Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-09-17-Speech-4-247"
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"en.20090917.18.4-247"2
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"We are indeed discussing human rights violations in Russia on a day of significant symbolic value. Exactly 70 years ago, on 17 September 1939, the Red Army – in collusion with Hitler – occupied one third of Poland, which was then fighting against the German invasion. Stalin’s forces murdered thousands of Poles, and hundreds of thousands were taken away to Soviet labour camps. In Katyń, thousands of Polish officers were murdered on Stalin’s orders. To us, 17 September will forever remain a day of shame for Stalin’s Russia.
Today’s Russia is not brave enough to face this horrific truth. Its current government is providing unconvincing justifications for their former alliance with Hitler. To this day, Moscow is refusing to grant access to the archives on the Katyń massacre.
The histories of many countries contain horrific events. It is a measure of the maturity of a nation when it is able to confront its past and denounce that which needs to be denounced in its history. Today’s Germany is an example of such an attitude. It is only then that the past will cease to be a burden for today’s Russia and will allow it to enter the community of free and democratic nations with its head held high. Only then will Russia be able, once and for all, to drop the millstone of its Stalinist past from around its neck, and to stop fighting against its own citizens, who are currently risking their lives to defend fundamental freedoms and human rights.
We honour the victims of those murders. We will remember you all."@en1
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