The greatest wound of the Slovenian nation is the fratricide that happened before and after the Second World War, caused by our own brothers – because of the materialist and evil ideology of communism. But because some people are still benefitting from the killings in the present day, the coalition Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and the Left party (Levica) recently boycotted the meeting of the Commission for Petitions where victims of communism were discussed.
The left-wing parties condemned those who only want justice for their relatives who were murdered in the revolution, and they did it because the topic of discussion is supposedly ideological. Matija Ogrin, President of the New Slovenian Covenant Association (“Nova Slovenska zaveza”), assessed that there is nothing that holds so little ideological charge as the death of a person and the respect that is due to the deceased. Therefore, the association has called on the government to issue death certificates for the 14,901 known victims of the communist regime so far and to include them in the state records and make them public.
During the discussion, MPs from the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) expressed regret over the coalition’s failure to participate, which, according to MP Branko Grims, shows that “the left is running from the truth.” Jože Tanko, President of the Commission on Human Rights, said that by boycotting the session, the left-wing parties are mainly expressing the revanchism of a certain group of people and are doing nothing to reconcile and reduce the divisions between people.
Turning a blind eye to the truth
Romana Bider, the leader of the All-Adoption Initiative (“Vseposvojitev”), confirmed that this is not about ideology, but about pain. “They are stirring up hatred between people with these obstructions, and I am hurt by it. You should instead go to the e-cemetery website and see what people are writing to their loved ones. It is very vivid, but people in power don’t see it,” she said.
The fact is that our nation remains divided, with the descendants of the executioners on one side, and the descendants of the victims on the other.
The European Union is calling for the return of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism
Member of the European Parliament from the SDS party, Romana Tomc, was also dismayed by the obstruction, as everyone in Europe recognises communist crimes. “I am saddened by the part of the empty chamber that also shows an attitude towards this very important issue, and I must tell you that this was not at all the case in the European Parliament.” Indeed, one of the conclusions adopted at the European Union level is that the government of Robert Golob should reverse its utterly despicable decision – the abolition of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism.
Janez Juhant, President of the Society United at the Linden Tree of Reconciliation (“Društvo Združeni ob lipi sprave “), also recalled the year 1989, when the Linden of Reconciliation was planted, and for the first time, they had the opportunity to mourn for their own people. He also regrets the fact that the obstruction of the coalition MPs resulted in the representatives of the people not being able to talk together about how to give these victims a decent burial.
An appeal to the government
In the absence of the members of the coalition who are incapable of dialogue, the members adopted conclusions calling on the government to re-establish the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communist Violence, to issue death certificates to those killed and to condemn communism as a criminal regime. They also intend to call on the government to draw up an appropriate act condemning the crimes of communism as reprehensible, and on the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, to “stop making excuses,” claiming that there is no place for the burial of the Slovenian and Roma victims of the communist revolution at Žale or Orlov vrh.
A. G.
