The CBEES State of the Region Report 2020 reveals disturbing tendencies to control and politicize the past in several countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Also, the report documents the great extent to which authoritarian and authoritarian-leaning governments actively intervene in how crucial parts of their country’s history are to be written, taught, researched, remembered, and commemorated – or neglected and ignored. Furthermore, the report discusses the failure of some governments to deal with restitution for past injustices, and the way some politicians forbid access to important state archives, hinder the teaching of the history of contemporary events, or withdraw funding to or even close down independent research institutions altogether.