What is The Baltic Way Stories?
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way, the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO is collecting memories to ensure that they are preserved for the next generations and making them available both in the virtual environment and in museum and library collections. The project invites everyone to document their Baltic Way experience no matter how they experienced it: participating or not participating, or participating in any of the supporting campaigns elsewhere in the world.
How to participate in The Baltic Way Stories?
Use The Baltic Way Stories form to document your experience of the Baltic Way in written form! If possible, add scanned photographs from that time. Fill out the story form until 30 October 2014 and submit it to this webpage or send it to the e-mail address info@thebalticway.eu or by mail to the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO at Pils laukums 4–206, Riga, LV-1050.
How will the Baltic Way stories be used?
All stories collected during the project will be compiled in a collection dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way which in Latvia will be passed on for storing at the National History Museum of Latvia and the Museum of the Popular Front as a significant part of the heritage. The digitalised photographs will be added to the archives of the National Library of Latvia and the digital library Europeana. In Lithuania the stories will be passed on to the National Archive of Lithuania, and in Estonia — the Museum of Occupations. The visual material added to the story and the information provided will be displayed in the virtual environment, used for research objectives or included in materials popularising historical testimony in summarised form or, in separate cases, as quotations.
The 25 most striking stories in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will be compiled in a special publication devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way and will be available to the public in electronic format.
Why participate in The Baltic Way Stories?
The Baltic Way unites more than a million people in memories and emotions about the events that took place in the Baltic States 25 years ago. The UNESCO international Memory of the World Register includes the most significant documents from the documentary heritage of the Baltic Way, reflecting its organisation and course. It is important to comprehensively document this significant event and include the individual experiences of the people, thus strengthening the joint social memory of the inhabitants of the Baltic states and passing it on to the next generations.
Who can participate in The Baltic Way Stories?
All members of society are encouraged to participate in the project. Especially welcome are educational institutions, libraries, museums, archives and collection keepers, organisations cooperating with diasporas, partners of national commissions for UNESCO in the Baltic States, and any individual who is interested.
How to support the collection of the Baltic Way stories?
- Inform about The Baltic Way Stories and the project’s webpage on the social networks: Facebook.com, Draugiem.lv, Twitter.com!
- Follow the project’s activities on Facebook.com, Draugiem.lv and Twitter.com!
- Add the Baltic Way’s 25th anniversary logo to your profile picture on social networks!