Commemoration of the liberation

29. April 2018

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While in recent weeks we have had repeatedly to warn of historical oblivion and historical revisionism, this time we can name various positive examples of anti-fascist remembrance work.

In recent days, commemorative events honoring the liberation from fascism and war took place in concentration camp memorials and other places in Europe. The prelude was traditionally the celebration commemorating the anniversary of the self-liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. Invited by the International Committee Buchenwald-Dora and Commandos several hundred participants came and set – in the spirit of the “oath of Buchenwald” – a sign against racism and anti-Semitism.

The following weekend, several hundred people gathered in the Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück concentration camp memorials to commemorate the liberation of the camps in mid-April 1945 by the units of the Red Army.

On April 29 the commemoration took place in the former concentration camp Dachau, where again numerous international delegations together with German anti-fascists – Invited by the International Dachau Committee – recalled the memory of the victims and formulated a message for the coming generations.

This year’s commemoration of the Liberation Day of Italy on April 25, 1945 active supported by the anti-fascist partisan organization ANPI developed as a mass demonstrations against the danger of right wing development in Italy after the results of the previous parliamentary elections. The large attendance showed broad support for the anti-fascist values of the Italian Constitution.

On the same day, Portuguese anti-fascists from URAP and with them, a broad social alliance of leftist forces demonstrated that the memory of the “carnation revolution” in Portugal is still alive. The overthrow of the fascist Salazar regime by the masses along with democratic parts of the army remains unforgotten and is a model for political action against all efforts of the legal forces in this country.

In addition, Belgium commemorated in a public ceremony the political prisoners and the liberation of the country. On the 22nd of April a memorable commemoration took place in the Memorial Park of the Murdered – organized by the Confederation Nationale des Prisoniers Politiques et Ayants Droit de Belgique (CNPPA) and the War Heritage Institute – in the presence of the Vice-President of FIR Filippo Giuffrida.

All these are good forecasts for May 8 /9, which will again show that the memory of the liberation and the victory over the fascism 1945 in the consciousness of many people in Europe is firmly anchored.