Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes are reports and proceedings of the European public hearing organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

(January–June 2008) and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. The Hearing was organised in response to the request made by the ''Justice and Home Affairs Council'' of the European Union on 19 April 2007. Barroso and Jansa 2007

Edited by

Peter Jambrek Peter Jambrek (born 14 January 1940) is a Slovenian sociologist, jurist, politician and intellectual. He is considered among the fathers of the current Slovenian Constitution and among the most influential public intellectuals in Slovenia. Li ...

and published by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union Crimes, the reports and proceedings research and investigate gross and large scale

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

violations committed during the reign of totalitarian regimes in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. There were four sessions at the Hearing: *How to improve knowledge about totalitarian crimes? *How to promote public awareness about totalitarian crimes? *What lessons can be drawn from successful experiences? *How to achieve reconciliation? The preface was written by the Slovenian Minister of Justice

Lovro Šturm Lovro Šturm (19 May 1938 – 2 December 2021) was a Slovenian jurist and politician. He was a law professor and served as the president and judge of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, the Minister of Education and Minister of Justice of Slov ...

, and the introduction by

Jacques Barrot Jacques Barrot (3 February 1937 – 3 December 2014) was a French politician, who served as European Commissioner for Justice between 2008 and 2010, after having spent four years serving as Commissioner for Transport (2004–2008) and Commissi ...

, Vice-President of the European Commission for Justice, Freedom and Security. Countries that were involved were:

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Topics and chapters

I. HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSIFICATION OF TOTALITARIAN REGIMES * Historical justice for Europe: why, when and how? * Suggestions on assessment of totalitarian

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

.Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy by

Carl Joachim Friedrich Carl Joachim Friedrich (; ; June 5, 1901 – September 19, 1984) was a German-American professor and political theorist. He taught alternately at Harvard and Heidelberg until his retirement in 1971. His writings on state and constitutional theory ...

& Zbigniew Brzezinski. * The making of the communist regime in Slovenia and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. * Totalitarian regimes in Slovenia in the 20th century. * Characteristics of the judicial system in Slovenia between 1945 and 1951. * The Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia under three totalitarian regimes. * The need for equal treatment of Nazi and Soviet crimes. * Hypocrisy of discrimination among victims of totalitarian crimes. II. TOTALITARIAN CRIMES: CROSS-NATIONAL SURVEY *Crimes committed in Latvia by the occupation regimes of the USSR and Germany (1940–90). *Political repression in the 1940s and 1950s in Estonia. *Lithuanian victims of communist occupation. *Poland – the victim of two totalitarian regimes. *The Securitate legacy – terror in Romania. *A topic doomed to oblivion: foreign prisoners in Soviet custody – with special regard to the fate of Hungarian civilian internees. *Repression over the Slovenian people by the German

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. *Crimes committed by the Fascist regime in the Slovene territory. *Totalitarian features of the judiciary in the Republic of Slovenia (1945–90). *Concentration and labour camps in Slovenia. *Secret

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

mass graves in Slovenia *Communist repression of "interior enemies" in Slovenia. III. TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: PROSECUTION AND REDRESS Of INJUSTICE *Reparation and reconciliation in international law: the view of an Estonian lawyer. *Prosecution of Nazi and Communist crimes in Poland. *On rehabilitation and remedy measures in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

for persons repressed from 1944 through 1989. *Transitional justice in Spain. *Communist repression and transitional justice in Slovenia. *Post-World War II crimes on the territory of Slovenia: police investigation and proof regarding criminal offences that do not fall under the statute of limitations. *About ideologies, institutions and death. IV. REMEMBRANCE, RECOGNITION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS Of TOTALITARIAN V. RECONCILIATION: ON HANDLING THE TRAUMATIC PAST

Totalitarian machines

The report stated the following about Totalitarian machines:

Remembrance day

The European Parliament has proposed August 23 as a common remembrance day of Victims of Totalitarian Regimes.

References

External links

International Law Observer
{{Prague Process Human rights Commemoration of communist crimes Decommunization Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism Political history of Slovenia

Topics and chapters

Totalitarian machines

Remembrance day

See also

References

External links