A moment of silence on Norrmalmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden on Monday, where a memorial was held to honor victims of Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes.<br /><br />The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism—or IICC—organized the event.<br /><br />[Anders Hjemdahl, Founder of IICC]:<br />”We organized this event because we believe that crimes of communism has been widely overlooked.”<br /><br />The Swedish Minister of Education, Jan Björklund, says there are still many people with relatives who died during the holocaust and in the Soviet Union’s Gulag archipelago.<br /><br />[Jan Björklund, Swedish Minister of Education]:<br />“New generations should learn what happened during 20th century, so it shouldn’t happen again.”<br /><br />Behind the initiative for a European-wide day of remembrance on August 23rd is two separate resolutions from the European Parliament and The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).<br /><br />The OSCE resolution states that Europe has suffered from two totalitarian regimes, Nazi and Stalinist, which brought about genocide and crimes against humanity.<br /><br />A victim of communism, Maris Jurmala from Latvia, participated in the memorial.<br /><br />[Maris Jurmala, Latvian Victim of Communism]:<br />“Ten thousands of Latvians and also Estonians and Lithuanians were taken away for deportation camps were they stayed for 20 or 30 years, many even died on the spot.”<br /><br />The memorial ended with a minute of silence and a wreath laying ceremony.<br /><br />NTD Stockholm, Sweden
