The Border Memory project was launched by Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche, an Italian-based collective of activists and volunteers that since 2018 is supporting people on the move stranded on the eastern borders of Europe.

Over the past years, on the Bulgarian-Turkish border we have been dedicated to the search and rescue of people in distress during the journey, addressing emergencies and preventing push-backs. In these operations, we came across dozens of cases of border deaths and missing persons, i.e. people whose contacts were lost during the journey and never found, for weeks, months, years.

We have seen the difficulties and the struggle of families to identify and get back the body of a son or a brother, to have at least the right to mourn, but also the endless grief of not knowing the truth, of vain searches and unanswered questions, of deliberate attempts to conceal the facts by authorities.

The Border Memory project stems from this desperation and anger. It is a search for answers that should be due, but also the beginning of a common struggle so that there will be no more border deaths. Indeed, we believe that sharing individual sufferings with the many who are in the same situation and those in solidarity not only can help in facing these hardships, but also become collective strength and action.

This project stems from the need to not forget both the dead and the missing, to build a collective counter-memory of borders: of institutional violence but also of the resistance of those who challenge it and who fight for their loved ones.

Border Memory is about tracing cases of dead and missing and activate searches, while building cross-border solidarity alliances in a common struggle. The website includes two forms, translated in many languages, to report the disappearance or the death of a person.

The scope of our action for now is mainly related to Bulgaria, but we would like to expand the project to the whole Balkan region, building a larger network. Indeed, Border Memory is an open and collective process that seeks new collaborations.