Elena Zhemkova is a mathematician by education. In 1987, she was a co-founder of the Memorial International Historical, Educational and Human Rights Society and served as its Executive Director until the organization closed in February 2022. She is also the supervisor of Memorial’s Russian-German projects and coordinator of the International Memorial’s regional network which includes more than 40 regional organizations in Germany, Italy, Russia, France, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Member of the Supervisory Council of the Russian foundation “Understanding and Reconciliation” which pays compensations for the forced labor in the Nazi Germany in 1996-2011. Her main field of academic interests is history of political repression, a comparative analysis of the Nazi and soviet repression mechanisms, and memorialization of victims of political repressions (monuments, toponymy, etc.). The field of public interests is the development of third sector organization and assistance with their work.