By: Petra Janša
The European Parliament, during its plenary session in Strasbourg, adopted the Resolution on Preserving the Memory of the Victims of the Post-War Communist Era in Slovenia. The resolution was supported by 357 Members of the European Parliament, 266 voted against, and 16 abstained.
“Today I feel a sense of justice. We voted for truth and dignity, not only for the victims of communism in Slovenia, but more broadly. No family, no nation should have to wait decades to bury their loved ones. Communist totalitarianism and its crimes have yet to be fully politically and legally condemned across Europe, which leaves us vulnerable. Denial of the past allows the return of horrors,” said Romana Tomc, initiator of the petition and the resolution.
Content of the resolution
The resolution states that after World War II, more than 100,000 inhabitants of Slovenia who opposed the communist regime became victims of various forms of violence, representing severe violations of fundamental human rights, including the right to life, a fair trial, and a dignified burial. According to the document, the Yugoslav communist regime extrajudicially executed tens of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war, with several thousand killed in 1945 alone. The resolution points to over 750 locations of concealed mass graves, revealing a systematic cover-up of these crimes. It criticises the Slovenian government under Prime Minister Robert Golob for abolishing the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communist Violence two years ago, and for passing legislation banning symbols of Nazism, fascism, and collaborationist organisations, while failing to ban communist symbols. The resolution emphasises that crimes against humanity do not expire, and must be judged by the same standards, even those committed by the Yugoslav communist authorities. All totalitarian regimes should be condemned, and their symbols should not be glorified. Victims of both World War II and post-war violence deserve a proper burial.
Tomc: Never again victims erased from memory!
The debate in the European Parliament was heated, much like the earlier session in the Parliament’s Committee on Petitions. “Europe was built on the promise of ‘Never Again.’ Never again hidden mass graves. Never again victims erased from memory. Never again totalitarian crimes. I regret that our colleagues from the Socialist, Liberal, and Green political groups failed to show solidarity with those striving for historical justice and respect for the victims. They speak loudly of human rights yet politicise the dignified burial of victims of communism and support double standards for those who committed atrocities. Instead of burying the dead, their goal is to bury the truth,” Tomc criticised the manoeuvres of the European left, which tried everything to prevent the vote on the resolution. “The resolution calls on the Slovenian government to reinstate the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism, to continue investigating the more than 750 known mass grave sites, to provide victims with a dignified burial, and to open the archives of the Yugoslav secret services, so that crimes against humanity may be fully documented. It is time for the Slovenian government to show how much humanity it really has left,” she concluded. Swedish MEP Tomas Tobé from the European People’s Party (EPP) criticised the Socialists’ opposition to the resolution, stating: “This is not about facts, but about choosing party loyalty over respect for the victims of communism in Slovenia. The horrific mass graves are real, denying that is not only deeply disrespectful to the victims, but also dangerous.” He also addressed the Renew Europe (liberal) group, saying: “Please, take a hard look at Slovenia. Your Prime Minister is even considering withdrawing Slovenia from NATO. You should focus on that, rather than sweeping history under the rug.”
Pirc Musar disappoints again
It is worth recalling that members of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) already opposed the resolution during the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee debate nearly a month ago, claiming they rejected polarisation and any attempts at historical revisionism. Slovenian MEP Matjaž Nemec (S&D) stated that the European People’s Party, together with far-right MEPs, had led the European Parliament into a “darker age” and opened the door to “historical revisionism and manipulative theses.” Adding fuel to the controversy, President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar made a public post that many felt once again confirmed she is not a president for “all” citizens. On platform X (formerly Twitter), she wrote: “Any attempt to diminish the significance of the national liberation struggle or to engage in historical revisionism is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned.” Her statement sparked a wave of public backlash. Some of the reactions were shared in the comment section. For example, SDS party leader Janez Janša wrote after the vote: “A great lesson in humanity for Slovenia’s extremist left. A convincing majority! Thanks to the democratic side of European politics. Congratulations to Romana Tomc.” He also responded to the published list of MEPs who voted for and against the resolution, writing: “How can anyone in the 21st century oppose a dignified burial and remembrance of victims of any form of totalitarianism? How can Irena Joveva, Matjaž Nemec, Marjan Šarec, and Vladimir Prebilič dehumanise themselves to such a degree and side with the barbarians? Even some liberals from other countries supported the resolution.”
“A large portion of those who so furiously attacked the resolution probably did not even read the actual text.”
When asked about the European Parliament’s resolution on Preserving the Memory of the Victims of the Post-War Communist Era in Slovenia, its potential consequences, and the left’s opposition to it, historian Dr Tamara Griesser Pečar, member of the board of the Study Centre for National Reconciliation and the Assembly for the Republic, commented: “Since the Slovenian government abolished the national day of remembrance for victims of communist violence, ignored appeals from historians and researchers, and continues to block dignified burials for the victims, it is important that this inhumane attitude has been brought to international attention and echoed in the European Parliament. Under the current government, there will not be direct consequences in Slovenia, because the left continues to ideologically ignore evidence of revolutionary violence. The crimes of communism (wartime and postwar killings, political repression) are historically well documented. Without truth, neither reconciliation nor trust in institutions and society is possible.”
Dr Sebastjan Jeretič, political analyst and commentator: “Although I come from a partisan family, I have for years advocated the need for an honest view of the dark side of our history, with all the horrors that occurred during and after the war. The reactions from the Slovenian left show that this is still a subject that part of Slovenian politics simply cannot process honestly. I have also noticed that many of those who jumped to criticise the resolution probably have not even read the text. The resolution explicitly states that the horrors of Nazism and Fascism must never be relativised. So, the one point on which the left builds its opposition to the resolution simply falls apart. It is obvious that even the President of the Republic did not read the text but merely joined the wave of criticism that speaks of an alleged historical revision. Quite simply, there is still no willingness for an honest view of the true history of our nation, a history that was, in fact, revised by the communist regime in the postwar period.”
Dr Matija Ogrin, literary historian, publicist, and president of the New Slovenian Covenant: “The resolution on preserving the memory of the victims of communism in Slovenia is an important corrective to the passivity, and at times even ignorance, that the Slovenian state has shown toward the victims of communism and the crimes committed. Particularly important in the resolution are the aspects most neglected in Slovenia: that every one of the thousands of victims deserves respectful remembrance and a grave; that behind these victims lie grave crimes against humanity that do not expire; and that the state of Slovenia must cultivate a culture of remembrance that, through the affirmation of truth, leads to reconciliation. With this resolution, the European Parliament has taken a very important step, one the Slovenian state has yet to make: it condemned crimes against humanity committed by the communists in Slovenia, along with all other crimes by totalitarian regimes. I hope this will be a strong encouragement for Slovenians to advance toward the truth.”
Dr Jože Možina, historian, journalist, and publicist: “The adoption of the resolution on preserving the memory of victims of communist violence in the European Parliament is a major slap in the face to the arrogant ruling political clique currently in power, a group that has forgotten basic civilisational norms. Europe had to remind them that they are behaving unethically and inhumanely. This is also a victory for all of us striving for a normal Slovenia, one that does not divide the living, and even less the dead, but instead buries the latter with dignity. Let’s not forget: it all began when Golob’s government abolished the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism, thereby trampling on a memorial holiday that takes nothing from anyone, but only helps promote reconciliation and acknowledgment of all victims, including those killed by the revolution. The burial of those who thought differently, even enemies, is a thousand-year-old civilisational value, one trampled by both National Socialism and Communism. The former is long gone; the latter clearly still has supporters in Slovenian ruling politics. Not just the arrogant Prime Minister, who perhaps does not even understand what he is doing, but also the all-knowing President of the Republic, a lawyer, whom I cannot recall ever asking herself why we have more than 700 mass graves and yet not a single perpetrator, even though she knows that the killings in Slovenia were led by Kardelj and Kidrič, who both have monuments standing as ‘neighbours’ to the presidential palace. There is no known instance of her condemning their revolutionary violence, which led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. On the contrary, she recently awarded a gold recognition to the Association of Partisan Veterans, the same organisation that, even after 1990, did everything it could to cover up the crimes and criminals who were undoubtedly also part of that association. Her recent reaction to the resolution, worrying not about piety but about the ‘diminishing of the importance of the national liberation struggle’, is proof of the old, still-communist, politically immature exclusionary mindset that fights for a “nicer past,” rather than acknowledging the truth of how things really were. There is clearly something deeply wrong when we have at the top of politics individuals who preach about human dignity while representing the complete ethical and moral opposite of those who led us into democracy and independence. The language of the President of the Republic, and especially of Slovenian leftist MEPs, who did everything they could to prevent the resolution, is scandalous. The statements of MEPs Nemec, Šarec, Prebilič, Joveva will one day hang in a museum of communism. President Pirc Musar claims she supports the burial of victims of postwar massacres, but unlike her predecessor Borut Pahor, who acted as a unifier, she ignores the relatives of victims at reconciliation ceremonies in Rog. Moreover, she refuses to name the main obstacle to the burial of victims from Macesnova Gorica – Mayor Zoran Janković, under the mentorship of Milan Kučan. This is sad proof that, unlike Borut Pahor, she is fully subordinated to the politics of shadowy figures who have not stood for election in decades but still control Slovenian leftist politics, right to its bitter end. Let me conclude. I cannot believe there are still people who would deny memory and a dignified burial to all victims. Let me end with a thought from my late father, Franc, who, and our family with him, was a victim of all three totalitarianisms: ‘Anyone who, in this time when historical facts are known, still defends communism, fascism, or Nazism is either a fool or morally corrupt.’”
