Commenting on the continuing efforts to suppress Russian institutions and to destroy Memorial, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said in Berlin:

"For many years Auschwitz survivors throughout the world have been following the work of the people involved in Memorial with great esteem and sympathy. Memorial has long since become a moral authority in the Russian Republic and a political reality which has exposed the crimes of the Stalinist purges and restored dignity and hope to the victims and their relatives. Coercive and repressive organizational methods will not succeed in cutting off this path to remembrance and the uncovering of history that Memorial has been involved in, together with many people in Russia. The human rights achievements that the people of Memorial have worked for shine out throughout Europe. The attempts by Russian authorities to turn the clock back, and destroy the idea and the work of Memorial, will not succeed."