International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes

In 2009 European Parliament called in its resolution "European conscience and totalitarianism" for the proclamation of 23 August as a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, also condemning the crimes of nazism and communism. Victims of nazism and communism are commemorated on this day in many European states and Northern America. The day chosen is not accidental - on 23 August 1939 the ministers of foreign affairs of Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Non-aggression Pact in Moscow. The secret protocols of this pact divided Europe into two spheres of influence and triggered the occupation of independent states, mass repressions and World War II. The treaty is also known as the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" and "Hitler-Stalin Pact".