Former victims of Communism together with the Platform of European Memory and Conscience hereby call again on the German Government and Parliament to establish such a memorial.

Berlin / Prague, 9 December 2014. The rise of former Communists back to power in the German federal state of Thuringia can be linked to the insufficient reflection of the Communist past in Germany. In 25 years since 1989, Germany has not created a central memorial to the victims of Communism. A call to the Bundestag for its establishment in Berlin, launched by former political prisoners and victims of Communism and co-signed by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, has not received any response so far.

While the 70 years of honest coming to terms with National Socialism since the end of WWII have produced exemplary results and a widespread culture of commemoration and democratic civic education in Germany, 25 years after the collapse of Communism, there is no central memorial to the victims of Communism in Germany.

For former political prisoners and victims of Communism, the first day in office of the new prime minister of Thuringia is a heavy defeat of the democracy movement of 1989. Their moving appeal to the German Parliament to initiate the erection of a memorial to the victims of Communism in Germany, which was joined by 1,500 prominent signatories including the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, was accepted by the President of the Bundestag on 4 November 2014. Nothing has happened since.

„We need to establish a dignified culture of remembrance for all victims of totalitarianism in Europe, irrespective of the type of dictatorship. If we continue to be blind on one eye, disregarding the suffering and human dignity of some victims, we will not be able to defend a peaceful, democratic society and rule of law in Europe. We are paving the road back to power for unreformed Communists if we obliterate their victims,“ says Göran Lindblad, President of the Platform.

The call for the memorial to the victims of Communism: www.initiative-mahnmal.de