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Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes We cannot identify Stalinism with the Soviet nation together with this. By rejecting the methods of Stalinism and condemning its crimes, it wouldn’t be credible to deny the firm contribution of the Soviet nation in the liberation from Fascism in the Second World War. Precisely the countries of the aggressive Fascist bloc were the aggressors in the Second World War, which brought so much suffering and misery to the peoples of many different countries. When strongly condemning the crimes of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, it is necessary not to shake the existing norms of the international law but make sure that they are strictly observed and strengthened. There is no excuse for the participants in the Nazi organisations, which were recognised as criminal by the Nuremberg Court, for example, the SS. The most important element of the “reconciliation with the past” is to establish the human dignity of the victims of past crimes, their rehabilitation, and creation of mechanisms for reparation possibilities. A lot of work has been done in this direction in Russia. The first measures were adopted already in the Soviet Union, soon after the death of Stalin. On 4 May 1954, the presidium of the Central Committee, Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CC CPSU) adopted a decision on an overview of all matters for all persons who were convicted for “contra-revolutionary crimes” by judicial as well as nonjudicial authorities. At that time, all these people were either in prison or in exile in special settlements. Committees were established in order to implement this decision. The Central Commission was presided over by the State Prosecutor General of USSR, R. A. Rudenko. The Commission concluded its activities in March 1956. The work began in May 1954 and considered the matters concerning 337,183 people. For 153,502 people, the decisions on termination of procedure, shortening of the statute of limitations, and pardon of exile were adopted and the order “On amnesty ” was applied. 2 Unfortunately, these commissions remained within “socialist rules of law” and they were not able to carry out full rehabilitation of the victims of Stalinist repression. During the preparation and execution of the 20 th CPSU Congress (February 1956), political decisions on implementation of further rehabilitation of the victims of Stalinist repression were adopted. In January 1956, the ordinance of the CC CPSU Presidium on “establishing party committees by the CC CPSU” was adopted, which were sent to the camps. The Supreme Soviet USSR Presidium authorised them to consider the matters concerning people who were serving sentences for crimes of political nature, offences by official duty (official offence) and on-the-spot decision-making regarding their acquittal. 3 According to this ordinance, the operation concerning the rehabilitation was transferred to the party-political sphere. These commissions considered the matters for more than 170,000 people until October 1957, whereby more than 100,000 people were freed from prisons. 4 November 1956 brought about rehabilitation for nations who were exposed to Stalinist forced migrations to the Eastern parts of the country during the Second World War. The CC CPSU Presidium ordinance was adopted “establishing the national autonomy of the Kalmyk, Karachai, Balkar, Chechen and Ingush nations”. 5 The Chechen, Ingush, Balkar, Karachai and Kalmyk were no longer deportees and were allowed to return to their native soil. At that time the Kalmyk, Karachai-Cherkess, Kabardin-Balkar, and Chechen-Ingush autonomous regions were established. In 1967, the founding and constitutional rights of the Crimean Tatars were published; however, various obstacles were created concerning their return to the Crimea. More firm measures to bring back justice concerning the victims of mass repression were adopted during formation of the Russian federation as an independent country. In April 1991 the Russian law “on rehabilitation of nations who suffered repression” was adopted. The law intended full rehabilitation of the Russian nations, whom the Stalinist regime exposed to “the genocide and calumnious attacks”. The law declared: “Rehabilitation of all RSFSR nations who suffered repression, recognition of all repressive actions against these nations as unlawful and intolerable.” 6 The law was directed into full return of justice concerning all nations who suffered repression. The law was amended by the order of the RF President “on immediate measures for rehabilitation of the Russian Germans” (21 February 1992). 2 O. V. Lavinska, Documents of the State Prosecutor on the rehabilitation process of the victims of the political violence between 1954 and 1956 – National Archives, 2007, p. 3. 3 A. A. Fursenko (ed.), Presidium CC CPSU, 1954–1964, Part 2: Ordinances, 1954–1958, Moscow 2006, p. 194. 4 Rehabilitation: How Did It Happen. Part 2: February 1956–beginning of 1960’s, Moscow 2003, p. 193. 5 Ibid., pp. 199–203. 6 Official messages of the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of RSFSR, No. 18, 2 May 1991. 276
Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes The most important was the law “on rehabilitation of victims of political repression”, which was adopted on 18 October 1991. The introductory part to the law declared: “During the Soviet rule millions of people were the victims of totalitarian state’s self-will, suffered under the repression because of political and religious beliefs, and social, national and other reasons.” The Supreme Soviet condemned the terror and mass persecution of its nation for many years as incompatible with the idea of law and justice; it expressed deep sympathy with the victims of unfounded repression, along with their relatives and close family members, and declared that it has a firm intention to acquire realistic guarantees to ensure legality and human rights. The objective of this law is the rehabilitation of all victims of political repression who have been exposed to such repression in the territory of the Russian Federation since 25 October (7 November) 1917, recovery of civil rights, elimination of all other consequences of self-will, and the assurance that material and moral damages shall be repaid in accordance with the available possibilities. 7 The law included a wide definition of “political repression”; it described the circle of persons who may be rehabilitated, defined the method of rehabilitation, determined the right of rehabilitated persons to receive monetary compensation, and to acquire some other relief. The quoted law settled the issue of justice recovery in relation to the victims of unfounded political repression, pointed the way to elimination of consequences of self-will, determined the manner and amount of possible compensations. The search for “reconciliation with the past” proposes expansion of objective information on authoritative and totalitarian regimes and their crimes. Russian historians have done a lot of work in this direction. Collections of documents were published, which disclose the decision-making process during Stalinism, mechanisms of mass repressions, functioning of the GULAG system (Main Directorate of Corrective Labour Camps), investigation of the Orthodox Church representatives, and anti-Semitic campaign methods revealed in Stalin’s last stage of life. All these documents are available to the researchers, as well as to ordinary readers. A visible result of joint activities of the Russian and Polish historians is the publication of documents in four volumes, which highlight the shooting of professional soldiers in Katyn in the spring of 1940. In March 2008 the international conference on the topic of “Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in Europe” was organised at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The conference participants discussed common moves and character specifics of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Much attention was paid to analysis of the crimes of nondemocratic regimes from the viewpoint of international law. It is important that the truth about the past is handed over to the youth, who are often poorly informed about the crimes of Stalinism. Here, means of mass information play an important role, together with school education. Two television programs aired in 2007, which present the fates of GULAG prisoners: Lenin’s Last Will based on the work by V. Šalam and The First Circle based on the work by A. Solzhenitsyn, may be considered achievements of Russian television. These television programs encouraged the interest of viewers. It is obvious that every country created its own complex programme for education of nontolerance towards political aggression, nationalism and xenophobia. Within this context, it is important that following the rule of law, respect of democratic principles and human rights become rooted in the society. It seems that the European Commission could create general recommendations in this direction. The truth about the past is not supposed to separate but to unite the Europeans as the victims of criminal acts committed by authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. In conclusion, I would like to mention that the “EU Justice and Home Affairs Council Framework Decision” refers to the fight against certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia. The occurrence of nationalism and xenophobia has been becoming a serious threat in a number of European States, including Russia. Decisive actions against the phenomena like racism, nationalism and xenophobia are required. 7 Official messages of the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of RSFSR, No. 44, 31 October 1991. 277
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE Lovro Št
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IV. REMEMBRANCE, RECOGNITION AND PU
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crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

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