Bulgaria’s parliament adopted on Wednesday a special declaration condemning the forcible assimilation of the country’s sizeable Turkish minority under communism.
The declaration specifically centred on the so-called “revival process” in the mid-1980s when Bulgaria’s ethnic Turks were forced to change their Muslim names to Bulgarian ones.
Read the rest of this post »
The heart of the former East German police state – the office of Stasi chief Erich Mielke – has been opened to the public in Berlin.
The original plush furnishings have been restored at “Haus 1″ – the former communist secret police headquarters, which is now a museum.
Before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 about 8,000 Stasi agents worked there, isolated from ordinary citizens.
Twenty-two years ago protesters stormed the HQ and saved many secret files. Read the rest of this post »
A commission set up by the Spanish government has recommended that the remains of General Francisco Franco should be exhumed.
The dictator’s tomb is inside a Catholic basilica, at a politically divisive civil war memorial.
The site, near Madrid, has been a rallying point for the far right.
The commission said the remains of Gen Franco – who ruled between 1936 and his death in 1975 – should be handed over to his family for reburial. Read the rest of this post »
Photographs from the Hearing
EPPpress release
EPP TV coverage
Latvian TV
The Reconciliation of European Histories group in the European Parliament welcomes the establishment of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience as a significant step towards the reconciliation and converging of the European historical narratives. In 2004 when the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, became Member States, the true history of the Iron Curtain still had to be written. Following the enlargement we faced the challenge of including the experience of the post-communist nations into the common narrative of European history. In seven years we have accomplished much to raise the public’s awareness about Europe’s troubled past and the crimes committed by totalitarian regimes. As the December 22nd 2010 Commission Report on the memory of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes and the June 8th 2011 Council Conclusions of the same title show, these years of work have brought this most important topic to the highest reaches of EU governance Read the rest of this post »
Heads of 19 partner institutions and organisations specialised in the subject of totalitarian history from 13 EU member states will sign the founding document of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience in Prague on 14 October, 2011. The ceremony, which will take place in the presence of Prime minister Petr Nečas and Vice-President of the European Parliament László Tökés, is an accompanying event of the summitof the Prime ministers of the Visegrad group. Read the rest of this post »
On 20 September 2011, the General Court of the European Union has ruled in case Case T‑232/10, Couture Tech Ltd vs. Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), that the Soviet coat of arms may not be registered as a Community trade mark. In this precident it was decided that “its registration as a Community trade mark must be refused even if it is contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality in only one Member State.”
Press Release: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-09/cp110095en.pdf
Judgment: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62010TJ0232:EN:HTML
The ministers of Justice of 16 Euroepan Member States and the President of the European Parliament signed the Warsaw Declaration on the occasion of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes, 23rd of August 2011. Please find the link to the document here.
One of the key questions of contemporary societies is how to come to terms with the past, and particularly with the ‘dark’ heritage of the turbulent 20th century. This – individual as well as collective – reconciliation with the past should be based on truth, but the truth is sometimes bitter and often painful. Hence the dilemma: Is it worth opening old wounds, disturbing tranquillity by ‘counting the bones’ and dealing with the past instead of with the future? It can often even be heard that those opening this discussion are doing it for possible political gain. But the truth might be quite the opposite – those who want to close it are doing it on the basis of certain political calculations. Read the rest of this post »
At the opening of the plenary session, the Members of the European Parliament commemorated 70 years from the first mass deportations from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, conducted by the Soviet Union.
In his statement, the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek stressed that we need to remember many thousands of victims in the Baltic States which had been occupied since 1940 by the Soviet Union. (see the full video of debate in the Plenary) Read the rest of this post »
On June 14th, the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels will hosted an exhibition “Birch Bark Letters from Siberia.” The exhibition was organized by MEP Sandra Kalniete (EPP,Latvia), in collaboration with the Tukums Museum in Latvia. For one week, MEPs, staff and guests were able to acquaint themselves with letters which were written on birch bark and sent to the loved ones of Latvians who were forcefully deported to Siberia. Today, from several thousand such examples only 19 remain in the collections of Latvian museums, as historical evidence of this most tragic past. Elza Serdāne, the author of one such letter which has miraculously survived to this day, also took part in the official opening ceremony of the exhibition. At the age of 73, Elza is the active leader of the Politically Repressed Society in her home town of Madona. Read the rest of this post »
Member of the European Parliament from Latvia, Ms Sandra Kalniete, is chairing an informal parliamentary group, the “Reconciliation of European Histories”. A group which consists of 38 MEPs from six political groups (EPP, SD, ALDE, Greens, ECR, and EFD) and therefore has broad political support in the EP.
This week a referendum will take place in Slovenia and voters will decide whether to allow new legislation that proposes to limit individual’s access to the Slovenian archives of the ex-Yugoslav secret communist police (SDV or UDBA). As this topic is of a great importance for the Reconciliation of European Histories group I would like to present my opinion on that matter. Read the rest of this post »
On May 10th, the Reconciliation of European Histories group had its group meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. At the meeting, the group discussed plans for the upcoming EPP hearing in the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) on the December 22nd 2010 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council: The memory of the crimes committed by totalitarian regimes in Europe. Read the rest of this post »
Due to the fact that a few journalist of international newspapers have been using the most unfortunate phrase “a Polish concentration camp” in regards to the Nazi German camps in occupied Poland, the Reconciliation of European Histories group would like to remind those concerned that the usage of this wording is incorrect. Moreover, such a misrepresentation is insensitive and can be hurtful towards the people who were the victims of Nazi persecution, their descendants, and all nations whose territories were occupied by Nazi Germany. It is important for all of us to remember that the Polish people, as well as other European peoples, were also prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. Read the rest of this post »
Providing objective comprehensive information about the totalitarian past leading to a deeper understanding and discussion is a necessary condition for sound future integration of all European nations. There is a need of adjustment and overhaul of European history textbooks and curricula so that young generations could learn about totalitarian regimes.
Draft Program of the Event
Press release and EPP news broadcast video
On February 2nd, the Reconciliation of European Histories group in the European Parliament held its fourth meeting. Guest speakers at the meeting were Dr. Pavel Žáček, the Advisor to the Director of The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Prague, Czech Republic, his colleague Dr. Neela Winkelmann-Heyrovská and former Member of Swedish Parliament Mr. Göran Lindblad. The speakers discussed with the group their work related to the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism and the so called Prague Process. Read the rest of this post »
January 27th 2011, Members of the European Parliament (EP) have sent a letter to the Regional Council responsible for the French city of Montpellier, in which they request that a statue of Lenin is taken down and that a statue of the founder of China’s communist party, Mao Zedong, is not built. Sixty-eight MEPs, from 18 Member States, signed the letter drafted by Sandra Kalniete, Member of European Parliament (MEP) and chair of the Reconciliation of European Histories group in the EP. The letter was also signed by the Vice President of the EP, László Tőkés, and the former President of the EP, Hans-Gert Pöttering. Read the rest of this post »
November 17, 2010
European Parliament
November 10th, Brussels Belgium, the informal group of MEPs in the European Parliament ‘Reconciliation of European Histories’ once again held its group meeting. The group, whose main objective is “to reconcile the different historical narratives in Europe and to consolidate them into a united European story,” meet with the Permanent Representative to the EU of Poland, Jan Tombiński as well as the Honorary President of the Hungarian World Federation, László Tőkés. The group discussed with their guests the upcoming presidencies of Hungary and Poland in the European Union, in 2011, and how these presidencies will further the cause of historical reconciliation and better the education of history in Europe. Read the rest of this post »
On September 22 2010 the informal group of MEPs in the European Parliament ‘Reconciliation of European Histories’ held its group meeting in Strasbourg, France. The group, whose main objective is “to reconcile the different historical narratives in Europe and to consolidate them into a united European story,” met with Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education in the European Parliament, MEP Doris Pack. The meeting centred on the topic of how to promote in the European population a better understanding and more knowledge of the most tragic pages of the 20th century. Read the rest of this post »
Strasbourg, 15th of June 2010 – Members of the European Parliament gathered by the memorial plaque, honoring those deported from the Baltic nations, to commemorate the 70 year anniversary of the occupation of the Baltic nations. In order to prevent such historical mistakes from reoccurring, many MEPs continue to remind the world of the horrors committed by the Stalinist regime. Read the rest of this post »
Contribution of Heidi Hautala, chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee of Human rights, at the conference “Crimes of the Communist Regimes” in Prague 24-26 February 2010:
Dear participants of the conference Crimes of the Communist Regimes,
I can’t unfortunately be present in the conference, as I am taking part on a European Parliament’s fact-finding delegation visit to Belarus.
Twenty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain and almost six years after the accession of post-communist countries to the EU, it is natural to ask how one should deal with the past of the communist states. How should we evaluate the actions of the communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain? For me the points of departure are definitely human rights and justice. Read the rest of this post »
Press release
Strasbourg, 18 May 2010
Yesterday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg upheld the war crimes conviction of a “Red Partisan” who was found guilty of ordering the killing of civilians while fighting for Soviet forces in Nazi-occupied Latvia in 1944. Read the rest of this post »
MOSCOW — Leaders from the Baltic States have welcomed statements from Russian President Dmitri Medvedev concerning the alleged crimes of the Soviet Union.
A major bone of contention in diplomatic relations between the Baltic States and Russia lies in crimes committed by the Soviet Union. Read the rest of this post »
On Thursday, 6 May 2010, 35 MEPs from five political groups established ‘Reconciliation of European Histories,’ an informal group of MEPs. Read the rest of this post »
The Russian Archives have posted documents which shed light on the Soviet Union’s World War II massacre of more than 20,000 Polish officers and other prominent citizens. The Soviet Union had blamed the massacres on Nazi forces who invaded in 1941. This explanation had remained the official state position until Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged Soviet responsibility in 1990. The current Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, has promised that more similar documents would also be released. The documents are available on the following site:
http://rusarchives.ru/publication/katyn/spisok.shtml (In Russian)
Also see: Excerpts: Beria letter to Stalin on Katyn (From BBC news in English)
