Assembly of Captive European Nations or ACEN was an organization founded on September 20, 1954, as a coalition of representatives of nine nations in Central and Eastern Europeunder Soviet domination after World War II . Former political and cultural leaders from Albania , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , Estonia , Hungary , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland and Romaniawere members of the organization. Its main office was in New York, with branch offices in Bonn, London and Paris.
History
The goals of ACEN were, in their own words:
to provide information on the situation of the Iron Curtain, and to enlist the cooperation and assistance of governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Funding was provided by the Free Europe Committee . ACEN in January 1972 because of its own budget cuts, the offices of ACEN were closed and published activities to a halt. During its lifetime, the organization published pamphlets and periodicals in English, as well as some of the members‘ own languages. It also sponsored symposia and exhibitions, in particular it sponsored the commemoration of Captive Nations Week . It provides the United States Congress with regard to the political and economic situations in the homelands behind the Iron Curtain .
The records of the ACEN and its member organizations are preserved in the Immigration History Research Center Archives , University of Minnesota Libraries .
Chairmen
ACEN chairmen were: [1]
- Vilis Masens (Latvia): 1954-1958
- Stefan Korboński (Poland): 1958-1959
- Petr Zenkl (Czechoslovakia): 1959-1960
- Vaclovas Sidzikauskas (Lithuania) 1960-1961
- Ferenc Nagy (Hungary): 1961-62
- Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria): 1962-1963
- Alexander Kütt (Estonia): 1963-1964
- Vasil Gërmenji (Albania): 1964-1965
- Vaclovas Sidzikauskas: 1965-1966
- Stefan Korboński: 1966-1967
- Georgi Dimitrov 1967-1968
- Jozef Lettrich (Czechoslovakia): 1968-1969
- Alfreds Bērziņš (Latvia): 1969-1970
- Vasil Gerymenji: 1970-1971
- Stefan Korboński: 1971-1972
Archival collections
- Assembly of Captive European Nations records , University of Minnesota Libraries
References
- Jump up^ Nekola, Martin (2014). „The Assembly of Captive European Nations: A Transnational Organization and Tool of Anti-Communist Propaganda“. In Dongen, Luc van; Roulin, Stephanie; Scott-Smith, Giles. Transnational Anti-Communism and the Cold War: Agents, Activities, and Networks . Palgrave Macmillan. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-349-48214-6 .