In Slovenia, the government canceled the commemoration day for the victims of communism.
One day before the Memorial Day for the Victims of Communism, the Slovenian government revoked the previous government's decree declaring the memorial day late on Tuesday, on the grounds that there was no "public and expert discussion" about it, Slovenian public television reported.
The national day of remembrance was decreed by Janez Jansa's government on May 12, 2022, a few days before the end of his mandate, when he was already performing his duties as an administrator.
The argument at the time was that
communist violence left thousands dead in Slovenia between 1941 and 1946, and hundreds of thousands more were affected by communist rule in the following decades.
The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the murder of 49 people, including 44 Roma, who were killed in the Iska Gorge south of Ljubljana in 1942.
The announcement of the memorial day was met with criticism by the left, who argued that the right-wing government "wants to involve the nation in a never-ending culture war".
According to Slovenian newspapers, the government's current decision was expected because officials from the smaller coalition party, the Social Democrats (SD), said last week that the decree should be repealed because it is "mostly about revisionism and does nothing to reconcile people ".
Jansa described the decision on his Twitter page as
"one of the most disgusting and shameful acts in the history of independent Slovenia", which, according to him, "offends all those who feel at least an iota of sympathy for their fellow human beings".
He accused the government of
he rehabilitated communist crimes and nullified "the exceptional reconciliation efforts of the generation that made Slovenia democratic and independent".
Matej Tonin, the leader of the Christian Democrat New Slovenia (NSi), wrote on his social media page: many people living today suffered under communism and many lost their loved ones.
"This is not about being on the right side of history, but about basic values and respect for the dead," he emphasized, adding that "the current government is not capable of such a broad perspective."
MTI
Cover photo: The tree of reconciliation. monument in the Žale cemetery in Ljubljana. Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
