Memory Preservation Initiatives

Memory is not kept by archives alone; it needs people to tell it, protect it and pass it on. So alongside documenting crimes, the centre runs community initiatives that involve families, survivors, researchers and educational institutions in protecting the victims' memory, so that their names do not become numbers and their stories do not become footnotes.

Why preserve memory?

Preserving memory is a right of the victims and their families, and a safeguard against the crime being repeated. A documented account keeps the truth available to the courts and to researchers, gives future generations an understanding of what happened, and keeps testimonies from being lost as time passes and those who gave them pass away.

Our initiatives

• Collecting oral histories: Recording the testimonies of survivors and victims' families with their consent, and keeping them under standards that protect their privacy.
• Digitising family archives: Helping families photograph the documents, pictures and letters they keep, and preserving them digitally against damage.
• Memory in education: Preparing accessible teaching materials for schools and universities that tell students what happened and why documentation matters.
• Commemorations: Holding events on the anniversaries of major atrocities that bring families together and return the victims' names to public life.

How can you take part?

If you have a testimony, document or photo related to one of the events, or would like to volunteer in one of the initiatives, you can contact the centre through the Contact us page. The centre's team treats everything it receives in strict confidence, and nothing is published without its owner's consent.