August 23 is the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes, also known as Black Ribbon Day, which commemorates the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 that initiated the path to WWII and the horrific suffering under totalitarian regimes like Nazism and Communism.

August 23, 1939:

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty with a secret protocol that divided Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, setting the stage for the start of World War II and subsequent totalitarian violence and mass deportations.

European Parliament Resolution:

In 2009, the European Parliament called for the proclamation of this day as a Europe-wide day of remembrance for victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes.

When it comes to Croatia ever since the end of World War Two all that the mainstream world media offered were blown up figures of the number of victims allegedly murdered by the Ustasha regime and nobody insisted on evidence that proves the wild numbers of victims they wrote about. The Nuremberg court process to achieve justice for Nazi crimes’ victims, initiated and carried through by the Allies, was had at the same time as countless communist murders were occurring in broad daylight in communist Yugoslavia, filling with victims over 600 mass graves in Slovenia and about 1200 in Croatia, with over 700 000 non-communist Croats murdered. When communism fell from 1989 and the Yugoslav one in 1991 discoveries of these mass graves gradually revealed the horrific crimes of communism on that territory. But no “Nuremberg” justice occurred for them even though new discoveries of mass graves continue to this day.

“86 years ago, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, an alliance of blood between two of the most brutal regimes in history, leaving a deep scar on Europe. The oppression these totalitarian and authoritarian regimes inflicted, and the suffering endured by countless victims, remain vivid memories for many Europeans.

On 23 August, we honour their story… Yet, this struggle is not a distant memory. The seeds of hatred, intolerance, and oppression can still be sown, and our adversaries are eager to exploit them. Freedom, democracy, the Rule of Law and fundamental rights are hard-earned principles, but they can be eroded if they are not properly maintained and guarded. The European Union will always stand on the side of those that nurture the soil of human dignity, justice, and equality. It is our collective responsibility to safeguard these values,” said the public joint statement issued on 22 August 2025 by Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, and Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath.

Yet, not a single word in this statement suggests that the European Union is even considering real justice for the victims of communist crimes akin to the Nuremberg trials. Of course, the latter occurred just after WWII when most perpetrators were still alive and the same cannot be said for the perpetrators of communist crimes. But, with so much evidence and so many witnesses still living one would expect a posthumous trial as well as a ban of symbols of communism across all EU member countries. None of that here, just empty politically charged words of sorrow that carry no real and due justice for the victims.

Today, on 23 August, I came across a most relevant Facebook status post published by the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia (2008-2011),Tomislav Karamarko, whose sincere and strong intentions to pursue justice for the victims of communist crimes cost him in the view of many, advancement in political career in Croatia where former communists and children of former communists filled the corridors of power and, hence, the national strategy regarding due reckoning with communist crimes.    

“August 23rd – European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes – Nazism, Fascism and Communism.

At this time, I should mention the Ribbentrop – Molotov Pact, then the partition of Poland, then the alliance of two maniacal totalitarian systems that are dealing with millions of people. One because of race, the other because of class. Then the sick creatures that Hitler and Stalin were…

But no, I will not talk about that. This is the day when we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and turn towards the two-faced Brussels and its appendages in the EU provinces. This is the day when the political elite in Croatia needs to look down at the floor. What have you done, ambitious and emotionally detached bureaucrats, clerks, translators, secretaries, heads of various departments in individual ministries, children of red officials and cronies, to finally speak clearly and without stuttering about communist crimes from 1945 to 1990? What have you done to stop the communist and Chetnik parades, which take us back to the era of the mega-criminal (Josip Broz) Tito (from Kumrovec to Serbs)? Are you ready to accuse the aforementioned creature of command responsibility…? When will you remove his name from the streets of 28 Croatian cities? Will you respect any EU resolution or declaration that speaks of the necessity of dealing with communist totalitarianism and everything that reminds you of it and translate it into appropriate legal solutions?

You certainly will not be the ones to do that.

And the on-duty clerks, the Kumrovec smell, the servants of who knows whose media. Will you raise your voice and call out the guilty and criminals? Will you profile Tito and the rest of the criminal gang and stand on the side of the truth? Of course not.

The days of truth will come, sooner than you think.

God is great!

So today, August 23rd, keep quiet and don’t mention European values ​​because your polished Brussels shoes are still in the thick Balkan mud.

That’s why I propose that we mark August 23rd as the European Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes – Nazism, Fascism and Communism. But also, of CROATIAN HYPOCRISY AND COWARDICE,” stated Tomislav Karamarko and I, for one among multitudes, could not agree more. Ina Vukic