|
INDPENEDENT SLOVENIA THE CORNER STONE FOR THE NEW NATIONAL CONSENSUS
The 50th anniversary of the end of the second world war
Speech by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Milan Kucan
Ljubljana, Cankarjev dom, 13 May 1995
"In the Second World War the Slovenes suffered a double misfortune - that caused by the occupier and that which was a result of our own divisions. Both were exacerbated by the two mutually exclusive ideologies of the twentieth century, Nazi Fascism and Bolshevism, neither of which spared the Slovenes. And we Slovenes paid a blood levy to both.
Nevertheless, whatever were the motives for collaboration, that decision was and remains wrong and it cannot be excused. The Slovene state cannot record this as one of its historical foundations. It cannot take a place among the values and models of being Slovene. It has no place in the tradition which enabled the Slovenes twice in the 20th century - in the Second World War and in the war against the aggression by the Yugoslav Army to win our independence - to exercise our historical right to existence independently, at the right time and with determination".
Fifty years ago the guns of the Second World War went silent across the battlefields of Europe. The nightmare of war was over. A new hope entered the hearts of people and nations; a hope lit up by the joy of victory over evil and by the certainty that it would not be repeated.
As we commemorate this event together with our European neighbours and our one-time allies, and during our celebrations of the victory over Nazism and Fascism, to which we will add the commemoration in August of the end of the war in the Far East against Japanese militarism, we may recall more than anything the Slovene contribution to this victory. It was a victory that brought an end to the Second World War, the greatest slaughter in the history of mankind. The annihilation was unprecedented in terms of the extent, the destructive machinery and the armies serving it, as well as in terms of human victims. We may never forget the suffering of millions of people across the world over those long years. In its aims that war was an attack on the fundamental values of civilisation, and not simply on the essential factor of human coexistence, which is based on respect of one another's dignity, freedom and rights. Nazi Fascism was founded on racial discrimination, and on this basis it aimed to subjugate the whole world. If it had succeeded, the image of Europe and the world today would be entirely different. The Nazis' belief in their own form of discrimination was personified in a mighty army, and for this reason the victory over them was only possible by military means, and by the force of arms. Their defeat was by no means certain. And the victory over them was not possible simply as a partial victory in one single battlefield. Taking part in the resistance was therefore a great risk, right from the very beginning. It is precisely for this reason that in the eyes of history all anti-Fascist resistance has so much greater value and leaves a sense of reverence and gratitude in our memories.
For the Slovenes, Nazism and Fascism heralded annihilation. Just as for the Jews, the Poles and other peoples. Since the old political parties and their leaders were not capable of responding to the dramatic requirements of the time, and to the expectation of people that they should organise resistance, the Slovene populace organised itself without them. This represented a decision to fight against the recognised danger of nationalist Fascist genocide, and against an occupying force. The rising of the Slovene people was spontaneous, large-scale and exceptionally motivated. At that time in the Slovene forests, which offered a sanctuary to the resistance, there was enough space for all regardless of differences. It was there that the Slovene people created a military structure to fight against the militaristic aggression of the authorities in its struggle to regain Slovene land and power. The communist party assumed the role of organiser and the constitutive force for the national resistance, and it did so in both senses. It organised resistance and look up the reins of the Liberation Front. Showing no mercy towards the occupiers, nor towards its opponents, it formed a power structure according to its own ideological image and established this after the war. With the partisan army, which was created from nothing, and in their weaponry and motivation the Slovenes were direct allies to the anti-Fascist military and resistance forces, from Tobruk to London, from Warsaw to Oslo and from Moscow to Washington. We dared to become active participants in the conflict which would decide the fate of the world. We made our historically recognised disproportionately large contribution to the preservation of the foundations of Western civilisation. We fought not simply for ourselves, but for all Europe. Such was the deeper meaning of the armed resistance of the Slovenes in the Second World War. This is a fact which none can take from us or deny. To do so would be to distort the historical truth, our desire for freedom, national honour and the pride of Slovenes.
Sadly war is the outbreak of amassed evil, which arouses burning demons and accords them the unimaginable powers of apocalypse. For many it took their youth, their dreams and strength, it destroyed families, took away loved ones, friends and love itself. It fatally divided us, even though the Slovenes had already been divided before this war -at least since the Reformation. Division and even dispute are an old way of life in Slovenia. With remorse we recognise that during the war this division increased. In a small, central part of the Ljubljana area it even led to civil conflict, which cost us yet more victims, suffering and pain. It was so deep, that in spite of the crucial nature of the dilemma faced by the Slovene nation, we were not able to organise united resistance. One part of the Slovene people was closer to the occupier, and collaboration was preferable to resistance, let alone common resistance together with politically and ideologically different compatriots. I believe that on this occasion no-one wishes to pronounce judgements or rekindle demands for regret and self-accusation. The historical facts fill us with sadness at the countless deaths and with regret at lost opportunities. And this will be our constant memory and reminder.
In the Second World War the Slovenes suffered a double misfortune - that caused by the occupier and that which was a result of our own divisions. Both were exacerbated by the two mutually exclusive ideologies of the twentieth century, Nazi Fascism and Bolshevism, neither of which spared the Slovenes. And we Slovenes paid a blood levy to both. Nevertheless, whatever were the motives for collaboration, that decision was and remains wrong and it cannot be excused. The Slovene state cannot record this as one of its historical foundations. It cannot take a place among the values and models of being Slovene. It has no place in the tradition which enabled the Slovenes twice in the 20th century - in the Second World War and in the war against the aggression by the Yugoslav Army to win our independence - to exercise our historical right to existence independently, at the right time and with determination.
A nation which is attacked has the right and duty to defend itself. Otherwise it cannot expect history to understand it, let alone respect it. We have plenty of examples of this even today! During the Second World War, therefore, nothing less than active resistance by the Slovenes against the occupation was moral and legitimate. Fifty years cannot wipe away the memory of the war generations. I ask myself and you, would it not be heinous and disrespectful to forget the enormous sacrifice of those who, with honourable thoughts and a belief in freedom and in the right of a nation to survival, rose up against Fascism and the sentence passed on them? My answer is that history cannot and never should be changed. Only respect for it, even if it is hard and severe, can be the foundation for our common existence. Slovenia can only be built on truth and justice. It cannot be built on confusion and lies.
For this reason I must, with the profoundest regret, note once again that following the end of the war, and without any judicial determination of personal guilt - merely in the name of the spurious rights of the victors - several thousand Slovene National Guardsmen (Domobranci) who were returned to Slovenia by the allies were put to death. In this way we Slovenes are celebrating the victory over Nazism and Fascism and the end of the war not only with innocent joy but also with bitterness. The National Guard undoubtedly collaborated with the occupier. But the vengeful, ruthless liquidation of them outside any judicial process has no excuse and is worthy of every condemnation and remorse.
After the war, in the name of dreams of a just society, a socialist system was put into place here, although this bypassed democracy. Although we will also need to make a properly objective judgement of this system, through its exclusivity - particularly in the first years after the war - countless injustices and misfortunes were visited on people. It is high time for the country we live in today, the legitimate and legal successor to the former state, with extreme sensitivity and responsibility, and without any party political bias or prevarication, to take up the burden of the past and enact legislation which would, where at all possible, put right the injustices that resulted from the violations of fundamental and universal human rights.
It is not possible to make any glib settling of accounts for human lives, suffering and errors. It requires recognition and a common grieving, with sympathy, conscience, trust and will. This is possible as long as no-one avoids his human duty by shying away from the responsibility of every citizen and from the truth of history. After everything we have lived through, we are, I believe, mature enough to look honestly into the past and to allow it finally to become the past, as it really was. For the simple reason that it happened, and it cannot be changed. There are those who still wish to alter history and their role in it, whose current political persuasion is founded on former disputes and divisions and who insist on perpetuating them as ongoing disputes, as the divisions of our time and today's generation, and who continue to burden our lives and the lives of future generations. To these people we must, in the name of our responsibility for this future, say: ENOUGH!
At the same time this will answer the question of where we wish to place our past. To what degree will we allow it to exert pressure on our life today. The past cannot be our agenda. To live in it means simply to accept the damnation of perpetual retribution, which continually forces sons to punish the sons of others for the sins of their fathers. To remain in the past and to continue fighting its battles would be to forget ourselves, and to forget that we are our own people, the people of our own time, that we are responsible for this time and that we must be open to the challenges of the future. This we owe to ourselves, those who come after us and to the future of the nation.
I ask myself and you, have we not now arrived at a crossroads, where we must recognise that the time of accusations and justifications is over? Each side has explained its mistakes and errors according to its own prejudices. Each side has accepted its share of responsibility for the disputes and divisions, and has offered us lessons from the past. Now we must adopt an unburdened, free relationship with our own history. Then we may see clearly those things which today, in this strained, even antagonistic atmosphere we perhaps cannot see; and for which reason we may have lacked courage, constancy and political will. After all, is it not time now for us as a community, as a nation and each for ourselves to decide that we must cease these conflicts and start to tread the path of dialogue and cooperation? Has the time not arrived for us to learn how to live with one another and not against one another? In the name of our responsibility for the common good and future!
Our generation is living in a time which those who come after us will perhaps regard as a time of historic change. This time is not without difficulties, but a new international order is indeed emerging. Numerous countries and nations are endeavouring to determine once more their identity and position in the international arena. This is a time of searching for new forms of coexistence between people, nations, cultures and civilisations on our planet. Through our approach now we may formulate an answer to that question pushed far into the future - were we equal to our responsibility? Did we understand that the only option was to join forces in the building of an open Slovene nation, which would be founded on the concept of a state of law and common welfare, as well as on a civil society; on the concept of Europe as a community governed by the principles of equality of both great and small, of peaceful cooperation in this community based on equal rights; and in the spirit of mutual respect and respect of human rights and freedoms, of democracy, the rule of law, a market economy and social justice? This means, therefore, resisting everything which would in spite of our horrific experiences steer us towards reviving and unleashing the demons of the past. It is now time for us to say that we desire international economic, political and defence links; and that we Slovenes have a historical, moral and political right to this. We also have the right to participate in deciding on the fate of Europe; and we have the responsibility to join with others in doing everything to ensure that the hopes of a Europe of peace, freedom and prosperity might not be simply utopian, but a realistic and binding vision.
We must more than anything provide time and opportunity for a new national consensus. And this must be with patient confidence in one another. In this way, too, I understand reconciliation: as the respect of one's fellow human, his dignity and his truth, and as a readiness to coexist and cooperate, or at least to tolerate. Now, this is possible. The corner stone for this was the founding of the independent state of Slovenia. We have seen that consensus among Slovenes is desired and possible. Neither in the plebiscite, nor in the war for independence nor in our efforts to gain international recognition did we ask ourselves about our past, rather we asked ourselves about our current status and actions and about our future. In this we were entirely united, and precisely because of this we were successful. But we should understand that freedom and independence cannot be simply handed to us, and that they are not guaranteed in perpetuity. Each nation and each state must watch carefully over them. This is the duty of every government.
Everything which we commemorate today was from a time of war. War forced upon us our past and the evil of intolerance. And sadly the struggle against intolerance and war is never over. It is fought over and again by each new generation. It is fought not simply through the forming of alliances, but also and particularly through learning how to live together, amongst ourselves and with other nations, in peace and mutual trust. For this reason I offer to all nations, and in particular to our neighbours, a sincere hand of friendship, cooperation and peaceful coexistence. Without reproach or malevolence, and thus with yet greater hope. Many nations have learned this over the last fifty years. Today the end of the Second World War and the victory over Fascism and Nazism are commemorated together by nations which then stood against each other as enemies. Together they may consider their future. I would ask this: if they in their situation were able to do this, are we Slovenes not also capable of living each together with the other? I believe deeply in this and I am convinced that I share my belief with you.
I believe this despite the fact that on this great occasion - and it is with deep regret that I have to say this - we have obviously not yet mustered enough strength for this great act. Now, everyone is obliged to reconsider their acts, for it is no longer possible to evade responsibility for them. I believe that there are enough level-headed people among the Slovenes, and enough people who wish themselves and their country well, and who will time and again do their best to cut out the roots of evil among us once and for all. We have no other choice.
I believe in the power of truth and the goodwill of all. I believe that we will find in ourselves sufficient courage to tolerate and trust one another, and sufficient self-confidence to avoid turning at this crossroads onto a path which will lead us nowhere, but rather to follow the path of mutual respect, confidence and an open future.
|
