Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: Alexander Daniel, Anatolij Berger, Wladimir Romanowskij, Wolodymyr Wjatrowytsch and Jewhen Swerstjuk
Alexander Daniel is one of the founders of Memorial, and will talk about cases of dissidents’ and artists’ repression in the USSR and outline the current state of research and reappraisal. Wladimir Romanowskij will talk about his experiences researching the period, report on the oppression of artists in the Soviet Union and present video material. Wolodymyr Wjatrowytsch, former Director of the Ukrainian Secret Service Archives and vehement critic of the obstruction of the process of researching and re-evaluating the material by official Ukrainian policy, will present an introductory talk on the Ukrainian situation. Following this there will be a discussion with Jewhen Swerstjuk, the Ukrainian poet, literary scholar and activist, who himself spent 7 years in a labour camp, and the St Petersburg poet Anatolij Berger, who was also imprisoned and exiled for many years.
