Vital Records of Human Rights History In Danger (Sakharov Archives)

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A vital record of human rights history is in danger

Benjamin Nathans IHT Friday, August 29, 2003

The Sakharov Archives

PHILADELPHIA When did the 21st century begin? If you're thinking Jan. 1, 2000, or Sept. 11, 2001, think again. The real 21st century began in 1989 with the swell of "people power" in places as diverse as Moscow, Pretoria and Prague. This was to be the dawn of global democracy and human rights - the good 21st century.
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In the midst of the euphoria of that year, the world lost one of its most courageous advocates of democracy and human rights, the Soviet physicist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov. Now it is in danger of losing him - and his legacy - again.
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The Andrei Sakharov Archives and Human Rights Center, established at Brandeis University in 1993, will soon cease to exist unless Congress and university officials act to save it.
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With start-up funds from the MacArthur Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, as well as generous support from Ronald Lauder and other private individuals, the archives have made priceless historical materials available to scholars and documentary filmmakers in the United States and abroad. To shut down this unique and growing collection for the sake of temporary belt-tightening would be both tragic and short-sighted. It would send a terrible signal to today's Russia, where Sakharov's legacy is mixed at best.
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The Sakharov Archives house Sakharov's correspondence, diaries and manuscripts pertaining to his scientific and political activities, as well as the papers of Elena Bonner, his widow and fellow dissident. A treasure trove of KGB and other documents regarding official Soviet treatment of Sakharov and Bonner are there as well.
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