Historian Dr Mitja Ferenc has once again pointed out to the European Parliament the injustices being inflicted by the current government on the victims of the communist regime. Slovenian MEP Romana Tomc has called on other Members of the European Parliament to send a special mission to Slovenia to find out the real situation and to adopt a resolution calling on the Slovenian government to condemn communist crimes and to guarantee the right to a grave and a memorial for all its victims.
At Monday’s meeting, the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions again considered a petition by MEP Romana Tomc and historian Dr Mitja Ferenc on the right to a grave and a memorial for victims of communist violence and other totalitarian regimes in Slovenia.
The Committee had already considered the petition in February last year. According to MEP Tomc, the purpose of the debate at that time was to draw attention to the shameful decision of the government of Robert Golob to abolish the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communist Violence. “All other European countries have paid tribute in one way or another to the victims of communism, but in Slovenia, many of them are still lying in unmarked graves. It is precisely because of the indifference of the government of Robert Golob to our efforts to preserve the memory of the victims of communism that the European Parliament is continuing its proceedings.”
One category of the dead has no right to civilisational rights
Historian Dr Ferenc was the first to speak at the meeting, and he pointed out that he came before the Committee on behalf of those affected by the undemocratic regime and on behalf of the relatives of the victims to draw attention to the violation of two fundamental rights. Rights which are universal and which Europe respects and enshrines in its code of ethics, namely the right to commemoration and the right to a decent burial. “When I mention a decent burial of human remains, I am referring to all those who were not allowed to have a grave during the communist regime. In Slovenia, the victims of the other two totalitarianisms, fascism and Nazism, are duly remembered, and resistance against them is preserved as a positive value. This is not the case for the victims of communist violence,” he explained critically.
Remains have been exhumed in whole or in part from only around ten gravesites
The historian went on to explain that tens of thousands of prisoners of war and civilians of various nationalities (Germans, Italians, Croatians, Serbians, Montenegrins, Bosnians, Hungarians, Roma, Slovenians) were murdered without a proper trial in Slovenia in the days after the end of World War II, on the orders of the communist leaders. “The regime deprived the victims of these massacres of a right that Antigone had already striven for – the right to the grave. Relatives were deprived of the right to know where they lay, and to mourn. The graves of the murdered soldiers and civilians were deliberately covered up and the traces erased until the democratic changes came to Slovenia,” he explained to MEPs, adding that the victims had been erased from public memory and left without death certificates. “When the undemocratic regime fell, the state was expected to find the sites of the massacres, order the excavations, give an account of the victims and bury the remains in common graves or hand them over to relatives. So far, we have recorded over 700 locations of hidden burial sites, but remains have only been fully or partially exhumed from about ten burial sites,” he said, adding that most of the remains are still lying unburied in warehouses.
After 80 years, they want a respectful burial place
Currently, he said, the burial of the remains of the 3,400 victims who were dug up from just one of the hundreds of karst caves into which people were thrown is a matter of great urgency. “We took the bones out of the cave, but now they have been lying in the garage of some company for years. Although almost 80 years have passed since the murders, their burial is being prevented by various excuses, including the intention to temporarily transfer bags of skeletal remains from one storage facility to another instead of ensuring a permanent burial site,” he outlined, stressing that for the relatives of the victims from this burial site and many others, this is unacceptable, painful and, once again, humiliating. After 80 years of waiting, they would like a respectful burial place for their relatives.
As the historian explained, the right to remembrance, the historical facts and the circumstances of these massacres and other violent criminal acts of the communist authorities are largely known and proven. “While the democratic system has allowed for some redress of grievances, the vile attitude towards the right to commemoration and the right to a dignified burial continues. Researchers and relatives of the victims are often the target of discredit and defamation by those parts of politics, the media and the public, who still harbour a positive attitude towards the communist system.” At the same time, he said, the pain of the victims’ relatives remains largely ignored.
This is not the way to deal with historical memory and the unhealed wounds of citizens
Dr Ferenc pointed out that 31 years after the creation of our country, the independent Republic of Slovenia, a National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communist Violence had been established. The government which had created it did so as a reminder that reprehensible acts should not be repeated, and also because the attitude towards the victims of communist totalitarianism was and still is increasingly inadequate. “But on the eve of this first Remembrance Day, when many relatives of the unburied victims gathered for the first time to light a candle and express their pain, the new government of Robert Golob abolished this day of remembrance. It did so during the ceremony because people were already gathering, as one of the members of the ruling coalition said.”
This, he said, is not the way to deal with historical memory and the unhealed wounds of citizens. He wondered whether we really cannot understand the pain of the relatives of the murdered, who still do not know where their loved ones lie after eighty years; whether we really cannot understand the pain of the prisoners in the camps, the pain of the victims of the violent expropriation of property, the victims of the rigged trials, the victims of the forced expulsions from their places of residence, the victims of the shootings at the national border. “By abolishing this day, the government has also symbolically denied the existence of these people, pushing them back once again into non-existence and silence, and depriving their relatives once again of a public collective memory. That is why I am here today, to remind you and to call for your support, so that when the European Parliament’s institutions visit Slovenia, they will ask and examine why the attitude in Slovenia towards the victims of one of the two totalitarianisms is different from that towards the victims of the other two, and to warn the Slovenian authorities, in the spirit of the universal right to burial, to restore the right of commemoration for the victims of communism. And thirdly, to remind the Slovenian authorities that the attitude towards the victims of all three totalitarianisms should be the same and that this has long been the European norm. A norm that is enshrined in the resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism,” he concluded.
It is incomprehensible that the crimes of the ancestors are not condemned
MEP Romana Tomc also expressed her regret that the petition on the right to the grave and to the memory of the victims of communist violence and other totalitarian regimes in Slovenia is being reconsidered. This would not have been necessary, she said, if the government had responded to the calls that already came from the European Parliament. Moreover, the petition would not even have been submitted if the government had not abolished the commemoration day for the victims of communism. The petition, which had the most signatures of any petition submitted to the European Parliament in the year it was submitted, was, she said, a cry for help from those who were not being heard at home and who some even wanted to silence.
It is incomprehensible, she says, why the successors of the communist regime deny the atrocities and do not even have the empathy to condemn the crimes of their ancestors and to recognise the right to a grave and a memory for the murdered victims. “Discussions are currently taking place in Slovenia about where to find a place for the remains of the victims, but here, too, there is a lack of understanding. The mayor of the capital categorically rejects the possibility of finding such a place in the central cemetery in the centre of Ljubljana,” she explained, adding that the reason for such reluctance to recognise the victims of the crimes committed by the communists is that the traces of communism are still very much present in Slovenia today.
She pointed out that the proud heirs of communism even run the country. “Not only do they not condemn communism, they even defend it. If this were not the case, then why are there still so many roads, squares and streets in Slovenia named after those who trampled on the fundamental human rights? Why has the government decided to return the statue of one of the greatest Communist dictators, Tito, to the Brdo protocol estate? Why did the ruling coalition pass a law which bans the use of fascist and Nazi symbols, but not communist symbols? Why are people who took part in such atrocities buried with military honours, but their victims do not even have a grave? Why does the ruling coalition refuse to adopt the European Parliament resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism? And why do they hide the truth about this dark side of our homeland in history textbooks?” she continued.
She appealed to MEPs to call on the Slovenian government to condemn communism and its crimes and to ensure that the basic norms of civilisation are met for all victims and their relatives. She proposed that the Committee adopt three conclusions: that the petition will open, that the Committee will send a special mission to Slovenia to familiarise itself with the situation, and that the European Parliament will adopt a resolution clearly calling on the Slovenian government to condemn communist crimes and to ensure the right to a grave and a memorial for all victims.
Ž. N.
