The Seventy Years Declaration

Last updated

The Seventy Years Declaration was a declaration initiated by the American academic Dovid Katz and the Australian academic Danny Ben-Moshe, and released on 20 January 2012 to protest the policies of several European states and European Union bodies concerning the evaluation, remembrance and prosecution of crimes committed by communist dictatorships in Europe, specifically policies of many European countries and the EU treating the Nazi and Stalinist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe as equally criminal. Presented as a response to the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism initiated by the Czech government in 2008 to condemn communism as totalitarian and criminal, it explicitly rejects the idea that the regimes of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler are morally equivalent, i.e. the totalitarianism theory that was popularized by academics such as Hannah Arendt, Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski and became dominant in Western political discourse during the Cold War, and that gained new popularity in many new EU member states after the end of communism, resulting in international resolutions, establishment of research institutes and museums, and the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. The declaration also states that communist regimes did not commit genocides, citing the 1948 Genocide Convention which restricts genocide to mass killings related to ethnicity, race, nationality, or religion. The declaration claims that the Holocaust was unique, a subject of some debate. The declaration was signed by 70, mostly leftist, parliamentarians from Europe (MEPs and national MPs). It was released on the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin.

Contents

Background

The Prague Declaration and the totalitarianism paradigm

During the Cold War, the theory of two totalitarianisms, fascism and communism, gained popularity in the Western world, for example through the work of Hannah Arendt (notably her influential book The Origins of Totalitarianism ) and other scholars, such as Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who argued that Nazi and Soviet regimes were equally totalitarian. [1] According to Volker Berghahn, "as Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski later put it in their classic analysis of the totalitarian paradigm that came to sweep the board in Western ideological discourse in the 1950s, Nazism and Stalinism were "basically alike" and represented very modern and brutally destructive versions of twentieth-century dictatorship." [2]

Since the end of the Cold War, eastern and central European countries have established institutes and enacted laws to address crimes committed by former totalitarian regimes in their countries, both communist and fascist. Examples include the Czech state Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the Polish state Institute of National Remembrance, the Lithuanian state Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, the German state Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism and the Hungarian state House of Terror museum. The theory of two totalitarianisms also gained new popularity in the West during the 1990s, especially after the publication of the 1997 French book The Black Book of Communism , which said that "the genocide of a "class" may well be tantamount to the genocide of a "race,"" arguing that deaths caused by Hitler's and Stalin's regimes were "equal". In its introduction, Stéphane Courtois argued that communism and national socialism are slightly different totalitarian systems, that communism is responsible for the murder of about 100 million people during the 20th century, that the National Socialists adopted their repressive methods from Soviet methods, and that "a single-minded focus on the Jewish genocide in an attempt to characterize the Holocaust as a unique atrocity has [...] prevented the assessment of other episodes of comparable magnitude in the Communist world". [3] The United States Congress claimed in 1993 that 100,000,000 victims died in "an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust," establishing the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. [4]

An increased emphasis on the crimes of communism after the end of communism resulted in the 2006 Council of Europe resolution 1481, which condemned the "individual and collective assassinations and executions, death in concentration camps, starvation, deportations, torture, slave labour and other forms of mass physical terror" perpetrated by communist regimes, [5] and in early 2008, the European Union initiated the European Public Hearing on Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes. In mid-2008, the Czech government initiated the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, signed by Václav Havel, Joachim Gauck, and others. It endorsed the idea of "Europe-wide condemnation of, and education about, the crimes of communism." [6] As proposed by the declaration, the European Parliament in 2008–2009 with approval of all political factions designated the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism as "a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality," [7] [8] and a remembrance day for victims of totalitarian regimes was also adopted by Canada. [9] In 2009, the European Parliament endorsed the recognition of "Communism, Nazism and fascism as a shared legacy," reconfirmed "its united stand against all totalitarian rule from whatever ideological background," and condemned "strongly and unequivocally all crimes against humanity and the massive human rights violations committed by all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes." [8] The remembrance day was endorsed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in its 2009 Vilnius Declaration, which said that "in the twentieth century European countries experienced two major totalitarian regimes, Nazi and Stalinist, which brought about genocide, violations of human rights and freedoms, war crimes and crimes against humanity" and condemned "the glorification of the totalitarian regimes, including the holding of public demonstrations glorifying the Nazi or Stalinist past." [10] The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union also endorsed the establishment of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, as conceived by the Prague Declaration, by the governments of the Visegrád Group, the Polish EU presidency and several European state institutes, as an EU educational project to increase awareness about totalitarian crimes and to "prevent intolerance, extremism, anti-democratic movements and the recurrence of any totalitarian rule in the future." [11] The Greens–European Free Alliance argued that "the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism should be the common basis for the research on and evaluation of communist regimes in all countries in East-Europe." [12]

The Prague Declaration was opposed by Russian bodies and organisations affiliated with Vladimir Putin's government, such as the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests and World Without Nazism. It was also opposed by several European communist parties, such as the Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Party of Britain. There were isolated critiques of the Prague Declaration in 2009 by (in chronological order of appearance in print): Dovid Katz, formerly professor of Yiddish at Vilnius University, who founded the web journal Defending History in part to oppose the Prague Declaration; Israeli activist Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office; British MP John Mann, who termed it a "sinister document", Anti-German [13] political scientist Clemens Heni, and others. [14] The Prague Declaration was also criticised by eurosceptic John Laughland, who has instead compared the EU to Nazism. [15] However, there has also been support for the Prague Declaration from Israeli academics such as Barry Rubin [16] and Lithuanian centrist politician Emanuelis Zingeris, a former honorary chairman of that country's Jewish community.

Response by the Seventy Years Declaration

By the initiative of Katz, Danny Ben-Moshe drafted the Seventy Years Declaration as a response to the Prague Declaration. Seventy members of the European Parliament signed it on 20 January 2012, to mark the seventieth anniversary of the 1942 Wannsee Conference in Berlin that had decided on the "Final Solution" (genocide) of European Jewry.

The text of the Seventy Years Declaration was published on 20 January 2012 in Defending History, and subsequently in European languages. [17] [18] Its distribution was reported by Roger Cohen in the New York Times, [19] Danna Harman in Haaretz, [20] Frank Brendle in Taz.de, [21] among others. In 2013, its own website was launched.

The Seventy Years Declaration condemns Stalinist tyranny and proposes distinct, separate recognition of the various European tragedies of the 20th century. The SYD explicitly rejects the Prague Declaration and its "attempts to obfuscate the Holocaust by diminishing its uniqueness and deeming it to be equal, similar or equivalent to Communism."[5] It was published on 20 January 2012, on the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference and signed by 71 parliamentarians from 19 EU countries,[3] including eight MPs and MEPs from Lithuania. On the same day Audronius Ažubalis condemned the Lithuanian signatories,[27] arguing that "it is not possible to find differences between Hitler and Stalin except in their moustaches."[28] One of the signatories, MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, now the nation's Health Minister, responded to the foreign minister.[29]UK MP Denis MacShane released a letter endorsing Andriukaitis and the other Lithuanian signatories.

The Seventy Years Declaration form part of the subject material of the documentary movie Rewriting History, which premiered on Australian television in September 2012,[30]. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [31]

The Declaration also opposes various alleged East European attempts to glorify Nazi collaborator organisations, specifically mentioning the honouring of the Waffen SS in Estonia and Latvia, and the Lithuanian Activist Front in Lithuania. It acknowledges the need to honour Jewish partisans who joined the battle against Hitler, a reference to Lithuanian government efforts to prosecute Holocaust Survivors who joined the resistance. The Declaration opposes attempts to extend the definition of "genocide" to encompass sundry crimes of totalitarian regimes, endorsing instead a strict definition in the spirit of the 1948 definition.

The Seventy Years Declaration was presented to Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, on 14 March 2012. [27] [28]

Response

Israeli academic Barry Rubin has written, referring to the initiators of the Seventy Years Declaration, that "a relentless campaign has been waged by a tiny group of people to persuade Jews and Israelis to oppose the June 3, 2008 Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, as if it were some horrible anti-Semitic document. This is a slanderously wrong claim." [16]

The Seventy Years Declaration was criticized by the Lithuanian foreign minister Audronius Ažubalis, who said in response that "It is not possible to find differences between Hitler and Stalin except in their moustaches (Hitler's was shorter)." [29] The response came in anger at the fact that eight Lithuanian Social Democrats (two MEPs and six MPs) signed the Declaration. A heated debate ensued when a subsequent article by Ažubalis [30] was replied to by MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, [31] [32] then an opposition spokesman on foreign affairs. The foreign minister's "moustache comparison" resulted in individual letters of praise from British MP Denis MacShane [ citation needed ] to each of the eight Lithuanian signatories, and to reportage in the New York Times. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stéphane Courtois</span> French historian (born 1947)

Stéphane Courtois is a French historian and university professor, a director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies (ICES) in La Roche-sur-Yon, and director of a collection specialized in the history of communist movements and communist states.

In the resolution 1481/2006 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) issued on 25 January 2006 during its winter session, the Council of Europe "strongly condemns crimes of totalitarian communist regimes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Göran Lindblad (politician)</span> Swedish politician

Lars Göran Axel Lindblad is a Swedish politician and member of the Moderate Party. He served as a member of the Swedish parliament 1997–2010, representing the constituency of Gothenburg. He served as a replacement member of parliament 1993–1997, and again since 2010. Lindblad has chaired the Swedish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and served as Vice President of PACE as well as chair of the Political Affairs Committee. He was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly 2004–2010. In October 2011, he was elected President of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism (IICC) is a Sweden-based non-profit and non-governmental human rights organization, founded in 2008, with the stated purpose of "spreading essential information on the crimes of communism and to promote vigilance against all totalitarian ideologies and antidemocratic movements". The institute is a member organization of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, an educational project of the European Union bringing together government institutions and NGOs active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of totalitarian regimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dovid Katz</span> American Yiddish scholar and historian

Dovid Katz is an American-born Vilnius-based scholar, author, and educator specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian-Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. In recent years, he has been known for combating the so-called "Double Genocide" revision of Holocaust history which asserts a moral equivalence between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He is editor of the web journal Defending History which he founded in 2009. He is known to spend part of each year at his home in North Wales. His website includes a list of his books, of some articles by topic, a record of recent work, and a more comprehensive bibliography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania</span>

The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania is a state-funded research institute in Lithuania dedicated to "the study of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Lithuania; the study of the persecution of local residents by occupying regimes; the study of armed and unarmed resistance to occupying regimes; the initiation of the legal evaluation of the activities of the organisers and implementers of genocide; and the commemoration of freedom fighters and genocide victims." The centre was founded on 25 October 1992 by the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian Republic as the "State Genocide Research Centre of Lithuania". It is a member organisation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audronius Ažubalis</span> Lithuanian journalist and politician

Audronius Ažubalis is a Lithuanian journalist and politician, serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania from 2010 to 2012. He was a member of the Seimas 1996–2000, and was elected again in 2004. He has chaired the foreign affairs committee of the Seimas. Ažubalis represents the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Lithuania's conservative party and part of the European People's Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Ribbon Day</span> International day of remembrance

The Black Ribbon Day, officially known in the European Union as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism and also referred to as the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is an international day of remembrance for victims of totalitarianism regimes, specifically Stalinist, communist, Nazi and fascist regimes. Formally recognised by the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and some other countries, it is observed on 23 August. It symbolises the rejection of "extremism, intolerance and oppression" according to the European Union. The purpose of the Day of Remembrance is to preserve the memory of the victims of mass deportations and exterminations, while promoting democratic values to reinforce peace and stability in Europe. It is one of the two official remembrance days or observances of the European Union, alongside Europe Day. Under the name Black Ribbon Day it is an official remembrance day of Canada. The European Union has used both names alongside each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prague Declaration</span> Political declaration signed in 2008 in the Czech Republic

The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former Czech President Václav Havel and future German President Joachim Gauck, calling for "Europe-wide condemnation of, and education about, the crimes of communism." Much of the content of the declaration reproduced demands formulated by the European People's Party in 2004, and draws heavily on the theory or conception of totalitarianism.

The Declaration on Crimes of Communism is a declaration signed on 25 February 2010 by several prominent European politicians, former political prisoners, human rights advocates and historians, which calls for the condemnation of communism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Public Hearing on Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes</span>

Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes are reports and proceedings of the European public hearing organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. The Hearing was organised in response to the request made by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union on 19 April 2007.

The Vilnius Declaration was a declaration adopted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) during the 18th annual session of its parliamentary assembly, that took place in Vilnius from 29 June to 3 July 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism</span> Analysis of similarities and differences between ideologies

Some historians and other authors have carried out comparisons of Nazism and Stalinism. They have considered the similarities and differences between the two ideologies and political systems, the relationship between the two regimes, and why both came to prominence simultaneously. During the 20th century, the comparison of Nazism and Stalinism was made on totalitarianism, ideology, and personality cult. Both regimes were seen in contrast to the liberal democratic Western world, emphasizing the similarities between the two.

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an educational project of the European Union bringing together government institutions and NGOs from EU countries active in research, documentation, awareness raising and education about the crimes of totalitarian regimes. Its membership includes 68 government agencies and NGOs from 15 EU member states and 8 non-EU countries including Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, Iceland, Moldova, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Its members include the Institute of National Remembrance, the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, the Stasi Records Agency and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The platform has offices in Prague and Brussels (formerly). The President of the platform was Göran Lindblad (politician) (2012-2017), later Łukasz Kamiński, former President of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (2017-2022). In the current term of office Marek Mutor serves the President of Platform.

The European Public Hearing on European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After was a European public hearing organised by the Czech Presidency of the European Union in the European Parliament on 18 March 2009. The hearing was described by the Presidency as "the third step towards the establishment of a European Platform of Memory and Conscience to support the activities of institutions engaged in reconciling with totalitarian regimes in Europe."

The European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism was a resolution of the European Parliament adopted on 2 April 2009 by a vote of 533–44 with 33 abstentions, in which the European Parliament condemned totalitarian crimes and called for the recognition of "Nazism, Stalinism and fascist and Communist regimes as a common legacy" and for "an honest and thorough debate on their crimes in the past century." The resolution also called for several measures to strengthen public awareness of totalitarian crimes.

The double genocide theory alleges that two genocides of equal severity occurred in Eastern Europe, that of the Holocaust against Jews perpetrated by the Nazis and an alleged second genocide that the Soviet Union committed against local populations in Eastern Europe. The theory first became popular in post-Soviet Lithuania, in discussions about the Holocaust in Lithuania. A more explicitly antisemitic version of the theory accuses Jews of complicity in Soviet repression and characterizes local participation in the Holocaust as retaliation, especially in Lithuania, eastern Poland, and northern Romania. Double genocide theory has been criticized by scholars as a form of Holocaust trivialization.

The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory is a non-governmental foundation that focuses on the investigation of war crimes and human rights violations committed by totalitarian regimes and research of totalitarian ideologies that created such regimes. The Institute aims to give the general public a comprehensive, objective and international overview of human rights violations and crimes committed by totalitarian regimes both in Estonia and abroad. 

A memory law is a legal provision governing the interpretation of historical events and showcases the legislator's or judicial preference for a certain narrative about the past. In the process, competing interpretations may be downplayed, sidelined, or even prohibited.

The European Parliament resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe was a resolution of the European Parliament adopted on 19 September 2019 with 535 votes in favor, 66 against, and 52 abstentions, which called for remembrance of totalitarian crimes and condemned propaganda that denies or glorifies totalitarian crimes, and linked such propaganda to Russian information warfare against "democratic Europe."

References

  1. ↑ Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy (2nd edn 1967)
  2. ↑ Volker R. Berghahn, "Philanthropy and diplomacy in the American century," in Michael J. Hogan (ed.), The Ambiguous Legacy: U. S. Foreign Relations in the "American Century", p. 389
  3. ↑ Courtois, Stéphane, ed. (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. p. 9. ISBN   0-674-07608-7.
  4. ↑ Rauch, Jonathan (December 2003). "The Forgotten Millions". The Atlantic . Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Council of Europe resolution 1481". Archived from the original on 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  6. ↑ Charles Recknagel (13 October 2011). "How Much Do Western Europeans Know About Communist Crimes?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 8 December 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  7. ↑ "Declaration of the European Parliament on the proclamation of 23 August as European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism". Europa.eu . Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  8. 1 2 "European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism". Europa.eu . Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  9. ↑ "Aug. 23 to become Black Ribbon Day of remembrance". CTV.ca. 1 December 2009. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Vilnius Declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and resolutions adopted at the eighteenth annual session" (PDF). Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCEPA). June 29 – July 3, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  11. ↑ "Czech Prime minister Petr Nečas: The years of totalitarianism were years of struggle for liberty". Memoryandconscience.eu. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  12. ↑ "Totalitarian Regimes and The Opening of The Secret Files Archives in Central and Eastern Europe". European Agenda. 18 September 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-12-19. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  13. ↑ "Bahamas - Doch ein Ehrenmann".
  14. ↑ Dovid Katz in 2009 op-eds in the Jewish Chronicle and Irish Times. He was followed by Efraim Zuroff in the Jerusalem Post, John Mann in the Jewish Chronicle, and Clemens Heni. A collection of links to opposition to the Prague Declaration is provided on a page of Defending History.
  15. ↑ Conference of World Without Nazism, 9 October 2012, Strasbourg
  16. 1 2 Barry Rubin (13 August 2010). "Those who neglect their past have no future". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2011-05-16.}
  17. ↑ Danny Ben-Moshe, "Remembering Wannsee", The Jerusalem Post, 18 January 2012
  18. ↑ Dovid Katz, "The Seventy Years Declaration and the Simple Truth", Algemeiner Journal, 3 February 2012
  19. 1 2 Roger Cohen, "The Suffering Olympics", The New York Times, 30 January 2012
  20. ↑ Danna Harman, "European leaders to mark 70th anniversary of Nazi Wannsee Conference", Haaretz, 19 January 2012
  21. ↑ Frank Brendle, "Der Holocaust ist einzigartig/The Holocaust is unique", taz.de, 19 January 2012
  22. ↑ Graeme Blundell, "Lithuania’s Lies and Deception Exposed", The Australian, 14 September 2012
  23. ↑ Ian Cuthbertson, "Rewriting History: When Truth is the Enemy", The Australian, 8 September 2012
  24. ↑ Tim Elliott, "Free to Air", The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 2012
  25. ↑ Hobart Mercury, "When Truth is the Enemy - in Time Out", The Hobart Mercury, 14 September 2012
  26. ↑ Nicholas Soames, "Rewriting History documentary Screens Tonight", The Surf Coast News,14 September 2012
  27. ↑ European Parliament Video, "Martin Schulz, European Parliament President meeting with Dovid Katz. Handing over of the Declaration on the Final Solution of the Wannsee Conference 70th anniversary.", European Parliament Press, Strasbourg, 14 March 2012
  28. ↑ European Parliament Transcript, "Martin SCHULZ, EP President, meeting with Dovid KATZ: - Handing over of the Declaration on the Final Solution of the Wannsee Conference" Archived 2013-01-31 at the Wayback Machine , European Commission, Strasbourg, 14 March 2012
  29. ↑ "A. Ažubalis: apgailėtina pasirašyti deklaraciją, atmetančią nacių ir sovietų nusikaltimų sulyginimą". lzinios.lt. 20 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016.
  30. ↑ Audronius Ažubalis - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, "Havel was not an Antisemite, and the Tragedy of the Holocaust is Not a Toy in Your Election Game", Delfi, 3 February 2012
  31. ↑ Vytenis Povilas _ Lithuanian MP, "Honorable A. Ažubalis, Did You Pull Such an Understanding of History out of Thin Air?", Delfi, 9 February 2012
  32. ↑ A Lithuanian radio debate on the subject, "Can the Holocaust be compared with Communist crimes?", Žinių radijas, 31 January 2012
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.