| European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | European Union, OSCE |
| Type | International |
| Significance | Day of remembrance for the victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes |
| Date | 23 August |
The European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, also known as the International Black Ribbon Day, which is observed on 23 August, was designated by the European Parliament in 2008/2009 as "a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality"[1][2] and has been observed annually by the European Union since 2009.[3] The establishment of 23 August as an international remembrance day was also supported by the 2009 Vilnius Declaration of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.[4]
23 August was the date of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, when Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany divided Eastern Europe between them, described by the European Parliament's President Jerzy Buzek in 2010 as "the collusion of the two worst forms of totalitarianism in the history of humanity".[3]
The objective of the day of remembrance is to preserve the memory of the victims of mass deportations and exterminations, and at the same time, to root democracy more firmly and reinforce peace and stability in Europe.[5]
23 August, as the Black Ribbon Day, has also been adopted by Canada as the national day of remembrance for the victims of communism and nazism.[6]
The remembrance day originated in demonstrations against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, most famously the Baltic Way of 1989. It was adopted as the official international remembrance day for totalitarianism by international bodies after it was proposed by the 2008 Prague Declaration, which was initiated by the Czech government and signed by figures such as Václav Havel, Joachim Gauck, Vytautas Landsbergis, Emanuelis Zingeris, and Łukasz Kamiński.
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Both the date of August 23 as a remembrance day and the name "Black Ribbon Day" originated in demonstrations held in western countries in the 1980s to bring attention to Soviet crimes and human rights violations, and to protest against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On August 23, 1986, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in 21 western cities including New York City, Ottawa, London, Stockholm, Seattle, Los Angeles, Perth, Australia and Washington DC.
In 1987, Black Ribbon Day protests spread to the Baltic countries, culminating in the Baltic Way in 1989, a historic event during the revolutions of 1989, when two million people joined their hands to form a human chain to commemorate the many victims of the occupation of the Baltic countries starting with the 1940 Soviet invasion, and to protest against the continued Soviet occupation. The protesters held candles and pre-war national flags decorated with black ribbons in memory of the victims of the Soviet terror.
The European Public Hearing on Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes was organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in April 2008. It aimed at improving knowledge and public awareness about totalitarian crimes.[7][8]
August 23 as a remembrance day for totalitarianism was proposed by the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, signed on June 3, 2008 by Václav Havel and other European politicians and human rights activists. The declaration concluded the conference European Conscience and Communism, an international conference that took place at the Czech Senate from 2 to 3 June 2008, hosted by the Senate Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions, under the auspices of Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic for European Affairs.[9]
On September 23, 2008, 409 members of the European Parliament signed a declaration on the proclamation of 23 August as European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.[1] The declaration pointed out: "The mass deportations, murders and enslavements committed in the context of the acts of aggression by Stalinism and Nazism fall into the category of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Under international law, statutory limitations do not apply to war crimes and crimes against humanity."[1]
On April 2, 2009, a resolution of the European Parliament on European conscience and totalitarianism, calling, inter alia, on its member states and other European countries to implement the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, was passed by a vote of 533-44 with 33 abstentions.[2]
On 3 July 2009, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) adopted the Vilnius Declaration, which supported August 23 as the international remembrance day for totalitarianism and urged its member states to increase awareness of totalitarian crimes. The OSCE resolution, which was proposed by Lithuania and Slovenia and adopted almost unanimously (of 320 lawmakers, just 8 voted against and 4 abstained),[10] pointed out that Europe had faced "two major totalitarian regimes, the Nazi and the Stalinist, which brought genocide, violations of human rights and freedoms, war crimes and crimes against humanity", and urged all OSCE members to take a "united stand against all totalitarian rule from whatever ideological background" and criticized the "glorification of totalitarian regimes, including the holding of public demonstrations glorifying the Nazi or Stalinist past".[4] Russia protested against the resolution.[11]
After the European Parliament had proclaimed the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were thanked by the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, in 2009, for their efforts to better inform Western Europe on the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union. Pöttering brought up the classic study on totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, which developed "the scientific basis criteria to describe totalitarianism", concluding that "both totalitarian systems (Stalinism and Nazism) are comparable and terrible", Pöttering said.[12]
Joseph Daul, chairman of the European People's Party group, hailed the adoption of the remembrance day as an historic breakthrough, stating:
On 10 June 2011, the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, that is, the justice and home affairs ministers of all EU Member States, adopted conclusions stating, inter alia, that it reaffirmed "the importance of raising awareness of the crimes committed by totalitarian regimes, of promoting a shared memory of these crimes across the Union and underlining the significant role that this can play in preventing the rehabilitation or rebirth of totalitarian ideologies," and highlighted "the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance of the victims of the totalitarian regimes (23 August)," inviting "Members States to consider how to commemorate it."[14]
On 23 August 2011, the Polish Presidency of the European Union organized a conference on the occasion of the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes. The EU presidency cited the Justice and Home Affairs Council conclusions of 10 June and the EU's Stockholm Programme, which emphasizes that "remembrance of shared history is necessary to understand contemporary Europe." European officials adopted the Warsaw Declaration for the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes.[15][16] The Warsaw Declaration vows that the suffering of victims of totalitarian regimes "will not sink into oblivion."[17] The declaration states that "crimes of totalitarian regimes in Europe should be acknowledged and condemned, regardless of their type and ideology." Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski said that the "Warsaw Declaration is a unanimous agreement of all EU member states that we have to do everything we can to prevent any totalitarian regime from reviving in all the countries making up one big European family."[18]
The remembrance day has been officially observed by the bodies of the European Union since 2009.[3] 23 August 2009, when the day was observed for the first time, marked the 70th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In some countries, the remembrance day has been formally adopted by law (sometimes with slightly different names), whereas in other countries, it's observed based directly on its proclamation by the European Union.
On 17 July 2009, the Parliament of Latvia adopted the 23 August as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, under a proposal of the Civic Union.[19]
On 18 June 2009, the Parliament of Estonia amended the Law on holidays and memorials, and adopted the 23 August as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.[20][21]
On November 19, 2009, under a proposal of the center-right Blue Coalition, the Bulgarian Parliament officially declared August 23 the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Crimes Committed by Communist and other Totalitarian Regimes and the remembrance day was officially observed for the first time in 2010.[22]
In 2009, the House of Commons of Canada unanimously adopted August 23 as the Black Ribbon Day, as the national day of remembrance of Canada for the victims of communism and nazism. The resolution was introduced by liberal MP Bob Rae and co-sponsored by Borys Wrzesnewskyj.[23][24][25][26]
On 21 July 2010, in a unanimous vote, the Parliament of Georgia instituted the Soviet Occupation Day on 25 February and declared 23 August the Day of Memory of Victims of Totalitarian Regimes.[27][28]
The International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Communism and Nazism has been observed in Sweden since 2008, each time with participation from members of the government, including Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, EU Ministers Cecilia Malmström and Birgitta Ohlsson, and Minister of Education and leader of the Liberal Party Jan Björklund.[29][30]
In 2010 the European Commission reported that the Day of Remembrance was officially commemorated by five Member States.[31]
In 2011, the government of Croatia proposed that Croatia adopt the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, to be commemorated on 23 August. The government sent its recommendation for urgent parliamentary procedure, stating that the new memorial day is in accordance with the European practice that marks 23 August as the day of remembrance of victims of Stalinism and Nazism.[32] On 23 August 2011, Croatia marked the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism for the first time. Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor emphasized: "We must remember all victims equally."[33]
In 2011, the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes was officially commemorated in Poland for the first time. Poland held the EU presidency at the time, and the observances in Warsaw, organized by the Ministry of Justice and the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) under the patronage of the Polish President,[34] were also attended by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek,[35] European Commissioner Viviane Reding, and over a dozen European Ministers of Justice.[36][37][38] Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski said that "totalitarianism is not only distant history," whereas IPN director Łukasz Kamiński pointed out that "we will never do enough for the victims of totalitarian regimes – the scale of the damage and crimes attests to this," adding that few have been held accountable for Communist crimes, as Communists often killed the witnesses and destroyed evidence.[39]
On 23 August 2011, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding stated:
In 2011, the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism was also commemorated by the government of Hungary. A government spokesman said that "youth growing up in western Europe should learn what it means to be a victim of Communism," adding that there is "little difference" between "national and international Socialism [...] both involve the same destruction, and a basic characteristic for both is inhumanity."[41]
In Germany, the remembrance day has been observed by a variety of organisations, including the Young Socialists in the SPD and the Green Youth.[42]
In Norway, the Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande proposed that Norway adopt the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism as an official remembrance day in Norway, but the socialist government responded that the government had no plans of officially observing the remembrance day as of 2010. In his response, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre however emphasized the importance of informing about the remembrance day and the victims that are commemorated on 23 August.[43]
On 8 August 2011, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, based on the OSCE's Vilnius Declaration, approved the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, stating that:
The official adoption of August 23 by international bodies is part of the Prague Process, a process aimed at reaching a "common approach regarding crimes of totalitarian regimes, inter alia Communist regimes, and raising a Europe-wide awareness of the Communist crimes in order to clearly define a common attitude towards the crimes of the Communist regimes."[45]
In 2010, the foreign ministers of six EU countries called upon the European Commission to make "the approval, denial or belittling of communist crimes" an EU-wide criminal offence. "The denial of every international crime should be treated according to the same standards, to prevent favourable conditions for the rehabilitation and rebirth of totalitarian ideologies," the foreign ministers wrote in a letter to justice commissioner Viviane Reding.[46] Denial of all totalitarian crimes has already been outlawed in Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Hungary. However, Reding responded that she considers this to be a matter for the national governments to decide, arguing that the conditions to make a legislative proposal at the EU level had not been met at this stage.[47] Lithuanian foreign minister Audronius Azubalis described the letter as an "alarm bell" to Brussels, adding that "everybody knows about the crimes of Nazism, but only part of Europe is aware of the crimes of communism." Lithuania estimates that its population was reduced by one-third during the Soviet occupation.[46] Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said the denial of the crimes of communism is completely comparable to denying the crimes of Nazism, which in many EU countries is a criminal offense. "There is a fundamental concern here that totalitarian systems be measured by the same standard," he said.[48]