With the aim of better understanding the historical role played by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, speakers from across Europe gathered for a conference in the European Parliament yesterday (14 October).
Much of the discussion, however, exposed a political divide between the Social Democrats (S&D) and the European People's Party on the issue of whether Nazi and communists crimes should be considered on an equal footing.
Speaking at the conference's opening, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek recalled that in August 1939 Time Magazine had called the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact the 'Communazi Pact'. This is "perhaps a better name for a deal between two totalitarian regimes which proceeded to divide Central and Eastern Europe between themselves," he said.
Buzek outlined the historical consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: massive deportations, loss of life and loss of territory in Central and Eastern Europea. He recalled a European Parliament resolution adopted in April on European Conscience and Totalitarianism, in which it called for "the proclamation of 23 August as a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes," and called on the European public "to commemorate these victims with dignity and impartiality" (EurActiv 03/04/09).
When that resolution was voted upon in the European Parliament, most Socialist MEPs rejected the text. Giving the reasons for this vote, former Socialist MEP Glyn Ford (United Kingdom) said: "I am not willing to equate the crimes of the Nazis, the Holocaust and the genocide that saw six million Jews, along with communists, trade unionists and disabled die, with those of Stalinist Russia". He said he was "afraid that this resolution has elements of a historical revisionism that flies in the face of a demand for objective analysis".
However, a few Socialist MEPs supported the resolution. They were mainly from Central and Eastern European member states, like former MEP Katrin Saks (Estonia). "I cannot agree with the rhetoric that this [resolution] is an attempt to rewrite history," she said after the vote in plenary. "A large part of the history of Eastern Europe is unwritten, or at least few are aware of it: precisely the part that concerns crimes connected with communism," she added.
Irena Degutienė, the Lithuanian parliament's speaker, spole yesterday of the need to have a "single view of the crimes perpetrated by the totalitarian regimes".
The Baltic States argue that Russia should pay them compensation for the damage caused by fifty years of Soviet occupation.
"We must continue to engage with the Russian Federation so that it maintains the commitments it has signed up to and becomes a partner. We must show that the Eastern partnership is not against any other country but only for assisting six Eastern European countries in their stability and future prosperity," Buzek said.
Gundars Daudze, chairman of the Latvian Parliament, said "peace, enjoy civic freedoms and the rule of law […] are values for which our people once fought, these are values that now we have to defend. Those countries which 70 years ago suffered most from the unlawful and cynical game of the super-powers understand that specially well and we should work to prevent reoccurrence of this terror and horror again," he concluded.
