Renewed international portal covers crimes of communism

The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory introduced today, on the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of totalitarian regimes, a new version of the unique educational portal Communist Crimes.

The portal, available in English and Estonian, provides access to continually updated data on countries that have experienced communist terror, academic and generally educational articles on communist ideology and its implementation, and many other resources. The portal that was launched in 2008 and has been improved over the years is available on communistcrimes.org.

According to Sandra Vokk, Member of Board at the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, the portal fills a major gap – the estimated number of victims of communist regimes around the world is more than 90 million, but the crimes of communism are not recognized sufficiently on an international level.

“On the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact we are introducing a new updated and edited version of the data repository on communist crimes, which makes information on the subject more easily accessible for all researchers and everyone else who interested in the matter all over the world, in a compact and versatile manner. We are continually renewing the portal, with the long-term goal of giving a summarizing description of all communist dictatorships. Currently, there are thorough materials on most of Europe,” said Vokk.

In addition to the extensive database on countries and article library, the portal also includes directions for visiting museums and memorials focusing on communist crimes all over the world, and film and book recommendations. A digital archive is also available, which contains written and photo material collected in Estonia relating to the Soviet occupation. The texts have mostly been compiled by historians and history popularizers from Estonia and abroad.

“In the future, when we develop the current Patarei Prison exhibition area “Communism is Prison” into the International Museum for the Victims of Communism and research centre, the portal becomes the information gate for the new institution. In the near future we intend to supplement the portal with a Russian version and with materials on the influence of communism today,” added Vokk from the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.