Return of Names

(automatic translation)

Return of Names is an annual event in memory of victims of political repression. This is a day of remembrance for those people who were deported, arrested or shot by the Soviet authorities. Since 2007, every year on October 29, many people gather together in different cities around the world to honor the memory and read aloud the names of the victims of the crimes of the Soviet state. These victims were not only Russians, but also many other nationalities, including Finns.

Now, when the current Russian government is once again rewriting history and preparing orders to de-rehabilitate the victims of political repression in the USSR, when monuments to Stalin are erected in Russia and an atmosphere of hostility towards all neighbors is whipped up, it is especially important to gather and talk about how many people died at the hands of the NKVD, to remember their names.

October 29 is not only a memorial day, but also a day when you and I can see and hear each other and ask ourselves questions. What do we think about while standing in the “Return of Names” queue? Why is it important for us to remember the names of those executed? Who is this — we — and what unites us?
Perhaps we are those for whom Soviet repressions are a personal and family tragedy. Or those who understand that state crimes of the past and present are connected. Those who live in Russia and those who are outside of it. Those who are free and those who are in prison.

The repressive machine continues to gain momentum. At the moment, according to official data alone, over 1,500 political prisoners and several thousand Ukrainian prisoners of war, including civilians, are being held in Russian prisons. People are being tortured for speaking out against the war or in defense of someone, Alexei Navalny was poisoned in the colony, several more political prisoners/volunteers/journalists have died, 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been executed, and all the rest are being tortured. The same is happening with political prisoners in Belarus.
This is happening now, today, in the world of modern connections, agreements, technologies.

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The action "Return of Names" will take place in Helsinki on 27.10 from 14:00 to 15:30 near the Oodi library.

You can come and read out your names - the names of those who in your personal family history fell into the millstones of Soviet repression, or use the lists we have prepared.

After the action "Return of Names" from 15:30 to 17 in the Oodi library (Töölönlahdenkatu 4, Helsinki) there will be an evening of letters to political prisoners, including Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held in Russian prisons.