Every year on August 23, Europe and Ukraine together with other countries celebrate Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.

European Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism in History

The date reminds the world public of the event that took place in 1939 – the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Historians view this document as a criminal agreement between Stalin and Hitler that set the mechanism for World War II in motion.

On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany became conspirators and signed the Non-Aggression Pact. Totalitarian regimes pushed the world into bloody military conflict. According to the pact, both states promised not to intervene in the event of a military conflict with a third party. In addition, the treaty contained secret provisions regarding the division of the territory of Eastern Europe into the sphere of German and Soviet interests.

A crime against humanity

The Molotov-Ribbentop Pact provided for the complete destruction of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as independent states and the division of their territories. Stalin did not seek the independence of Belarus and Ukraine at all. A week after the signing of the criminal treaty, German troops invaded Poland – the Second World War began. Until 1941, the Soviet Union supplied Germany with raw materials and materials for aggression against Europe.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is considered a crime against peace and humanity, which has already been sharply condemned by the European Parliament. In 2009, the organization proposed celebrating August 23 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.