Estonian Institute of Historical Memory (Estonian: Eesti Mälu Instituut) is a Foundation established in 2008 under the initiative of Toomas Hendrik Ilves the incumbent President of the Republic of Estonia. It is a member institution of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.
The purpose of the Institute is the research on the history of Estonia under the occupation regimes beginning with World War II and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The research is carried out in the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The main objective is to compile a comprehensive report on the violation of the human rights in Estonia during the Soviet and German occupations in 1940-1991.
The Institute has a Learned Committee and a research team. The members of the Committee are prominent historians, politicians and public figures from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The chairman of the Learned Committee is Enrique Barón Crespo from Spain. The research team of professional historians carries out the everyday work.
The predecessor of the Institute was the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity (1998-2008) founded under the initiative of Lennart Meri the President of Estonia during 1992-2001 and chaired by Max Jakobson the Finnish diplomat.