Declaration of Solidarity concerning the fate of Ukrainian state security documents

News arrived on 25 March 2022 that the building in which the files of the Ukrainian State Security Archives are preserved had been hit while the Russian troops were besieging the city of Csernyihiv. Many cultural assets had already been irreparably damaged or lost during this war. According to the UNESCO report, more than 50 churches and monuments of the world cultural heritage and of the Ukrainian national heritage have been severely damaged.

In Chernihiv state security archives 13,000 documents have been destroyed by the fire following the city's bombing, documents having showed us the operations of the former KGB. These represented an irreplaceable source for the victims of the Soviet repression and the historians researching this subject.

We, the members of the Network, hereby declare our indignation at the destruction of a precious source of historical memory and of the restitution process. We also express our solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues who have not forgotten their profession amid the days of war.

We think that the Russian war against Ukraine is not only causing irreparable damage to human lives and material wealth, but the documents and files of common human and national memory are also exposed to the most serious danger.

Therefore, we express our hope that the conditions for a just and reassuring peace will soon be established. We also offer our help and competence to the Ukrainian National Remembrance Committee to re-launch archival work and heal the wounds of war as much as it is possible.

Signatories - members of the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret Police Files:

• Authority on Access to Information on the former State Security Service (AIDSSH)
• Committee on Disclosure of Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian National Army (COMDOS)
• The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR)
• The National Archives of Estonia
• Federal Archives, Stasi Records Archive
• Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL)
• The National Archives of Latvia
• Lithuanian Special Archives
• Institute of National Remembrance (IPN)
• The National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS)
• Nation's Memory Institute (UPN)
• Study Center for National Reconciliation Archives of the Republic of Slovenia
• The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance