WASHINGTON and PRAGUE, Oct. 31,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Czech leaders will honor Russian
political prisoners at an international gala and conference being
held on November 12-14 at the
historic Palace Lichtenštejn in Prague to mark the 35th anniversary of the
collapse of communism in Europe.
Oleg Orlov, co-chair of
the Russian human rights group Memorial, will receive the
"Resistance and Solidarity Award" of The Remembrance Society (TRS)
on behalf of the more than 700 political prisoners currently held
in Russia, at a gala dinner
ceremony on November 13 at the
Lobkowicz Palace. The dinner will also feature remarks by Lech
Wałęsa, former President of Poland and Solidarity leader, Kamila Bendova, widow of Charter 77 leader
Václav Benda.
The three-day event will explore the continuing influence of
totalitarian ideologies and feature panel discussions by leading
experts, scholars, journalists, and public officials on themes such
as reckoning with the communist past, the politics of memory, legal
continuity after 1989, and education on totalitarian crimes.
"We must preserve the physical and narrational traces of what
happened under communism and pass them on to future generations,"
said Ambassador Martin
Palouš, TRS Founding Trustee and Director of
International Cooperation. "We must listen attentively to the
almost inaudible voices of the weak, the downtrodden, and those who
were victimized and did not manage to escape."
The announcement of the award laureate coincides with the
International Day of Political Prisoners, a commemoration observed
in Russia since 1991 and rooted in
dissident movements stretching back to 1974 under the Soviet Union.
"The truth that those who cannot remember the past are doomed to
relive it seems more important than ever as today's
information-overloaded society buries the vital lessons history,"
said TRS Founding Chairman and former US Congressman
Don Ritter. "The Remembrance
Society counters this trend by telling and communicating compelling
stories of past experience that powerfully impact both present and
future."
The conference and gala are organized by The Remembrance
Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people
about the crimes and present dangers of totalitarianism, in
cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian
Regimes, the Vaclav Havel Library, the Casla Institute, and Post
Bellum.
Other notable speakers will include Martin Dvořák, Czech
Minister for European Affairs, Edward
Lucas, former senior editor at The Economist,
Jan Špringl, Head of Education at the Terezín Memorial,
Igor Lukeš, professor of history at Boston University, and David Satter, Vice Chairman of The
Remembrance Society.
"Educating people about the crimes of totalitarian regimes is
the only way to prevent the horrors of the 20th century
from being repeated," said TRS Founding Executive Director and
Trustee Kristina Olney. "The
fight for human freedom against totalitarian oppression is still
being waged every day, and on this International Day of Political
Prisoners we stand in solidarity with the 700+ individuals
imprisoned today in Putin's Russia
and urge the international community to demand their immediate
release."
Please direct any media inquiries to info@remembrancesociety.org
or (202) 355-9422.
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SOURCE The Remembrance Society