Poland commemorates victims of dictatorships day

Jerzy Buzek; photo - EPA

August 23 was designated as a day of remembrance to victims of totalitarian regimes by the European Parliament in 2009 and marks the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact at the beginning of WW II.

This year's events will have a special poignancy with regimes toppling across North Africa.

While the main event, a commemorative conference, will take place Tuesday, the opening ceremony was held in Warsaw Monday, hosted by the head of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek along with Poland's justice minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski.

The aim of the conference today is to raise awareness in Europe and beyond that the issue of totalitarian victims remains current in the modern-day world, as many of those affected by authoritarian regimes are alive to this day.

"We do justice to the victims of totalitarian regimes by teaching younger generations the truth about historical events,” Minister Kwiatkowski said yesterday.

“We commemorate those who died, although this remains a yet-to-be-completed task for Poland and other European countries, none of which have so far drawn up a complete list of names of World War II victims. And so, if we look more closely at what we can do in this respect, it emerges that there remains a lot to be done," he added.

The date marks the anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Signed in 1939 between the German Reich and the Soviet Union, the agreement paved the way for World War II and the partitioning of Poland, added the minister.

Today's commemorations at the 1944 Warsaw Rising Museum is to be attended by several EU justice ministers, along with representatives of European institutions devoted to studying modern history, among them Poland's state-backed Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).

Today’s opening ceremony coincides with the 23rd international Conference of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust winding up in Warsaw. The four-day event has drawn up to 350 attendees, travelling from countries such as Germany, Spain, the United States and ustralia. (ab/pg)