Estonian president calls for monument to victims of communism

23.08.2007

TALLINN, Aug 23, BNS - Speaking at a meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of a key pro-independence demonstration in Tallinn, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves called to put up a monument to victims of communism.

"The events of recent years have convinced me that Estonia, just like the other European countries which suffered from crimes against humanity, need a memorial to the victims," Ilves said.

He cited a recent research which indicates that crimes against humanity affected more than 60 percent of Estonians.

"If so big a share of our citizens has suffered under communism, we cannot let it simply to be forgotten, we mustn't allow it to be downplayed," the head of state said.

The ones who should be remembered are namely the citizens who suffered from the crimes of communism, as non-ethnic Estonian citizens and especially Estonian citizens who were ethnically Russian were those whom the Soviet Union hated most, he said.

The president expressed regret that until this day one can witness attempts to whitewash everything that Estonians and other nations living under communism had to live through.

"I wouldn't be upset so much if the ones who downplay it were neutral bystanders," Ilves said. "But why is it that namely former members of the CPSU, including senior members of the party, are permanently justifying or downplaying the sufferings that befell others because of communists?"

Speaking of the 1987 meeting in Hirvepark, which at the time focused on the demand that the Soviet Union admit the existence of the secret protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, which carved up Central and Eastern Europe, Ilves said that the open protest 20 years ago brought together people who wanted to restore Estonia's belonging to the Western cultural space along with the freedom of expression that this entails.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8849, sise@bns.ee