crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
Public awareness and textbooks need historical research behind them. We have had the experience
of 60 years of research in World War Two history and one might hold the opinion that all is accomplished
already. Yet that is not the case. In the sense of historical research, history will never be completed and
every new generation will write their own books. The history of World War Two and post-war history is
a special issue. First, because of historical arguments used by both sides during the Cold War. Second,
because all historical works published in the Eastern Bloc before its collapse were published under
strong supervision and censorship of the party apparatus. Free research of the history of the Soviet
Union and Eastern Bloc has lasted less that 20 years and much work remains to be carried out.
The issue of opening closed archives has a great importance here. History has never remained
unwritten only due to closed archives. If some archives are closed, some historical experience could be
excluded from the historical narrative or is simply replaced by some other experience. To illustrate it,
I would like to quote a Russian military historian Igor Ivlev, who described the situation in December
2007 in the Russian monthly Military-Historical Archives:
“Today most of the publications in Russia on the history of World War Two are written on the basis
of the archive materials of the former enemy. Bookstores are full of beautiful publications about the
former enemy. One can find everything – from the albums of enemy uniforms to the memoirs of never
surrendered enemy commanders, including the overviews of the orders of battle of the German Army
and the biographies of the all famous functionaries of the Third Reich. The books about the victorious
Red Army occupy only a small space on the bookshelves of historical literature. Most of them are the
new editions of the memoirs of Red Army generals published in the Soviet time.” 23
Finally I would like to draw your attention to a Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Poland and
Estonia dated 18 March 2008. The Presidents call upon European States to come together to create an
independent international commission, appointing internationally recognized Europeans – respected
scholars, senior politicians and others – to study and assess Communist crimes against humanity and
violations of human rights. The aim of such a commission should not be to condemn or pass judgement
on individuals, for it would not be a court; the aim should be to explain what was done to a quarter
of the citizens of Europe, to judge the system, whose long-lasting effects are with us even today. The
Presidents call upon the Governments of Europe to negotiate a legal instrument for the creation of such
a commission and its working procedures. The Presidents hope that the countries of Europe, those
countries who have suffered as well as those who managed to remain democratic, will participate in this
important endeavour to search for moral right and justice. I think that the proposal of the Presidents is
worthy of our consideration and active participation in the establishment of such a commission. 34
2
Igor Ivlev, “Таить нельзя открыть”, Военно-исторический архив, 96/12 (2007), p. 46.
3
See Joint Declaration of the Presidents of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Estonia, 18 March 2008, http://www.president.ee/
en/duties/statements.php (last visited 28 April 2008).
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