'We were advised by our authorities to turn down this prize because they deemed co-laureates inappropriate,' EnMemorial's Yan Rachinsky says of the NobelPrize. 'Naturally, we did not take notice of this advice.'
"Memorial has two equally important main areas of work," RachinskySaturday during a speech in Oslo."The first is the establishment of historical memory about the period in our history known as the time of the 'Great Terror' carried out by the Soviet state against its people."
"Second, Memorial fights for human rights in the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union," he noted."This includes the gathering, analysis, and publication of information about violations of human rights in areas considered 'hot spots' of conflict." The decision to honor Memorial during the war generated some controversy—which Rachinsky addressed. According to him,"The question that troubles us: Did Memorial really deserve to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?"
"Yes, we have tried to resist the erosion of historical memory and legal consciousness by documenting crimes of both the past and the present. Modesty aside, we have done a lot and accomplished more than a little. But did our work prevent the catastrophe of 24 February?" he continued."The monstrous burden that fell on our shoulders that day became heavier after we received the news that the prize had been awarded to us.
"Memorial is precisely a union of people who voluntarily assume civic responsibility for the past and present and work for the future," he said."And maybe we should take this award not only as an assessment of what we have managed to do in 35 years, but also as a kind of advance on what we aim to do, because we are not giving up and we continue to work."
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