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08.03.2017

Platform of European Memory and Conscience calls for a minute of silence for the women executed, killed, imprisoned, tortured and persecuted during Communism

 

 

Prague/Tallinn/Riga/Vilnius/Warsaw/Berlin/Dresden/Bratislava/Ljubljana/ Bucharest/Tirana/Kiev/8 March 2017. On 8 March, the day recognised as International Women’s Day, the Platform of European Memory and Conscience calls for a minute of silence at 12.00 noon CET for the millions of women who fell victim to the Communist dictatorship.

The International Women’s Day, with its roots in the women’s worker movement in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century, was appropriated by the Communist dictatorships in Europe as an ideological holiday and celebrated in a pompous way. Red flowers were officially presented to women and alcohol was drunk on 8 March.

The Platform wishes to draw attention to the fact that the Communist regime was excessively brutal to women. For political reasons, women were executed after staged trials or without trial, killed when trying to flee across the Iron Curtain, sent to prisons, concentration camps and forced labour camps where countless perished; women were tortured, denied their dignity and persecuted in many other ways. Women survivors of Communist persecution find it more difficult than men to speak about the trauma they suffered.

Therefore, the Platform of European Memory and Conscience calls upon the international community to observe a minute of silence on 8 March 2017 at 12.00 noon CET to recognise and commemorate the countless millions of women whose fundamental human rights were violated during Communism.

Enclosed is a photo gallery of some of the women executed by Communists in the 20th century.

For more information, please contact:

Göran Lindblad, President, president@memoryandconscience.eu ,+46--‐706710366 Neela Winkelmann, Managing Director, director@memoryandconscience.eu , +420--‐222 561 053

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience brings together 55 public and private institutions and organisations from 13 EU Member States, Ukraine, Moldova, Iceland, Albania, Canada and the USA working in the field of coming to terms with the legacy of totalitarianism on European soil. We represent about 200,000 Europeans and over 1,100,000 North American citizens with European roots. 

Londýnská 43 ■ 120 00 Praha 2 ■ Czech Republic ■ tel.: +420-222 561 053 ■

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is an interest association of legal persons founded according to the Civil Code of the Czech Republic

and registered by the Municipal Court of Prague under section L, insert 58675. Id.-No.: 72559071

Bank account EUR: No. 4977492/0800, Česká spořitelna, a.s., Czech Republic IBAN: CZ1608000000000004977492 BIC: GIBACZPX

Bank account CZK: No. 5004692/0800, Česká spořitelna, a.s., Czech Republic IBAN: CZ0308000000000005004692 BIC: GIBACZPX


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