Museum researcher Yana Hrynko participated in the international conference “Political Terror in Historical Perspective: Origins and Consequences,” held in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The event was dedicated to commemorating the victims of the terrorist attack carried out by operatives of the Moscow-directed Bulgarian Communist Party at the Saint Nedelya Cathedral in Sofia on April 16, 1925.
The conference was organized by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience in partnership with the State Archives Agency of Bulgaria (държавна агенция «архиви»), Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, New Bulgarian University, the Association of the Officers in the Reserve “Atlantic,” and Bulgarian National Radio.
The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an international non-governmental organization that unites educational and cultural institutions studying crimes committed by totalitarian regimes in 20th-century Europe. Yana Hrynko serves as a member of its Supervisory Board.
The event brought together historians, public figures, and European and American politicians. Among the leading participating institutions were the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (USA), Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, Pitești Prison Memorial Foundation (Romania), Twentieth Century Memorial Museum (Czech Republic), and Collège La Salle Saint Bernard (France). Notable guests included the French historian and professor Stéphane Courtois, Harvard University professor Mark Kramer, and former Bulgarian presidents Rosen Plevneliev and Petar Stoyanov.
The Museum’s representative delivered a presentation titled “Russia’s War in Ukraine as a Result of Manipulated Historical Consciousness.” Her address focused on russian historical narratives used to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, militarize russian society, and provide informational cover for genocidal practices.
The Museum values the opportunity to participate in this important international event and share the realities of russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the global community.
