On the eve of Russia’s Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression, people around the world commemorate the names and stories of those who lost their lives to Soviet terror. Among the millions of victims of Soviet state terror were thousands of Czechs and Czechoslovak citizens. By reading their names together, we honour their memory.
Our director Rostislav Valvoda took part in Returning the Names commemoration, honouring the victims of Soviet state terror. The event took place at the Memorial to the Victims of Communism at Prague’s Újezd. Every 29 October, on the eve of Russia’s Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression, people around the world read the names and stories of those who lost their lives to Soviet terror.
The Returning the Names event has been held annually for more than 15 years, originally initated by Memorial Society. It started in Moscow at the Solovetsky Stone in Lubyanka, headquarters of the FSB, and gradually spread to various cities in Russia and around the world. It serves as a living act of memory as well as one of the few remaining safe ways for people in Russia to show resistance. The organisation Gulag.cz organised the first Czech edition of Returning the names in 2017.
Apart from the event in Prague, we also took part in their video project (below).
We’re glad that the Prague Civil Society Centre could take part in this important initiative and we thank Gulag.cz for organising it.