KARTA Center

The KARTA Center (Polish: Ośrodek KARTA) or The KARTA Center Foundation (Polish: Fundacja Ośrodka KARTA) is a Polish non-governmental public benefit organization, whose aim is documenting and popularizing the recent history of Poland and history of Eastern Europe and strengthening tolerance and democracy.

The KARTA community founded in 1982 in Warsaw during the time of martial law in Poland as an illegal underground paper, named Karta, focusing on political commentaries (19 issues), which was transformed after a few months into an independent almanac presenting human attitudes towards dictatorship (seven issues). In 1987 the Karta editorial team initiated the foundation of the independent Eastern Archive - a social movement documenting the concealed and distorted "Eastern" past (with nearly 200 people organized in 12 branches all over Poland in one year). Since 1990 Incorporation of the Eastern Archive Foundation and the KARTA Foundation had been cooperated closely with each other. In 1991 the KARTA Center founded combining all branches of both Foundations. In 1992 started the KARTA Center its international activities by "The Conscience Week in Poland", a meeting in Warsaw with 54 members of the Memorial Association (Russia, Ukraine). In 1996 merged the both Foundations. The objective of new KARTA Center Foundation was to "promote and strengthen tolerance and democracy". In 1996 there was the final of the first competition for high school students, the so-called "History at Hand".

The KARTA Center Foundation is a book and magazine publisher, organizes many exhibitions and educational events, and acts as an archive for documents. The KARTA Center co-founded in 2001 the EUSTORY, the European network of organizers of history competition in Europe, and take part in summer schools, autumn academies and General Assemblies. In 2005 KARTA initiated the History Meeting House in Warsaw with a permanen multimedia exhibition "The Faces of Totalitarianism", the launch of the "www.uczyc-sie-z-historii.pl" site. It is the center promoting the 20th century history, a place of educational and opinion-forming activities in Warsaw, Poland and internationally. Since March 2006 the History Meeting House is a local government cultural institution.

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