Assembly of Captive European Nations or ACEN was an organization founded on September 20, 1954, as a coalition of representatives from nine nations in Central and Eastern Europe under Soviet domination after World War II. Former political and cultural leaders from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were members of the organization. Its main office was in New York, with branch offices in Bonn, London and Paris. Representatives from post-1948 SFR Yugoslavia were not allowed to join the organization as the country was an important western partner in the Balkans region.

History

The goals of the ACEN were, in their own words: "to provide liberation from communist dictatorship by peaceful means, to educate public opinion on the actual situation behind the Iron Curtain, and to enlist the cooperation and assistance of governmental and non-governmental institutions." Funding was provided by the Free Europe Committee. When that organization suspended financial assistance to ACEN in January 1972 because of its own budget reductions, the offices of ACEN were closed and publication activities came 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 promoted the commemoration of Captive Nations Week. It provided background information to members of the United States Congress regarding the political and economic situations in their homelands situated 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:

Archival collections