Approximately one-third of humanity lived until the fall of the Berlin wall in Communist countries. The collapse of the Eastern bloc, the global reprocessing. Germany plays a special role.
The wall image with the fleeing East German border soldier Conrad Schumann is part of the Berlin wall memorial
Hitler and Stalin agreed on the 23. August 1939, the fate of Poland. Officially, the leaders of the fascist and the Communist dictatorship, agreed a non-aggression Pact. In a secret additional Protocol the German Reich and the Soviet Union agreed on the division of Poland. In a further agreement was later decided the annexation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union. To make the historical date of the Hitler-Stalin Pact to the European day of remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism, so was quite obvious.
The idea had in 2008, prominent politicians, former dissidents and members of the European Parliament. The most famous include the name of the now deceased former Czech President Václav Havel and of the from 2012 to 2017, President of the German Federal President, Joachim Gauck. Ten years after this Initiative, the Berlin-based German Federal Foundation for the reappraisal of the SED dictatorship, a book with pictures and texts to 119 memorial locations in 35 countries. In total, the Foundation has recognized in its unique database, in the meantime, 7000 museums and memorials around the world.
In Germany there are around 900 commemorative places
Particularly, the managing Director of the Foundation, Anna Kaminsky is impressed, of a bronze sculpture in Prague. To see a man standing on a staircase. On his way up the stairs, this person breaks up more and more, at the end only the footprints are to be seen. This monument, says Anna Kaminsky was a very nice illustration of what happens in dictatorships, under tyranny, with the people: “He is destroyed in its substance, in its identity, its personality, but also in his physique.”
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsCzech Republic: memorial for the victims
Seven bronze sculptures stand on a white staircase, at the foot of Prague’s Petřin hill. In 2002, inaugurated a memorial is by the sculptor and former political prisoner Olbram Zoulbek. It is not dedicated according to the inscription on the Pedestal only to those “imprisoned, or were executed, but also all those whose lives from the totalitarian despotism were ruined”.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsGermany: Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial Site
More than 11,000 people sat from 1951 to 1989 in the remand prison of the GDR secret police (Stasi). Previously, the terrain in the District of Berlin high beautiful makes Hausen of the Soviet occupation as a special camp for alleged Regime opponents have been used. From there the Detainees were transported, among other things, the Nazis built Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsRomania: memories of resistance
On the Base of a torn down Statue of Lenin in Bucharest, the 20-Meter-high, three wings of the existing monument by the sculptor Mihai Buculei since 2016. It’s time is one of the most important buildings from the Stalin-in the “place of the free press”. The Initiative came from the Association of former political prisoners.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsAlbania: “house of leaves”
In Tirana 2017 was opened in the first memorial after the fall of the Stalinist regime. In the Nazi period, the German occupiers had used the building as a prison. After the seizure of power by the Communists in 1945 were tortured and killed people. Later, the secret police took advantage of the “house of leaves”, which is called because of the climbing plants on the facade.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsGeorgia: Museum of Soviet occupation
In his birth town of Gori, Soviet dictator Stalin enjoys in the Museum named after him is still a hero status, 65 years after his death, and 27 years after the regained independence. In the meantime, there are plans to revise the exhibition. Under Stalin, the crimes committed be addressed, since 2006, the Georgian national Museum in Tbilisi.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsKazakhstan: the victims of the hunger catastrophe
Around 1.5 million Kazakhs fell in 1932/33 by economic mismanagement and forced collectivization caused famine disaster victims. The dead, the sculptural Ensemble in Astana, is dedicated to. Was inaugurated on the 31. In may 2012, the national day of remembrance for victims of political repression.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsLatvia: The Freedom Monument
“Milda” is the name of the on a 19 Meter high obelisk in Riga throne at the end of women figure in the people’s mouth. It was built in the 1930s, before the Soviet occupation in 1940. The Statue is to the Latvians-the Central monument for their will to freedom and self-determination. It was in the course of time, again and again, the starting point of Protest and resistance.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsMongolia: a victim of political persecution
The between Russia and China, where its country has suffered from almost the entire 20th century. Century under foreign domination and exploitation. Politically and economically, it was the longest time of the Soviet Union. The Museum in memory of the victims of political repression was opened in 1996 in Ulan Bator, a year later, the memorial came to be.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsKorea: the “bridge of freedom”
The beginning of the 20th century. Century on the Imjing river bridge is the only connection between the divided country. In the Korean war 1950-1953 it was of the utmost military importance. On the South side can be reached via a wooden walkway the Perimeter. Many visitors leave at this point, flags and personal messages.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsCambodia: victims of the Khmer Rouge
An estimated 2.2 million Cambodians died during the Terror reign of the Khmer Rouge, died. This was about half of the population. After the invasion, also, to Communist troops from Vietnam, bones and skulls were issued to the public, in order to document the crimes. Still today, many mass graves are considered to be not discovered.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsUSA: “goddess of democracy”
The 2007 was inaugurated the Statue in Washington is a replica of the “goddess of democracy”, had erected the Chinese students in 1989 during their at the end of deadly protests in the square of Heavenly peace in Beijing. For the memorial in the American capital of the Eastern European freedom fighters like Vaclav Havel and Lech Wałęsa, committed, in addition to local politicians.
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The world of communism, commemorates the victimsUSA: The victims of Katyń
In a forest in Russia to the nearby village of Katyń by the Soviets in 1940, murdered officers around 4400 Polish prisoners of war, most of the time. The massacre is the murders in Poland as a Synonym for a whole range of mass. The Initiative for the memorial in New Jersey that is dedicated to all the Victims of Soviet-communism, was of Polish migrants in the United States.
The idea is to capture the memorial places systematically, the Federal Foundation for the beginning of the Millennium. At the time, a good ten years after the reunification, it was however, only monuments with which the division of Germany and the Communist dictatorship in the GDR is remembered. In the first book, it came on 300 commemorative places, in the meantime, there is the book in the third edition, and there are over 900 places are documented.
The great Terror, millions fell victim to
Germany in international comparison due to early after the turn of the beginning of the ends of the workup, a special role, says Anna Kaminsky. It is the country with the most places of Remembrance, many other countries have been based. Where the concrete implementation is very different, because in the case of all ideological Parallels the communism experiences were highly different.
Terrorist with millions of deaths to Stalin’s times in the Soviet Union or during the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the Eastern European States. The are serious differences in the kind of remembrance to reflect. “We find our own way” – this approach to the Communist past of the German reprocessing expert Anna Kaminsky.
Anna Kaminsky: “We find our own way”
When shooting places of practice facilities for biathletes are
Everywhere, the memory of standing at the crime and the victim in the foreground. Added to this is the memory of resistance actions. In Hungary, this was the – ultimately failed – attempt, with the people’s uprising in 1956 communism to shake off. In the Czech Republic there is the very strong memory of the quelling of the Prague spring. In recent years, the memory of forced labour camps in the uranium had come through the involvement of victims ‘ associations-mining to do so. “This was initially not in the awareness of state institutions, but also of the population.”
In the former Soviet Union, the Stalinist Terror is the big issue: the Gulag System of penal and work camps, but also the many mass graves. Initiatives from the civil society to remind you of where these camps were. Much had disappeared under piles of Rubbish, or new settlements, regrets, Anna Kaminsky. One of the many shooting places had been converted into a Shooting range for biathletes. “There are also very much the cynical handling of the story.”
A broad field: the reappraisal of the everyday Repression
A the end of the workup, almost 30 years after the collapse of most Communist regimes Anna Kaminsky does not see for a long time. Especially in an area there was still much to do – she calls it “everyday repression”. The Individual can never be sure where he is in breach of unwritten laws, upper and dispossessed were to be pursued, or to imprisonment would be. The penetration of society with repression, to make them docile, is a very important topic, “this is what makes the difference between democratic and dictatorial systems.”
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Markus Meckel on communism, fascism, and Angela Merkel’s opening of the border
This concern is also the Chairman of the Foundation Council of the Federal Foundation for the reappraisal of the SED dictatorship, Markus Meckel, important. The social Democrat was up to the German reunification, the GDR’s last foreign Minister after the only free election in 1990. As a member of the Bundestag, he was one of the key supporters of a fast-starting processing of communism.
In Meckel thinks the Hitler dictatorship. In socialism, there is a consensus, but “by far” not on the assessment of communism. “We need to work on,” he urges in an interview with Deutsche Welle. The view of the bigger picture, beyond national borders Meckel considers to be indispensable.
The experience of the Other
One had been for him a very important experience: that you listen to. He’s advertising in Europe. “What are the experiences of the Other?” As you hear, for example, what is the significance of the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 23. August 1939 in Poland. The ability to listen has led to the memory of this date in the whole of Europe to keep alive: by the day of remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism.