The international conference “Coming to terms with the past as a foundation of democratization: 20 years since the disclosure of the secret protocols of the Nazi-Soviet Pact”, which will be held on 17 -18 September 2009, in Tallinn, Estonia.

The conference is being organised by the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute as part of the celebrations of the 20+5 anniversaries of the EU (marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and the 5th anniversary of the largest EU enlargement). It is geared towards historians, political scholars, schoolteachers, and those who participated in the events of 1989.

We would be grateful if you or your office could contact Ms Krista Lillemets (E-Mail: ; Tel.: +372 56322500) to let us know whether you will be able to join us. She will also be able to help if you have any immediate enquiries or concerns.

17. 09 Late afternoon: opening, book presentation, film

Heiki Lindpere’s book, originally published in Estonian in 1991, has been revised and translated into English and Russian. It addresses the exposure and annulment of the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies in 1989.

The film “The Inside Story of Events in the Moscow Kremlin” addresses some of the same events, though it examines a wider view of the events that led to the collapse of the USSR.

Author Juhan Aare will present his shortened version of the film, created in 2006, at the conference.

18.09 Three panels: the debate in the USSR Congress of Peoples’ Deputies in 1989; coming to terms with the past as a way towards reconciliation between nations; challenges facing Russia and her neighbours today.

Speakers include: Yuri Afanasiev, Moscow; Jan Lipinsky, Herder Institut, Marburg; Janusz Kurtyka, Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw; Arto Luukkanen, University of Helsinki; Ilko Kucheriv, Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Ukraine; Endel Lippmaa, the Estonian Academy of Sciences; Edgar Savisaar, Mayor of Tallinn.

Andres Kasekamp, PhD
Director, Estonian Foreign Policy Institute

Märkmed: