The Homeland Movement party said in a statement on Saturday that it supports scientific research of and obligatory education about the crimes of 20th century totalitarian and authoritarian regimes.

The opposition party issued the statement on the occasion of the European day of remembrance for victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, August 23, which, it said, is observed in a number of EU countries.

As stressed in the European Parliament resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of remembrance for the future of Europe, Europe’s tragic past should continue to serve as a moral and political inspiration to deal with the challenges of the present.      

“The totalitarian ideologies Communism and Fascism were a great evil of the 20th century. There is still no sufficient knowledge of the extent of crimes, notably of Yugoslav Communism, in Croatia because mass graves with the remains of our people continue to be discovered. Nobody has answered for those crimes and that is why researchers who investigate Communist crimes should be fully supported in further research,” the party said.

“Unfortunately, it took too long for a Zagreb square bearing the name of the Communist dictator to be renamed, which was a civilisational disgrace,” the party said.

Nazis and Communists were allies until the German invasion of the Soviet Union, while Communists in Croatia were against Western forces from the start of World War II and they consistently denied the Croat people the right to an independent state until the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union, the party said.

It called for marking the European day of remembrance for victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes during the school year, just as some EU member states mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day during the school year.