Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-21-Speech-1-095"
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"en.20080421.15.1-095"2
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".
Mr President, our group helped to bring about this debate because we are concerned at the growing number of party-political interpretations of the past. I speak here not just as a politician, as a Social Democrat, but as a historian too. Interpretations of this kind often perpetuate myths which can be a breeding ground for xenophobia, for example, because they only present one side of the story. That, of course, is very dangerous in a Europe of great diversity, including ethnic diversity.
There are no easy answers to difficult questions of history. That misconception is often created by those who put a populist spin on historical events. Falsifying the past is also used to make people forget it, for example denying the Holocaust or covering up the crimes of other totalitarian regimes. And there is also the danger of being selective. Historical criteria are sometimes applied to one situation and not to another. Sometimes no distinction is made at all and one situation is judged in the same way as another. The result is that people get confused and do not know how they ought to feel about the past – the politicians have hijacked historical truth because it is all too easy to draw comparisons.
Our group sees this as especially important this year, as this year we commemorate the Prague uprising, the Prague Spring, but also
. We think it is important that Commission and the Council should give a lead and encourage a debate based on facts, based on scientific research. Not in an attempt to reach some kind of common position, but to ensure people realise that our discussion is based on correct information. And to ensure that the debate can be continued properly.
Once again I should stress that the aim here is not, of course, to airbrush important and terrible episodes out of our history. Of course not, the aim above all is to learn from them. But we have to make sure that history is not misused. This is an important moral issue. I think it is important to make the point once again that in our debate this afternoon and this evening we should also give the floor to a number of fellow Members who have had personal experience of the consequences of totalitarian regimes. For us this is an important debate, which we shall certainly be taking further in the course of the year."@en1
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