For an antifascist European commitment
Artikel in: the PARLIAMENT magazine, 9.Mai 2005 - Tobias Pflüger und Sahra Wagenknecht
60 years ago the states and armies of the Anti-Hitler coalition together with the national resistance movements and partisan units put an end to the Nazi regime. The "Third Reich" with its gruesome Nazi ideology supported by millions of Germans, brought to humanity boundless suffering, and crimes without historic precedent: the industrially organized murder of the European Jews, the genocide of the Sinti and Roma, the liquidation of further people on grounds of race and sexual orientation, the annihilation of the political opposition to Nazi rule in Germany, of individuals not ready to accommodate to its inhumane rules of life, of persons being seen by the Nazis not worth living, the invasion of the countries of Europe, the mass murder of their populations. Numerous institutions of the Nazi state took part in these crimes: industrial companies and banks, the military and the repression apparatus, judges and doctors, science and media. They all had their share of responsibility in war, terror and annihilation.
By the end of the "Third Reich", Europe and the world could breathe at last the air of liberation. No more wars, never again fascism, and a radical destruction of the power basis of fascism – this was the spirit and message of the time. These were the hopes of the people freed from the concentration camps.
Today, however, we face increasing tendencies to deny the Nazi crimes, or to make them look relative by drawing historic comparisons in order to equate acts that cannot be compared. Such attempts must strongly be rejected. The European Union has the noble duty to commit itself without any objections to the antifascist struggle. Regretfully this commitment so far has not been included in the treaties of the European Union and does neither form part of the Constitutional Treaty. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany that ended the devastating war which Germany inflicted upon Europe and the world, we call for a different Constitutional Treaty. A treaty that explicitly states a commitment that fascism and militarism must never stand another chance in Europe. This commitment would be a decisive, yet only a first step, to build another, a better Europe.
60 years ago the states and armies of the Anti-Hitler coalition together with the national resistance movements and partisan units put an end to the Nazi regime. The "Third Reich" with its gruesome Nazi ideology supported by millions of Germans, brought to humanity boundless suffering, and crimes without historic precedent: the industrially organized murder of the European Jews, the genocide of the Sinti and Roma, the liquidation of further people on grounds of race and sexual orientation, the annihilation of the political opposition to Nazi rule in Germany, of individuals not ready to accommodate to its inhumane rules of life, of persons being seen by the Nazis not worth living, the invasion of the countries of Europe, the mass murder of their populations. Numerous institutions of the Nazi state took part in these crimes: industrial companies and banks, the military and the repression apparatus, judges and doctors, science and media. They all had their share of responsibility in war, terror and annihilation.
By the end of the "Third Reich", Europe and the world could breathe at last the air of liberation. No more wars, never again fascism, and a radical destruction of the power basis of fascism – this was the spirit and message of the time. These were the hopes of the people freed from the concentration camps.
Today, however, we face increasing tendencies to deny the Nazi crimes, or to make them look relative by drawing historic comparisons in order to equate acts that cannot be compared. Such attempts must strongly be rejected. The European Union has the noble duty to commit itself without any objections to the antifascist struggle. Regretfully this commitment so far has not been included in the treaties of the European Union and does neither form part of the Constitutional Treaty. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany that ended the devastating war which Germany inflicted upon Europe and the world, we call for a different Constitutional Treaty. A treaty that explicitly states a commitment that fascism and militarism must never stand another chance in Europe. This commitment would be a decisive, yet only a first step, to build another, a better Europe.
Tobias Pflüger - 2005/05/27 10:04
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