Memory of Nations

Memory of Nations We collect witnesses´ memories about the historical events of the 20th century. You can find our work at www.memoryofnations.eu.

16/12/2025

Czech NGOs visited their Ukrainian counterparts in Kyiv for regular consultations that are meant to continue every year, alternating between the two capitals.

The war interrupted this tradition: the last trip to Kyiv was in 2021. But now, despite the lack of flights, power outages, and regular attacks, the Czech delegation made the journey again.

One of the key topics was memory and history, and Memory of Nations was there too. “Ukrainians are showing us how crucial the manipulation of collective memory is to Russia’s hybrid war,” says Jan Blažek from Memory of Nations. “We have a lot to learn from them.”

15/12/2025

“I wake up and think of my sister.” She disappeared in a Chinese concentration camp. Forty years since the Uyghur protest.

In the Eastern Bloc, one of the first manifestations of the desire for change was the protest by Uyghur students on December 12, 1985, who spoke out against the Chinese occupation. Forty years ago, Rushan Abbas was one of the leaders of this protest. Today, she is rallying the world against the genocide that the Chinese are committing against her people.

Rushan Abbas, on December 12, 1985, with a small circle of friends organized a massive student protest for the freedom and rights of the Uyghur people, and she also helped with the 1988 protest. These were among the first manifestations of the student movement for democracy in the entire Eastern Bloc. In 1989, Rushan left to study in the US, where the news of the massacres in Beijing‘s Tiananmen Square reached her. She remained in America, worked as the first reporter for Radio Free Asia‘s Uyghur service, and in 2002 she interpreted for Uyghurs who had been unjustly imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The next couple of years she spent campaigning for their release and resettlement in safe countries.

When the Chinese government launched a genocide against the Uyghur people in 2017, Rushan Abbas made it her duty to inform the world, because „silence is the oxygen of dictators.“

In 2018, her sister Gulshan also ended up in a Chinese concentration camp, and Rushan has been fighting tirelessly for her freedom ever since. Rushan Abbas is the executive director of Campaing for Uyghurs.

This interview was made possible thanks to our cooperation with the Forum 2000 Foundation.

13/12/2025

Pedro Urruchurtu’s checlist of this December 31, 2025, recorded during an interview with in Prague at the beginning of October.

María Corina in Oslo. ✔️
The Nobel Peace Prize received in person. ✔️
Venezuela represented by a democratic transitional government.
Edmundo González Urrutia in office, legitimately.
Political prisoners free.
Families reunited in Venezuela.
That long-awaited New Year’s Eve hug, at home.

Some boxes are already checked.
The rest feels more possible than ever before.

26/11/2025

Desent Sleep & Inspiring Journey

🇺🇦Elina Novokhatska from Ukraine found her moment of peace in the Czech Republic. Invited by Memory of Nations she spent several days traveling around the country. 🇨🇿

In six cities - Pardubice, Olomouc, Brno, České Budějovice, Prague, and Liberec - the documentary “Rooted”, highlighting the minorities living in Ukraine, captivated audience and started meaningful conversations.

Join us in spreading the power of stories! 🎥♥️

🌏Important moments in Lviv🇺🇦Jan Blažek from the Memory of Nations team participated in a conference where he shared his ...
26/11/2025

🌏Important moments in Lviv🇺🇦

Jan Blažek from the Memory of Nations team participated in a conference where he shared his insights on comic books and international exhibitions. 📚His passion for storytelling brings history to life in unique way.

Stay tuned for more updates on our journey to preserve and share memories. 💬

“I have a memory of the first day when we were obliged to wear the yellow Star of David on our coats. My friend Raja and...
19/10/2025

“I have a memory of the first day when we were obliged to wear the yellow Star of David on our coats. My friend Raja and I took a tram. We were still allowed to take the tram back then but only if standing on the rear platform. I was worried about what would people tell us and how did we look being labelled this way. One of the gentlemen in the tram looked at us and then said loudly so that everyone would hear: ‘These are two princesses wearing a golden star.’ And people began to smile. This first day helped us a lot. It was very helpful that instead of ignoring or harassing us people were smiling at us.”

With a deep sorrow, we must announce the yesterday’s passing of Mrs. Dita Krausová, witness of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Her testimony forms part of the Memory of Nations archive, as a forever memory of what shall never happen again. See the link in the comments.

On 20 November 1942, Dita and her parents left Prague for the Terezín ghetto. On 18 December 1943, she and her parents were assigned to the second transport and deported to the family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. There she worked in the children’s block set up by Fredy Hirsch. In June 1944 she and her mother passed the selection and were transferred to Hamburg, while her father died in Auschwitz.

At the beginning of April 1945, following the camp evacuation, she and her mother were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen camp where they were liberated by the end of the month. Dita fell ill with typhus but recovered, but her mother died in June 1945. The sixteen-year-old Dita returned to Prague on 1 July 1945, as one of the only three family survivors. She had then met Ota B. Kraus, also a Terezín and Auschwitz survivor, and married him in 1947.

Following the expropriation of a factory which was returned to her husband in restitution, the newly-weds with their six-month-old son decided to emigrate to Israel in 1949. Dita Krausová lived in Israel but often visited the Czech Republic. Her life story inspired Antonio Iturbe’s book The Auschwitz Librarian. She died on October 18, 2025.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Krausová. We will never forget.

For the Spanish speaking, we are proud to share a newly released article by DIARIO DE CUBA about our activities with the...
17/10/2025

For the Spanish speaking, we are proud to share a newly released article by DIARIO DE CUBA about our activities with the Cuban dissidents and human rights activists, now in the Spanish exile diaspora. 💙

Which is your favourite Forum quote? The Forum2000 conference is over and all the participants headed home - meaning the...
16/10/2025

Which is your favourite Forum quote?

The Forum2000 conference is over and all the participants headed home - meaning their homelands or the exile where they reside actually.

What we could possibly take from all the amazing panels filled with specialists in their fields, their deep thoughts, and fruitful debates?

Well, we could say that the world is in a worse stage than ever before. A situation which is unbearable. A moment of the existence of the humanity when we don't understand how there might exist such an amount of evil.

Or we decide to not stick to the other side. To the side which comes with hope, future and desire of change. "Facing the odds", as claimed this year's Forum2000 motto. More accurate it couldn't be.

Today, we were summarizing our thoughts from the Forum conference. We leave you just a couple of them for inspiration.

💙 "When you have trust in information, the Russian propaganda can't make you any noise." -David Colon

❤ "The freedom of speech is not a freedom of reach." -Monika Ladmanová

🧡 "Women's rights and women's policy is not a women's issue. It's an issue of democracy." -Vesna Pusić

Which one is your favourite?

Honored to share that our exhibition “Memory of the Cuban Nation” is currently to be seen at the Forum2000 annual confer...
14/10/2025

Honored to share that our exhibition “Memory of the Cuban Nation” is currently to be seen at the Forum2000 annual conference in Prague.

Presented by Memory of Nations, the showcase brings together a mosaic of 250+ life stories from Cuba’s recent history—testimonies we often had to smuggle out of the island under dramatic circumstances to preserve a truthful record of life under a totalitarian regime unchanged since 1959.

Through voices like Ileana Puig, Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh y Dueñas, Francisco Herodes Díaz Echemendía, Vladimiro Roca Antúnez, Eduardo Zayas-Bazán, and Sirley Ávila León, this small, but expressive exhibition captures decades of courage, sacrifice, and the everyday cost of repression—so visitors can meet the people behind the headlines and understand why their memories matter now.

Created in cooperation with Florida International University and supported by the Transformation Cooperation Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. It’s an honor to present this work at Forum 2000—come by, reflect, and help keep these stories alive.

12/10/2025

Another sneak peek into today’s interviews with speakers of Forum2000 conference. Today, Oct 12, Pedro Urruchurtu sends virtual strength to his friend and colleague Henry Alviarez on his birthday.

Henry - national coordinator of Vente Venezuela - was arrested on Mar 20, 2024, alongside Dignora Hernández, and remains unjustly imprisoned for his work organizing citizens across Venezuela with María Corina Machado, recent laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize.

As Pedro says in his personal message to Henry: everything we do is for your freedom - and for everyone’s. We don’t stop until Henry and all political prisoners are free.

12/10/2025

María Corina Machado is still in hiding. It was exactly where she, alone, received the call of the Nobel Committee telling her that she is the Nobel Peace Prize, just two days ago.
Today, just minutes after having landed in Prague to attend the annual Forum2000, we spoke with Pedro Urruchurtu, the Director of International Relations and one of the closest cooperators of María Corina Machado:
“She is particularly alone. When she spoke to the elected President Edmundo González Urrutia, she told him: ‘I would give everything for a hug, in this very moment.’ Imagine what this moment, probably the most important in one person’s history, means. They call you at 5:00 a.m. to tell you that you are the Nobel Peace Prize of 2025. And there is no one who can give you a hug, and to say: congratulations, what an emotion, what a pride.”

Pedro maintains that this very kind of sacrifice is what a true leader is able to make. And María Corina Machado is, and we hope will soon be, leading alongside Edmundo González Urrutia.

Memory of Nations took Pedro to the EyeDirect studio, where visual magic happens: through a system of semi-transparent mirrors, interviews unfold in a very personal, almost intimate setting. We have all the time in the world to hear everything our witnesses want to share. This is just a brief sneak peek from behind the scenes; stay tuned for the final results!

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