From left: Doireann Ansbro, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Andrei Muraru, Edvins Snore, Neela Winkelmann and Frantisek Sedivý (rear view).

Still, old national socialists and their collaborators are occasionally being put on trial for atrocities committed before the 1945 collapse of national socialism. It is much rarer to hear of old communists and their fellow-travellers being charged with any crimes against humanity, even if they ruled much longer—in Central and Eastern Europe until 1989—and had many more victims. Invariably, in communist countries, real or imaginary opponents of the regime were executed or kept in labour camps; many groups, whether defined by nationality, class or political views, were forcibly deported; innocent people were tortured and compelled to make absurd confessions; show trials were held; citizens were deprived of freedom of religion, thought and association; if caught, refugees were immediately shot. It is estimated that 20th Century communism claimed about 100 million victims in total. RNH is a member institute of the European Platform of Memory and Conscience which seeks to keep alive the memory of the victims of European totalitarianism, both national socialism and communism. A joint project of RNH and AECR, the European Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists, “Europe of the Victims”, is also being pursued with this same aim.

Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson, RNH Academic Director, attended a seminar organised by the Platform in Prague 29 July 2014 on how victims of communism can obtain justice. Still, many of the hangmen of the totalitarian communist regimes are alive, and they even have influence in some post-communist countries. These former hangmen try hard to hide their blotted record, for example by limiting access to documents and by shouting down those who dare put their misdeeds on the agenda. In Slovenia, for example, many mass graves have been found full of corpses of people who had been summarily executed at the end of the Second World War. It is estimated that those people may number about 100 thousand. They were not only former collaborators of the national socialists, but also those whom the triumphant communists believed might challenge their total power after the War. In the Czech Republic, again, former communists have tried to hinder or make more difficult the digitalisation of documents from the communist era.

Other attendees at the seminar included Dr. Neela Winkelmann from Prague, Dr. Edvins Snore from Riga, Professor Albin Eser from Freiburg and Ms. Dorieann Ansbro from the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva. Also, the seminar was attended by a few Czechs who had suffered persecution under communism, such as František Šedivý, who, for his opposition to the regime, spent twelve years in a labour camp processing uranium. One of the seminar’s sponsors was the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, which made its Prague premises available for it.

Lawson lecturing. Photo: Thordur A. Thordarson

The evidence gathered in comprehensive measurements of economic freedom in more than 150 economies of the world and also of the relationship between economic freedom on the one hand and living standards and general human well-being on the other hand, strongly supports Adam Smith’s theory: The wealth of nations is created by the division of labour and by free trade. People who are only pursuing their own interests, are led to work for the common good. This was the message of economics professor Robert Lawson, one of the authors of the index of economic freedom, at a well-attended meeting in Reykjavik Monday 28 July 2014, organised jointly by RNH and the Icelandic Taxpayers’ Alliance. The occasion of the meeting was that one hundred years have passed since the outbreak of the First World War on 28 July 1914, which almost led to the collapse of the order envisaged and explained by Adam Smith: global capitalism, a system of the division of labour and free trade. But while global capitalism was greatly weakened in two World Wars and in the Great Depression, it survived and emerged as strong as ever at the end of the 20th Century.

Guests included fmr. Finance Minister Fridrik Sophusson and economist Asgeir Jonsson. Photo: Thordur A. Thordarson.

Lawson explained the composition of the index of economic freedom and showed some of the results in telling graphs. The economies of the world can be divided into four parts or quartiles by the extent to which they are free. Then, living standards—as they are commonly defined, by GDP per capita—turn out to be, on average, best by far in the freest quartile. The same applies to the living standards of the bottom 10%, or the poor: their average income is highest by far in the freest economies of the world. Life expectancy and economic growth are also much greater in the freest part than in the other three quartiles. According to Lawson, both history and experience demonstrate that this is not a simple correlation, but a causal connection: When nations become free, affluence follows and because of that these nations can and will reduce all kinds of social problems resulting from scarcity. Lawson briefly discussed the worrisome trend in Iceland: While Iceland was the freest Nordic economy in 2004, it had by 2010 become the least free one. Lawson also pointed out that all data on the 2013 measurements of economic freedom in almost 150 economies in 2010 could be accessed at the website of the economic freedom project. Soon, the 2014 data on more than 150 economies in 2011 would be accessible on the website. Professor Lawson’s lecture formed a part of the joint project of RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalim”.

Lawson Slides

From left: Göran Lindblad, Neela Winkelmann and Mustafa Dzhemilev at the Kampa Museum.

Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatars, was awarded the prize of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience at a conference in Prague 12 June 2014. Göran Lindblad, former MEP from Sweden and chairman of the Platform, gave him the prize at a ceremony in the Kampa Museum of Art. On this occasion, Dzhemilev briefly described the fate of his nation, heavily oppressed in the first decades of communist rule, then forcibly moved on Stalin’s order in 1944 from their ancient homeland in the Crimea to labour camps in Siberia and Uzbekistan and only allowed to return after 1967. Long a Soviet dissident and frequently imprisoned, Dzhemilev is today barred from entering the Crimea, after its Russian occupation. Communism was a totalitarian ideology no less than National Socialism, Dzhemilev said in his acceptance speech. It was very important, indeed crucial, he added, that the European democracies continued morally to support the oppressed nations of the East. He vowed to fight on for the Crimean Tatars, but without any use of violence.

The conference itself, on the “Legacy of Totalitarianism Today”, took place 12–13 June in the Czech Senate building, the former Waldstein Palace, and was hosted by Senate Vice-President Ms. Miluše Horská under the auspices of Czech Minister of Culture Mr. Daniel Herman. It was organised by Ms. Neela Winkelmann, the Platform’s executive director. The Platform’s partners at the conference included the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Visegrad Fund. The keynote speech was given by award-winning writer Sofi Oksanen who talked about memories of totalitarianism in Central and Eastern Europe. The acclaimed 2008 documentary The Soviet Story by Latvian historian and film director Mr. Edvīns Šnore was also screened, Mr. Šnore discussing it afterwards with the audience. Speakers at the conference included Mr. Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of Lithuania, Mr. Tunne Kelam, Estonian MEP, and Professor Stéphane Courtois, the French editor of the Black Book of Communism. RNH was represented at the conference by Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson who moderated a panel on the European Union and the reconciliation of East and West. His attendance formed a part of the joint RNH and AECR project on “Europe of the Victims”. The conference passed a resolution on worrying trends in Eastern Europe, in particular the Russian annexation of the Crimea.

Oksanen

The keynote speaker at the Platform of European Memory and Conscience conference in Prague in the Czech Republic 12–13 June on „The Legacy of Totalitarianism“ is Estonian-Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen whose novels, Purge and Stalin’s Cows, have been published in Icelandic translations. Oksanen received the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 2010. The leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemílev, will receive the Prize of the Platform for his patient and non-violent struggle for the rights of his nation—deported by Stalin in 1944—and, during the Soviet period, for his dissident activities supporting human rights in general. The conference is under the protecton of Miluše Horská, Vice-Chairman of the Czech Senate, and takes place in the Senate building. Speakers at the conference include Daniel Herman, Czech Minister of Culture, Monica Macovei, former Romanian Justice Minister, Stéphane Courtois, editor of the Black Book of Communism, which has been published in Icelandic, and Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of Lithuania who is well known in Iceland. Dr. Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor of Politics at the University of Iceland, represents RNH—a member of the Platform—at the conference, moderating a seminar with Landsbergis and others on the role of the European Union in reconciling the Eastern and Western parts of Europe.

Two films will be shown during the conference, Katyn, made by Andrzej Wajda in Poland in 2009 about the massacre of Polish officers, on Stalin’s orders, in the Katyn wood, and the Soviet Story made by Edvīns Šnore in Latvia in 2008, about the cooperation between Stalin and  Hitler when they divided Central and Eastern Europe up between themselves in 1939–41. Professor Gissurarson’s participation in the conference forms a part in the joint project by RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe of the Victims”.