"When justice does not succeed in being a form of memory, memory itself can be a form of justice" Ana Blandiana

The Memorial of the Victims of Communism

The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance was initiated in 1992 by the President of the Civic Alliance, Ana Blandiana, together with Romulus Rusan and an important group of historians, architects and designers. In January 1993, Ana Blandiana handed over the project of the Memorial to the Council of Europe. After two delegations of experts visited Sighet, the Council of Europe drew up a report-study in 1995 and took the Memorial under its aegis. In 1998, The Council of Europe designated the Sighet Memorial as one of the main memorial sites of the continent, alongside the Auschwitz Museum and the Peace Memorial in Normandy. Made up of a Museum - situated in the former political prison in Sighet - and an International Center for Studies about Communism - with its headquarters in Bucharest - The Memorial aims to rebuild the memory of certain nations, particularly the Romanians, who for half of a century have been misled with a false history. Although it is located a long way from Bucharest, in the extreme north of Romania, the Sighet memorial is geographically in the centre of Europe, and is an important cultural tourist objective, visited both by Romanians and also by many foreign travellers.   » Compendium for the Trial of Communism, 1993-2000 Stephane Courtois: Memorialul crimelor comunismului » Announcements THE TAKE AWAY MUSEUM, May 30, 2008 THE TAKE AWAY MUSEUM is the 3D virtual version of the Sighet Memorial [...] » News and events Press review: Ziua - “The Hour of History” and the Communist Terror, October 10, 2008 Very many of my fellow citizens are reticent in discussing the horrors of communism during the period 1945-1989, brought at first by Soviet [...]

» Short history of the building of Sighet prison » Short history of the Memorial Museum » Structures of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Resistance » Financial support » News and events » Photo Gallery » Tell a friend » How to get to the Memorial Museum from Sighet » Opening hours

» Museum » Ground Floor Room 10 The Communist Assault on Maramures. Case study: Ilie Lazar In the winter of 1944, Maramures was liberated from foreign occupation by the Romanian and Soviet armies, but the territory was not returned to Romania. With the tacit support of the Soviet garrison, a group of local communist activists attempted to annex the territory to Ukraine. A march by peasants from Borsa and other Maramures villages (15,000 participants) thwarted this plan, obliging the (Soviet) [...]

» Museum » 1st Floor Room 38 Dignitaries' Room A room especially dedicated to the political elite who were eradicated at Sighet. In April 1950 the regional branches of the Securitate drew up lists of all who had played a role in the political life of the country prior to communism. The lists were then sent to the central authorities in Bucharest. A national list of all was drawn up, with the instruction that they should be arrested. The note [...]

» Museum » 2nd Floor Room 68 "Black" As on the First Floor, the punishment cell has been reconstructed. Here in Sighet, as in other prisons, inmates regarded as recalcitrant were held in conditions of total darkness. [...]

International Center for Studies about Communism The Museum, which is often confused with the Memorial was created by the International Center for Studies on Communism which was actually its forerunner and continues to function, feeding it with new data, documents and acquisitions. Created in 1993 by Ana Blandiana and Romulus Rusan, always short of funds and personnel, the Centre succeeded in producing the projects of rehabilitation and endowment of the museum, and the data bank necessary to fill it with a realistic and credible contents. It was structured in several departments whose activity will be described below. It was concerned to employ skilled researchers, many from the younger generation, even if it would have preferred to emply more.. It stimulated debate on important subjects, on unexplored fields, through symposia, seminars, workshops and round tables.   » Oral History Department » Editorial department » Archive » The research department » The department for exhibitions » An Information Point of the Council of Europe at Sighet » The Scientific Board » Symposiums » Debates and round tables » Summer School » Compendium for the Trial of Communism, 1993-2000 » Census of the prison camp population in Romania, 1945-1989 » Sighet Library From Iasi to Geneve, from the Bahlui to the Leman: memories Published: 2000 Pages: 177 Price: 5.00 € The journalist Nicoleta Franck recalls a series of events from her life, starting in her native Iasi, then Bucharest marked by the Soviet occupation and [...] » Documents The Collectivisation in Maramuers. Documents (1949-1962) Published: 2004 Pages: 460 Price: 7.00 € The archive documents about the transfer of agricultural property to state control in Maramures [...] » Oral History The School of Memory 2006 Published: 2007 Pages: 600 Price: 15.00 € Lectures given by leading intellectuals and significant figures who passed on their experience, ideals and hopes to the young people who attended the [...] » DVD Take Away Museum Published: 2007 Price: 14.00 € The virtual version of the Sighet Memorial Minimum requirments: Operating System: Windows XP Processor: Pentium 1.8 GHz or similar RAM Memory: 512 [...]

The Civic Academy Foundation The Civic Academy Foundation was set up at 21 April 1994. Among its goals are civic education, youth education, a good knowledge of the country's past and to this purpose, the restoration of Romania's contemporary history falsified during the years of communist dictatorship. The main project is the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance from Sighet..   » Steering Committee of Civic Academy Foundation » Contact

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