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Politicians who again fail to listen to the voice of the people demonstrate that they did not understand that the victory against totalitarian and dictatorial regimes was paid with the price of many who fought with dedication and courage for our liberty, states President Klaus Iohannis, in the message sent on Sunday on the Day of commemorating the victims of fascism and communism.
"The past cannot be changed anymore, but the future depends on all of us. Politicians who refuse again to listen to the voice of the people demonstrate that they did not understand that the victory against totalitarian and dictatorial regimes was paid with the price of many who fought with dedication and courage for our liberty. We can guarantee peace and prosperity only by knowing the historical truth. The young generations need to know the horrors, the mass repressions, the crimes and the suffering that, in good knowledge, totalitarian regimes provoked, in different forms. We must respect our sacred duty to honor and cherish the memory and sacrifice of innocent victims. Reminding them, we do not honor their memory, but we defend our future against evil!," shows the head of state in the message.
Klaus Iohannis recalls that the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, has marked the beginning of the darkest period in the recent history of Central and Eastern Europe.
"The bloodbaths, the millions of lives lost, the mass crimes, the acts of genocide, the deportations, the disparaging attitude towards fundamental rights and freedoms were the traumatic consequences of this cruel and cynical pact. Half of the European continent faced the most odious acts of totalitarian regimes, dictatorships causing death and suffering for several decades, including after the end of the Second World War. The recalling of the criminal pact of 1939 and its tragic effects must educate, must lead, must warn and must stop attempts at falsifying history," the President emphasizes.
According to him, "knowing history is in close connection with democratic progress, and authentic democracy needs to be consolidated, naturally, in a society that knows and assumes its history."
"That is why, the firm condemnation of fascism and communism is not a formality or a simple evocation, it represents a necessary act to protect and promote democratic principles and those relating to the rule of law," the head of state mentions.
Klaus Iohannis recalls and brings homage also to the "brave act of Kind Mihai and the heroism of the Romanian Army, who managed, on August 23, 1944, to bring back our nation its dignity and our country the course that led her to the allied victory 75 years ago."
"I firmly believe that, despite numerous falsifications and lies invented for nearly half a century, this event must remain in history as a remarkable example of vision, responsibility, sacrifice, unity and solidarity," Iohannis stated in the message.
The President emphasizes that "in this difficult period, when the entire world is faced with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the falsifications of reality and lies have killed thousands of people by making making the evident seem derisory and by the denial of the truth."
"Ahead of such dark and cowardly behavior, we must be vigilant in discerning these constantly changing threats. we must be firm and able in the confrontation with forgeries and we must not show fragility against the attempts to cheat our peers. In the times that we live in, populist and extremist actions and discourses trouble the lives of our societies. Ahead of these sordid acts, we have the obligation to remain vigilant and reject firmly any attempt to glorify totalitarian regimes and to create new myths or historical versions meant to make vulnerable the Euopean value system. We are facing exceptional challenges, which call on us to act in unity and solidarity. There is a need for a joint effort to guarantee and protect democracy, the rule of law, the fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as human dignity," the President of Romania concluded.
The day of August 23, the day of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, was established by the European Parliament, by a Declaration in 2008, as the European Day to Commemorate the Victims of Nazism and Communism. At the same time, in 2011, the Romanian Parliament, by Law no. 198, declared the day of August 23 the Day to Commemorate the Victims of Fascism and Communism.
AGERPRES .
