Letters for Amnesty

My motivation to join Amnesty was my wish for others to also have freedom of thought and expression, and be able to pursue happiness. – Ellie, writing since the 1980s for Amnesty in Almere, 2013

Adopted prisoners of conscience from all over the world, ca. 1970-1979
Courtesy Archive Amnesty International Netherlands, IISG, Amsterdam

The political dissidents that Peter Benenson wanted to help were called prisoners of conscience, meaning “any person who is physically restrained from expressing any opinion which he honestly holds and which does not advocate violence.” By 1961 during the Cold War, when capitalist America and the communist Soviet Union tore the world in two, thousands of people were locked behind bars for expressing their opinion. Amnesty International made the offending governments aware that the world was watching them. To accomplish this goal, the organization thought letters were the most powerful tool.

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