HUMAN RIGHTS TALK: "Erasing the memory of Stalin’s repression – Human rights, power politics and historical narratives"

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Info

Date and Time: Thursday, 23 October 2025, 6:00 p.m., admission from 5:30 p.m.

Venue: University of Graz, Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz

Language: English

The ‘Great Terror’ marks an era characterised by mass repression and systematic persecution of ‘enemies of the people’ in the Soviet Union, which reached its peak between 1936 and 1938. During this period alone, around 1.5 million people were arrested. About half were shot, while the rest were deported to the GULAGs – concentration and penal camps – or imprisoned in jails. Despite the enormous scale of the repression, there has been no systematic attempt by the Russian state to commemorate the victims and establish historical justice. The Great Terror left a collective trauma among those affected, their descendants and civil society; human rights organisations are still dealing with its repercussions today.

What responsibility does the state bear for preserving historical memory, and what happens when this memory is erased instead? How have mass repression and the changing collective perception of these events influenced the development of human rights movements and civil society in the Soviet Union and in modern-day Russia? What connections can be drawn to Russia's overall political course, especially with regard to cases of ‘selective memory loss’ as part of modern anti-Western propaganda? Last but not least, it is also worth looking beyond Russia's borders: What are the lasting effects of Soviet-era mass repression at the international level? And can similar trends be observed in other parts of the world? High-profile experts will discuss the historical and contemporary effects of political repression in the Soviet Union on civil society and human rights.

Welcome Notes

• Barbara STELZL-MARX, Director, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War; Professor of Contemporary History, University of Graz

• Michael Lysander FREMUTH, Scientific Director, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights; Professor of Fundamental and Human Rights, University of Vienna

• Joachim REIDL, Vice-rector, Universität Graz

• Elvira WELZIG, Managing Director, Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft

Keynote

• Nikita PETROV, Vice Chairman, Research and Information Centre Memorial

Panel Discussion

• Anna GRAF-STEINER, Post-Doc, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War

• Pavel KOGAN, Member, Memorial's Friends in Austria, Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre

• Sofiya LIPENKOVA, Project Manager, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights

• Nikita PETROV, Vice Chairman, Research and Information Centre Memorial

• Anatoly RESHETNIKOV, Assistant Professor, Webster Vienna Private University

Audience Discussion

Chair

• Wolfgang MUELLER, Deputy Head, Department of East European History, University of Vienna

Followed by: Reception

Participation is free of charge. We kindly ask you to register by Monday, 20 October. Please note that admission is not possible without registration.

For security reasons, bag checks will be carried out before the event begins. We therefore ask you to take advantage of early admission from 5:30 p.m.

We would also like to inform you that photos and videos will be taken on site. For information about data protection, please click here: LBG Data Protection

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