LET US CLOSE THE HISTORIC PERIOD OF WORLD WAR II AND AFTER

Ljubljana, 12 November 2001


Now there is a new opportunity to finally close politically the historical period of the Slovene nation during World War II and immediately afterwards, writes President Milan Kucan in a letter dispatched today to the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Borut Pahor.

"We can not rectify what happened, but we can resolve that politics will not write history. Piety toward the deceased sets us the task that the deceased will not be abused for the purpose of settling political accounts. It is proper that we bind ourselves to this task," the President emphasised.

In his letter President Kucan reiterated all the initiatives and proposals submitted to the National Assembly and the Government regarding the approach of the Slovene State to this period. He also underlined that even before the birth of the Slovene state, at the reconciliation ceremony in Kocevski Rog in July of 1990, he trusted that concern and responsibility towards the emerging state will bind us together, thus accepting the idea of reconciliation.

The President's position has always been that it is the duty of the state to arrange for grave sites of those executed following the war and for their respectful markings and maintenance; for more rapid procedure that is more respectful to relatives for the issuing of death certificates; for a list of all the victims of World War II and thereafter (The Book of the Dead); for the more rapid establishment of memorial parks in Kocevski Rog and Teharje; for a monument to all the victims of World War II and the extrajudicial postwar executions to be a lasting symbol of common memory and our act of reconciliation; a clarification in terms of criminal justice of the postwar extrajudicial executions; for a political act that through a joint statement by all parliamentary parties would condemn criminal and other unlawful measures taken immediately following the war and would unite the living in common memory of all victims of the war and postwar periods. In the President's opinion such an act would contribute to letting the dead rest in respectful memory while leaving expert judgement of the events to historians and history. Together we Slovenes created our history and we did it for each other. Let us acknowledge it now as our own - sooner or later we shall have to, also wrote President Kucan.

In his letter the President of the Republic also recalled the decision of the Committee of the National Assembly for marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II with a monument to all victims to be unveiled in December 1995. The President also described as encouraging the work of the Government Commission for the resolution of issues regarding hidden gravesites, whose programme is deserving of every moral and material support. In spite of all the delays, the President also ascribes great importance to the present activities of the State Prosecutor's Office in whose competence is the clarification of the criminal justice aspects of post-war extra-judicial executions.

In his letter the President of the Republic also called for the National Assembly to consider inviting all those whose realtives went missing during World War II and thereafter to officially register the missing in line with regulations and for the Government to issue instructions that will ensure piety and simplification in the procedures before competent authorities.

The President of the Republic also sent a copy of the letter to Prime Minister Dr Janez Drnovsek.

The complete text of the letter by the President of the Republic to the President of the National Assembly is published on the official website of the President of the Republic (in Slovenian Language)