Today, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze welcomed the Russian Germanist and cultural scientist Irina Scherbakowa to the town hall. Irina Scherbakowa is a founding member of the human rights organisation Memorial.
The Nobel Prize winner signed the Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz and then read from her latest work in the Hartmannfabrik. Irina Scherbakowa was in Chemnitz for the launch of her book "Der Schlüssel würde noch passen". The reading was organised by the Saxon State Centre for Political Education.
The International Society for Historical Clarification, Human Rights and Social Welfare Memorial, or Memorial International for short, is a human rights organisation founded in the Soviet Union in January 1989, but which was officially dissolved in Russia in 2021. Memorial focuses on the historical reappraisal of political tyranny, advocacy for the observance of human rights and social care for the survivors of the Soviet labour camp system (Gulag).
The Memorial organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for its commitment. Despite the ban in Russia, it continues to work abroad in various structures, such as Memorial Deutschland e. V.