Annual Report 2017

IDMC and its collaborators continued to focus deeply in 2017 on the mission to deal with the communist past. IDMC has achieved this through various meetings with contemporary witnesses, study trips to sites of memory, workshops for young people and history teachers, as well as other awareness-raising activities. Creative multimedia activities such as "Ask Your Grandparents 2", "Communist Terminologist", which asked young people to reflect on the past, have been crucial this year. The collection of testimonies from former persecuted and prisoners of the dictatorship for the "I Testify" project has shown the means of terror used by that regime. The training with young journalists on how to use the former Sigurimi files has contributed to increased transparency with the public opinion. The second edition of "Memory Days" has dealt with the past through 8 different activities. Cultural and artistic activities such as the "International Literature Festival" brought together writers and different European experiences, drawing the Albanian reader and public out of geographic and cultural isolation.