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Institute Director Žáček becomes founding member of the International Learned Committee of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory

Prague/Tallinn, December 2009 – On the invitation of President of the Republic of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes Director Pavel Žáček has become a founding member of the International Learned Committee of the recently established Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. Director Žáček travelled to Tallinn on December 7 to participate in the Learned Committee’s inaugural meeting, which took place in the office of the Estonian President the following day. Žáček and the other founding members also toured the Estonian Museum of the Occupations, guided by Museum director Heiki Ahonen. The visitors’ program was organized in the name of the Estonian President by Mr. Toomas Hiio, Executive Secretary of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.

The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory (EIHM) was established in 2008 to provide the citizens of Estonia with an as unbiased as possible account of the status of human rights during the Soviet occupation period in Estonia. The Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, which investigated crimes against humanity committed in Estonia, completed its mission in 2008 with the publication of its second collection of findings. The EIHM picks up where that Commission left off, cataloguing and investigating human rights violations in the Soviet period which do not fall under the legal definition of crimes against humanity.

The work of the EIHM is supervised by an international committee of experts with broad experience in the history of Europe, human rights and political repressions. The International Committee (advisory board) approves research topics and procedures and makes final decisions regarding approval of research grants, meeting formally twice a year to discuss progress. Further founding members include Enrique Baron Crespo (Spain), researcher of law and economics and former President of the European Parliament from 1989-1992; Timothy Garton Ash (United Kingdom), Professor of European Studies at Oxford University; Nicholas Lane (U.S.A.), former Vice President of the American Jewish Committee and Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations; and Markus Meckel (Germany), religious scientist and politician and member of the German Bundestag 1990-2009.