The UP Faculty of Law has joined the international project ‘Remembrance of Red Regimes: Memory and Civic Education across Eastern Europe’ (REMEM-RED). It has thus become one of twelve partners from eleven EU countries who will work together to strengthen the culture of remembrance of the crimes committed by communist totalitarian regimes. The project, funded by the European Commission, will run for two years. The participating organisations have been working on it since July.
“We are delighted that our faculty has been able to take part in this significant European project. We believe that research into communist repression and its integration into education will contribute to building a democratically resilient society and deepen the historical awareness of the younger generation,” said Ondrej Hamuľák, project coordinator for the Faculty of Education at Palacký University. Alongside him, colleagues from the Department of Legal Theory and Legal History and the Department of Political Science and Social Sciences are involved in the project.
The project researchers base their work on the fact that, although millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe experienced persecution, deportation, imprisonment and systematic violations of fundamental human rights under communist totalitarian regimes, the commemoration of these events remains fragmented and under-represented in the wider European public sphere. The aim of the project is therefore, at a time of growing disinformation and the erosion of democratic values, to preserve these historical testimonies, make them accessible to the public and transform them into a functional tool for education in democratic values.
“Our experts will contribute local case studies of communist repression from the perspective of community and cultural memory; they will develop educational programmes linking history with democratic values and support the training of teachers.” Ondrej Hamuľák, project coordinator at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University
REMEM-RED will focus on collecting and digitising survivors’ testimonies, creating educational materials, fostering intergenerational dialogue and building a transnational digital platform. “The aim of the project is to ensure that commemorating the past is not merely an academic exercise, but becomes a living civic practice,” explained Ondrej Hamuľák. Twelve organisations – universities, non-governmental organisations, local authorities and civic associations – from Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Germany and Croatia will be working on the project. The Estonian Business School is the project coordinator.
Over the course of two years, the project team aims, amongst other things, to document more than 100 testimonies from victims of communist repression across Europe, create a multilingual, open-access digital archive, prepare more than a dozen educational resource packs and teaching materials for schools, and organise exhibitions, educational workshops, debates and other creative activities.
The Olomouc Faculty of Law plays a key role in the project in the areas of education and archival research. Together with colleagues from Comenius University in Bratislava, it forms the academic backbone of the work package dedicated to education and youth engagement. “Our experts will contribute local case studies of communist repression from the perspective of community and cultural memory, develop educational programmes linking history with democratic values, and support the training of teachers,” explained Ondrej Hamuľák.
The REMEM-RED project has been selected for funding by the European Commission. Under the European Remembrance 2025 call for proposals (CERV-2025-CITIZENS-REM-GENCRIME), it received funding of EUR 262,380.
By participating in the project, the faculty is fulfilling its fundamental mission – to promote values such as freedom, democracy and civil society, upon which it was re-established in 1991. The Hannah Arendt Grant also contributes to this. This is an internal funding scheme of the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University, intended for members of the academic community, which is funded by proceeds from the Hannah Arendt Prize awarded to Palacký University in 1996 for its contribution to the transition from a totalitarian dictatorship to the rule of law.