raise awareness and understanding of the legacy of residential schools, including the effects and intergenerational impacts on First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and to support the ongoing healing process of Residential School Survivors. Fulfilling this mandate contributes towards reconciliation among generations of Aboriginal peoples, and between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada.
The Legacy Project
The Legacy Project offers a channel for mutual recognition across generations and geography. Through scholarly research and innovative presentation, The Legacy Project will create new — and shared — frameworks for cultural expressions of loss, drawn from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Our work will help define the language of human loss – its forms, its symbols, its grammar. Framing a dialogue in the global language of loss — among works of creative art and scholarship — is an unprecedented cultural event.
Memoria Barcelona
A multilingual website and app for smart phones that proposes 10 routes to discover historical and memorial sites of the twentieth century in Barcelona, a city that was systematically bombed during the Spanish Civil War and that lived in the streets the struggle to recover a democratic system.
Memorias Reveladas
The Centre has the objective to become a diffuser hub of information contained in the documentary records of the political struggles in Brazil in the 1960s to 1980. There, primary and secondary sources are managed and made available to the public, encouraging the realization of studies, research and reflections on the period.
The center of action promotes the strengthening of public archival institutions, turning them into spaces of citizenship.
Memoria Viva
A digital Chilean archive.
Memory & Justice Website
Run by the ICTJ, this website aims to provide “a public space to debate and discuss how to memorialize past human rights abuse so that it will never again occur.” Discussions include topics such as “Do multiple narratives enhance or hinder a memorial’s meaning?” and “Should a site’s original elements be preserved at all costs?” See the resources section for links to relevant articles and websites.
Memory at War
This blog is part of the transnational and transdisciplinary project Memory at War: Cultural Dynamics in Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. The blog seeks to serve as an interactive site for students and scholars across disciplines who are interested in ‘controversies of memory’ and the cultural practices of mourning and commemoration in Eastern Europe.
Memorial Museums Database
This website provides a comprehensive list of institutions, memorials and museums dedicated to the commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust. It is maintained by the Topography of Terror Foundation. For a German version of the site, see www.gedenkstaetten-uebersicht.de
The Memory Network
The Memory Network is an interdisciplinary research network with ties to Columbia University’s Memory in Global Context project. The Memory Network is a multi-disciplinary enterprise that brings together scientists, researchers, authors and artists, and organisations to provoke and fuel original thinking about memory in the twenty-first century.
The Nanjing Atrocities: Crimes of War
This month marks the anniversary of the 1937 invasion of China by the Japanese Imperial Army, leading to a brutal period of rape, torture, and murder. “The Nanjing Atrocities: Crimes of War” is a Facing History resource book and online media collection that introduces this chapter in 20th century history often not well known in the West, and provides context for educators in countries outside of China to teach the history of World War II within the Asia-Pacific landscape.
Narratives of Memory
Narratives of Memory is a project based at the National University of the Littoral and generated by a group of teachers, graduates, and students of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences.
Network of Concerned Historians
The Network of Concerned Historians wants to provide a bridge between international human rights organizations campaigning for censored or persecuted historians (and others concerned with the past) and the global community of historians.
New Exhibit at University of Hartford Museum: “Genocide: Israel Charney and The Scourge Of The Twentieth Century”
The University of Hartford’s Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies presents Genocide: Israel Charny and the Scourge of the Twentieth Century as the first of what the Greenberg Center hopes will be a series of exhibitions that will challenge the public to examine what genocide is, why it happens, and perhaps help us to prevent genocide before it starts.
Nuhanovic Foundation, Center for War Reparations
http://www.nuhanovicfoundation.org/en/country-situations/
Northeast Asian History Foundation
The Northeast Asian History Foundation was founded with the goal of establishing a basis for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia by confronting distortions of history that have caused considerable anguish in this region and the world at large, and developing a correct understanding of history through comprehensive long-term research and systematic and strategic policy development.
Omid: a Memorial in Defense of Human Rights
Omid: a Memorial in Defense of Human Rights is an electronic database of human rights violations in Iran. The Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the Islamic Republic since it was established in 1979. Omid’s ultimate goal however is to be an impartial historical record that includes victims of human rights violations since December 10, 1948…Omid also bears witness to the close connection between the disregard for human rights and political violence. Founded on the persecution of its citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran has predictably few qualms about using violence as a component of its foreign policy. By commemorating its victims regardless of their nationality, Omid testifies to this reality.
Palestine Remembered
This online project is a collection of oral history, photographs and maps of the Nakba.
Political Apologies Archive
Announcing the web publication of an archive of political apologies that have occurred throughout history, now available on the AHDA website.
Program on History, Memory, and Conflict
The Program on History, Memory, and Conflict is based at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. It engages in research, education, and practice concerning production and reproduction of history and memory in conflicts and post-conflict societies. The aim of the Program is to analyze the main mechanisms, stakeholders, and media through which history education is created, disseminated and impacts society and to identify possible models and develop programs for conflict resolution, democracy building, and restoration of justice.
Online Encyclopaedia of Mass Violence
A peer-reviewed online resource documenting acts of mass violence from different regions and different periods in history. See the sections “Scholarly Reviews” and “Theoretical Papers” for overviews of theoretical and methodological developments in this area of study.
Open Democracy Russia
Open Democracy Russia publishes high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. openDemocracy is committed to human rights and democracy. We aim to ensure that marginalised views and voices are heard. We believe facilitating argument and understanding across geographical boundaries is vital to preventing injustice.
Peace and Collaborative Development Network
This is an excellent networking site which intends to “foster dialogue and sharing of resources in international development, conflict resolution, gender mainstreaming, human rights, social entrepreneurship and related fields.” Because it has over 15,980 members, this site is always updated. Noteworthy sections include the site’s blog network and the forums section. See, in particular, the “Scholarship, Fellowship Opportunities and Academic Programs.
Peacebuilding, Healing, and Reconciliation Program
Objectives: To increase the knowledge and awareness of the root causes, reality and results of violent conflicts in Africa; to serve as a resource for training on mediation for those seeking to work in peacebuilding, healing and reconciliation in Africa; to establish sustainable networks with organizations in the field of reconciliation, non-violent conflict transformation and organizational development; to conduct research on issues related to peace and transformation of individuals and communities; to produce peace, healing and reconciliation materials.
Prosecuting Conflict-related Sexual Violence Network
Building an effective and supportive global network of practitioners for prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence crimes.
Reconciliation Australia
Reconciliation Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that was established in 2000 by the former Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. We are the peak national organisation building and promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians for the wellbeing of the nation.
Red Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de Historia Recente
The aim of the Interdisciplinary Net of Recent History Studies is to contribute towards the consolidation of a collective space for the interdisciplinary exchange between the local researchers, as well as the researchers from neighbor countries, who had been through similar traumatic political processes in the last decades. The Net is meant to exchange ideas, to discuss common problems and possible answers to them.
Refugee Research Network
A network created for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers interested in refugee and forced migration issues. The network is not just designed to generate information, but to facilitate the ties among researchers through the creation of a “virtual research community.” This network has a particularly strong educational component. See the education tab for links to recommended undergraduate programs, Masters Programs, and PhD programs focusing on refugee issues. You may also want to participate in the various short online courses run by the network.
Remember: Keep Alive the Past Memory for the Future
The purpose of the Remember project consists in creating the framework for integrating and accumulating new pieces of knowledge upon the events that took place during the period 1944-64 throughout Eastern Europe, when fundamental, democratic and traditional values had been destroyed in the context of the Stalinist occupation and of the imposition of the Communist dictatorship. The submitted events aim at imparting and at exchanging experience with respect to the modalities of remembering this dark side of history as support for building a new profile of active citizen of Europe.
Reparative Justice in Kenya: Building blocks for a victim-centered framework
National Dialogue, Healing and Reconciliation in Kenya
Promoting National Cohesion and Reconciliation in Kenya Policy Briefs from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (South Africa).
Research Cluster on Peace, Memory and Cultural Heritage
The Research Cluster on Peace, Memory and Cultural Heritage is a group of critical peace&conflict researchers united by an interest in the nexus of peacebuilding, the politics of memory and cultural heritage.
Research Network on Transnational Memory and Identity in Europe
The Research Network on Transnational Memory and Identity in Europe brings together scholars who analyse transnational politics and policies of memory, processes of memory entrepreneurship, cultures of remembrance and identity construction in the context of European integration. Our aim is to foster exchange between scholars from different disciplines who are working on related subjects – including heritage, public history, political culture, communication, trauma, migration, diversity, religion – and who use memory and identity as the baseline of their research. We want to strengthen research that is cutting-edge and interdisciplinary in nature, approaching memory and identity issues from different perspectives in the social sciences and the humanities (history, sociology, political science, psychology, law, anthropology, cultural studies, literary studies and more).
Robben Island Museum
Robben Island Museum operates as a site and living museum. It aims to develop the Island as a national and international heritage and conservation institution. In managing its resources and activities, RIM will strive to maintain the unique and universal symbolism of the Island, nurture creativity and innovation as well as to contribute to the socio-economic development and transformation of the South African society and enrich humanity.
S-KESKUS
S-KESKUS is a non-profit association aiming at developing the academic as well as popular research of the recent history of Estonia creating for its members favourable conditions for launching, carrying out, and maintaining recent history research projects, publishing the findings and source materials, arranging scientific symposiums, conferences, and seminars, co-operating with research organzations of similar nature in Estonia and abroad, publishing materials about the activities of the association. Under Estonian recent history we mean the periods of German and Soviet occupation, i. e. years 1940 – 91. This field, so far having been sporadically and insufficiently studied, should become one of the priorities of our historical science in the coming years. Eventually we should get a complete picture of the Nazi and Soviet occupations in Estonia. Such knowledge would be of interest for comparison for scientists from other countries having undergone the same kind of historical conditions. The fragile democratic political systems of Eastern Europe are rather unprotected against the possibility of the totalitarian deformities to repeat themselves.
Shikaya
Facing the Past –Transforming our Future is Shikaya’s core project in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department and Facing History and Ourselves. Since 2003 the project has been supporting teachers to develop a culture in schools whereby young people learn to become active, tolerant and responsible democratic citizens who value diversity, human rights and peace. Facing the Past – Transforming our Future uses the case studies of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and apartheid South Africa to help young people connect the past to the moral and ethical decisions they make today.
Study Center for National Reconciliation
The Study Centre for National Reconciliation examines recent Slovenian history with an emphasis on the study of all three totalitarian systems present in the Slovenian territory: Fascism, Nazism and Communism. We collect and study documents, stories and memories from witnesses of that time; publish research and collected testimonies; organise consultations and discussions on the topic of Slovenian history in the 20th century; are involved in educational process and establish connections with related institutions from Europe and all over the world. With our research and operation, we try to increase the understanding of recent historical events which have marked Slovenian people and highlight not yet explored and often secretive topics.
http://scholarsoneasterncongo.wordpress.com
On the situation in Eastern Congo
Taiwan Education and Research Program
The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 at George Washington University to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The need for more focused and advanced study of Taiwan arises from Taiwan’s unique international position and internal development. Taiwan’s troubled relationship with the People’s Republic of China remains a key issue affecting the foreign policy of the United States and creates broader security concerns for the entire Asia-Pacific region.
Through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE
A bulletin published by the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, Serbia. Youth for Peace and Peace Institute of Cambodia presents a Joint NGO Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee: Shared Histories for a Europe without Dividing Lines: New interactive e-book by the Council of Europe. For information regarding the interactive e-book, please visit: http://www.coe.int
The Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
The Tomaquag Museum is Rhode Island’s only museum entirely dedicated to telling the story of the state’s original inhabitants, and the only museum operated by Native people over the last 52 years. Our Mission is to educate the public regarding native history and culture of the past and connect to Native issues of today through our exhibits, programs, classes, and ceremonies that bring understanding and collaboration between the Indigenous people of our area and the public at large. We want to encourage thoughtful dialogue regarding Native history, current issues in Native America as well as regarding the Arts and Mother Earth.
Transition and Justice in Egypt and Tunisia
A new website looking at issues of transition and justice in Egypt and Tunisia.
Transitional Justice Database Project
A global data base of over 900 mechanisms (trials, truth commissions, amnesties, reparations, and lustration policies) used from 1970-2007. The main task of the project is to better understand how these mechanisms are used and whether they work, with the ultimate goal of improving policy.
Transitional Justice in Brazil
“Transitional Justice in Brazil” is a blog supported by the CELT program at Tulane University and administered by Professors Rebecca Atencio and Nina Schneider and Tulane undergraduates Allison Fisher, Engram Wilkinson, and Robyn Smith.
The Trial of Efrain Rios Montt & Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez. A project of the Open Society Justice Initiative, this website is a collaborative effort to provide reporting and analysis of the trial of José Efrain Rios Montt, the former Guatemalan president, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has a mandate to learn the truth about what happened in the residential schools and to inform all Canadians about what happened in the schools. The Commission will document the truth of what happened by relying on records held by those who operated and funded the schools, testimony from officials of the institutions that operated the schools, and experiences reported by survivors, their families, communities and anyone personally affected by the residential school experience and its subsequent impacts.
UMAM Research and Documentation: Lebanese Association for Cultural and Artistic Exchange
Founded in 2004 UMAM R&D is a Lebanese NGO guided by the belief that acknowledging Lebanon’s relatively recent past requires that important evidence and artifacts of its history be carefully collected, protected, and promoted to the public. UMAM produces publications, exhibitions as well as films that document and analyze the history of conflicts and how Lebanese society is dealing with it. UMAM raises awareness that “Closing the files” is the wrong approach for sustainable peace in Lebanon, but that the country urgently must deal with its history of violence.
Union of Armenian History Educators
Activities: Working meeting of the historians and civic actors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia; meetings with historians from the Armenian regions; international conferences, seminars and roundtables. Aims: civil society development in Armenia; improvement of history education in Armenia; breaking stereotypes of enemies between Armenia and Azerbaijan through the cooperation of historians and civic actors; cooperation with young Armenian historians. The Union works under the umbrella of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation.
Unitas Foundation
The mission of the Unitas Foundation is to build reconciliation within and between societies divided by totalitarianism. While the foundation opposes totalitarianism regardless of time and place, it mainly focuses on the investigation and disclosure of crimes committed by Communist regimes. Awareness of the world’s Communist legacy will ensure that people regardless of their origin will understand Communism with all its implications. This helps to avoid such mistakes in the future and aids nations that suffered from Communist crimes in coming to terms with their past.
University and Community Action for Racial Equality
Recognizing that apology is made meaningful through action, the University and Community Action for Racial Equity (UCARE) formed in 2007. Our goal is first, to understand the role that the University played in administrative, faculty and student support for slavery and racial segregation and discrimination; second, to understand the legacy of that role and its impact on present day racial disparities on and off grounds; and third, to find ways to address and repair that legacy. One essential element of our work is helping the University community and adjacent communities come together to define the actions that will lead toward repair and reconciliation.Recognizing that apology is made meaningful through action, the University and Community Action for Racial Equity (UCARE) formed in 2007. Our goal is first, to understand the role that the University played in administrative, faculty and student support for slavery and racial segregation and discrimination; second, to understand the legacy of that role and its impact on present day racial disparities on and off grounds; and third, to find ways to address and repair that legacy. One essential element of our work is helping the University community and adjacent communities come together to define the actions that will lead toward repair and reconciliation.
US- Japan Dialogue on POWs
During World War II, some 27,000 American soldiers were captured by the Japanese military, and of those over 11,000 died during their captivity due to inhumane treatment, executions, starvation and diseases. Of the nearly 14,000 American civilians interned by the Japanese military about 1,500 died as well. Many of them were sent to Japan and forced to work for private Japanese companies as slave laborers. Yet, their history is not well known in Japan or even in the United States. Neither has there been much dialogue between the two countries on this topic. Our goal is to make this bilingual website an effective means of communication and education to promote understanding and dialogue among and between the people of Japan and the United States on the history of American POWs of the Japanese during WWII. We hope that by learning together we will remember and honor the sacrifice made by these people.
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) supports research, education, and programs in the humanities to assist individuals and communities to understand the past and its influence, to question and resolve issues in the present, and to shape a future committed to the common good.
Wiener TAU Archive Online – Supported by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
The “Online Wiener Archive” is the digitization project of Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust at Tel Aviv University, Supported by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The project provides the public with online access to thousands of documents kept in the library’s archive. This documentation, collected by Dr. Alfred Wiener and his team before, during and after the Second World War and the Holocaust, includes official correspondences of the Nazi authorities in the 1930s and 1940s; official records from concentration camps; official records of Jewish organizations; personal letters which shed light on the condition of the Jews in occupied Europe and more. The material uploaded so far includes, for example, documents from Buchenwald concentration camp; witness accounts collected from Jews who came to Vilna from occupied Poland; information about the attempts of Jews to emigrate from Germany; about Jewish migration from Europe to the Far East; about rescue attempts and about antisemitism in Europe after the war. For more information, please visit https://en-cenlib.tau.ac.il/
Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace
The Women’s Active Museum of War and Peace (WAM) is a place where the reality of war crimes is recorded and kept for posterity. We come here to remember historical facts about “comfort women,” and to listen to their stories. And we raise our voices and say, “Never Again, anywhere in the world.” WAM seeks to achieve five main objectives: 1) focus on wartime violence with the objective of upholding that justice free from any gender bias shall be universally applied; 2) gather and exhibit data on individual victims, clarifying who is to take responsibility for such victimization; 3) create a pro-active people’s network to enable a world free of all forms of violence; 4) consolidate such network that would not depend on any state power; and 5) take action to enable cross-border solidarity.
Yuyarisun
Yuyarisun is an archive of testimonies from peasants of Ayacucho and Huancavelica, Perú, which reports on the political violence that Peruvians experienced during the last two decades.
Zochrot
Zochrot [“Remembering”] is a group of Israeli citizens working to raise awareness of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948. Zochrot works to make the history of the Nakba accessible to the Israeli public so as to engage Jews and Palestinians in an open recounting of our painful common history. The organizations believes that by bringing the Nakba into Hebrew, the language spoken by the Jewish majority in Israel, it can make a qualitative change in the political discourse of this region. Zochrot produces publications and exhibition, organizes guided tours through Israel/Palestine and does advocacy. Zochrot follows the principle that acknowledging the past is the first step in taking responsibility for its consequences.
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