A moment of silence on Norrmalmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden on Monday, where a memorial was held to honor victims of Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes.
The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism—or IICC—organized the event.
[Anders Hjemdahl, Founder of IICC]:
”We organized this event because we believe that crimes of communism has been widely overlooked.”
The Swedish Minister of Education, Jan Björklund, says there are still many people with relatives who died during the holocaust and in the Soviet Union’s Gulag archipelago.
[Jan Björklund, Swedish Minister of Education]:
“New generations should learn what happened during 20th century, so it shouldn’t happen again.”
Behind the initiative for a European-wide day of remembrance on August 23rd is two separate resolutions from the European Parliament and The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The OSCE resolution states that Europe has suffered from two totalitarian regimes, Nazi and Stalinist, which brought about genocide and crimes against humanity.
A victim of communism, Maris Jurmala from Latvia, participated in the memorial.
[Maris Jurmala, Latvian Victim of Communism]:
“Ten thousands of Latvians and also Estonians and Lithuanians were taken away for deportation camps were they stayed for 20 or 30 years, many even died on the spot.”
The memorial ended with a minute of silence and a wreath laying ceremony.
NTD Stockholm, Sweden
