The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania (IICCR) merged with The National Institute for the Memory of the Romanian Exile (INMER), thus resulting a new institution, namely The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER).

Press Release: On the Objectives and Activities of IICCMER

Regarding statements and public petitions recently presented in the mass media, which maintained that IICCMER’s new form of organization will cease the investigation of crimes perpetrated during the communist regime and in its immediate aftermath in Romania, we wish to emphasize that IICCMER’s essential purpose remains that of pursuing, independent of any political partisanship, scientific research of the historical period afore mentioned along with its consequences up to present times.

Without leading to the interruption and limitation of IICCMER’s previous institutional attributions, the new form of organization gives the institution the possibility to act on two fundamental directions: on the one side, the investigation of the communist period (institutions, methods, economy, repression, personalities, individual responsibilities etc) and the research of the Romanian exile; on the other side, the promotion, in partnership with other institutions of the state, of policies focused on education about and remembrance of the communist experience in our country.

In addition, IICCMER will continue, in strict correlation with the Governmental Decree on the basis of which its activity is regulated, to investigate human rights abuses committed by the communist regime from 1945 to 1989, and those perpetrated in the immediate aftermath of the regime’s collapse (e.g., the 1989 Revolution and the 1990 “Mineriade”). We wish to reassert the fact that one of IICCMER’s main objectives remains the identification of the relevant information necessary for a legal groundwork upon which those considered responsible for these crimes can be put on trial in conformity with the existing Romanian and international legislation. The Institute will give its full support to any initiative of integrating in the Romanian legislation of international accords and conventions relevant to these matters.

Moreover, IICCMER will endorse and pursue the incorporation within the Romanian legislation of all documents that declare communist crimes without status of limitation. IICCMER will promote legislative projects with the aim of broadening the possibility of an objective and non-partisan investigation of the tragic events and the abuses committed in the communist period and during its immediate aftermath (the 1989 Revolution and the “Mineriade” of 1990). IICCMER will promptly and consistently inform the public opinion regarding the status and results of these activities. For IICCMER, the permanent collaboration with and feedback from civil society is vital.

IICCMER is fundamentally committed to the development and strengthening of a democratic culture that honors the memory of the victims of the communist regime and it is founded on the knowledge and analysis of the mechanisms of its perpetuation. With all this in mind, we want to stress that, contrary to what some have argued, the activity of the Institute will not be limited, but expanded. The ongoing projects will continue and, in parallel, we will advance new ones. Last but not least, IICCMER will also begin a rigorous analysis of the tragic events in the years 1989 and 1990 (The Revolution and the “Mineriade”). We acknowledge that this last issue is indeed an urgent and legitimate request from the part of numerous representatives (individuals and organization) of the Romanian civil society.

President of the Scientific Board, Vladimir Tismaneanu
Executive President, Ioan Stanomir

3rd March 2010

The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile will organize in the period 20th of February - 1st of May 2010 the national contest of essays and graphic art „My family during communism”

The contest, now at its fourth edition, is destined to the students from the cycle 5th-12th grades and is organized in partnership with the Education, Research, Youth and Sports Ministry and the Commission’s Representation in Romania. This year we provoke the students to a new theme My family during communism, with this subject attempting to bring into attention the relationship between the communist state and family. Starting from the following questions: In what degree was your family affected by the communist regime? How do you describe the family life during communist regime?, we ask the students to sketch their opinion on the theme announced.

The International Conference "Crimes of the Communist Regimes"

In the interval 24-26 February 2010, the International Conference Crimes of the Communist Regimes took place in Prague (The Czech Republic). The event was organised by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and  partner institutions from the working group on the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The Conference aimed at presenting an overview of the crimes committed by the communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain, evaluating them from a legal point of view and searching for possible solutions to the situation today. The main purpose of the reunion was centred on the reconciliation within post-communist societies and a strengthened European integration across the former East-West divide.

The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile was represented by Marius Oprea and Raluca Grosescu, coordinator of the Documentation and Reseach Office.

Programme of the Conference
descarcă document (PDF)

Call for papers:
„Politics of memory in postcommunist Europe” (the 5th yearbook of IICCMER)

Dear colleagues and friends,

The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) is seeking papers for its 5th yearbook. We look for original contributions in the field of strategies of remembrance, representations and valorisations of the communist past in the countries of the former Soviet bloc (Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, former GDR, Poland, USSR and former Yugoslavia). Case studies as well as conceptual approaches of this domain are encouraged.

Researchers, PhDs or PhD students are invited to submit proposals for articles covering the following subjects:

• Representations of communism in museums: alternative discourses
• Educational projects
• Oral history projects
• Conceptual approaches to the „Memory and Remembrance”
• Methodological questions in „dealing with the past” in former communist countries
• Other related topics

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The exhibition entitled Common Denominator: Death

The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania, the National History Museum of Transylvania – Cluj-Napoca, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Romanian Peasant’s Museum, supported by Projects Abroad and the National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives, are presenting the exhibition entitled Common Denominator: Death. The event is organised as a result of the ten field campaigns undertaken in order to exhume the remains of the opponents of the communist regime who were swiftly executed by the Securitate in the interval 1948-1952.

These actions were initiated as a result of the petitions sent to the IICCR by the opponents’ descendants and took place in the interval 2007-2009. The cases presented within the exhibition refer to 17 persons who were executed (most often shot to death). Their remains were traced and exhumed by means of archaeological methods in Hălmăsău, Nepos (Bistriţa-Năsăud County), Glodghileşti, Băieşti (Hunedoara County), Odoreu (Satu Mare County), Teregova (Caraş-Severin County), Muşca, Sălciua, Câmpeni (Alba County), Sântejude Vale (Cluj County).  In the foregoing locations the victims were buried either in individual graves (Glodghileşti, Satu Mare, Băieşti, Sălciua, Câmpeni, Sântejude Vale) or in mass graves of two victims (Hălmăsău / location 2, Teregova), three victims (Nepos) or four victims (Hălmăsău / location 1).

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Conference: Twenty Years After. Perspectives on the Fall of Communism in Romania: Causes, Unfolding, Consequences

Iaşi, Romania, 12-13 November 2009
The Centre on Communist and Post-Communist Studies of the Faculty of History within the Al. I. Cuza University-Iaşi, in partnership with the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, is to organise a conference dedicated to the anniversary of the twenty years that have passed since the overturn of the communist regime in Romania.
Main debate themes:

• The 1980s: everyday life, crisis, propaganda and opposition;
• The Fall. The end of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe under compared analysis;
• December 1989 in Romania: dilemmas, hypotheses, re-evaluations;
• Actors and transitions: lectures on Romanian post-communism.

For further information please write to office@studiulcomunismului.ro.

October 2009 - The IICCR continues the publishing of the political prisoners’ records

The inventory and website publishing of the penal registration records started by the I.I.C.C. R. in the summer of 2007 reached its third stage, that is, the publishing of the records for the letters G, H, I, J and K. As important as the first two parts, the documents included within this segment add to the wholeness of the project whose objective was from the very beginning to facilitate the access of the political prisoners’ relatives and descendants to the information regarding arrest and imprisonment.

Up to now, the total number of the processed registration records amounted to almost 57, 000, which refer to over 37, 000 political prisoners.

To illustrate the unjust and illegal character of political condemnations we are including as well a list of well-known Romanian personalities in the field of politics, culture and spirituality who endured detention during the communist regime. We are therefore mentioning Iuliu Hossu, Pantelimon Halipa, Onisifor Ghibu, Richard Wurmbrand, Constantin Galeriu, Vlad Georgescu, Paul Goma, Dumitru Iuga, Nicolae-Ionescu Galbeni, Mircea Ionescu Quintus.

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