European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism

The European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism is observed on **August 23**. It honors the millions of people who suffered and lost their lives under the oppressive regimes of Stalinism and Nazism, while remembering the devastating impact of totalitarian rule across Europe.

The observance encourages reflection, remembrance, and a commitment to protecting human rights, democracy, and freedom. On August 23, people and communities are invited to learn from the past, honor the victims and survivors, and stand together against hatred, intolerance, and political repression.

The **European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism** is observed annually on **August 23**. The date recalls the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939, a non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Its secret protocols divided parts of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence and preceded the invasion and partition of Poland. For many communities across Central and Eastern Europe, the agreement symbolizes the beginning of successive occupations, repression, deportations, mass imprisonment, forced labor, and other state-sponsored crimes carried out under both Nazi and Stalinist regimes.

The observance grew out of remembrance initiatives developed particularly in the Baltic states and other countries that experienced Nazi and Soviet domination. In 2008, the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism called for a Europe-wide day of remembrance. The following year, on April 2, 2009, the European Parliament adopted a resolution supporting August 23 as a day to commemorate the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. The date had already been used by Baltic and émigré communities as a day of protest and remembrance, sometimes under the name “Black Ribbon Day.”

Over time, August 23 has become part of a broader European effort to preserve the memory of twentieth-century dictatorship and political violence. Memorial ceremonies, educational programs, public lectures, exhibitions, documentary screenings, and moments of silence are held in different countries. Museums and historical institutions often use the day to explain the consequences of the Nazi–Soviet partition of Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, the Holodomor and other Stalin-era policies, wartime occupations, and the postwar repression imposed across much of the region. The precise emphasis varies by country, reflecting its own historical experience.

The day has cultural and political significance because it encourages remembrance beyond national borders while recognizing that historical memories in Europe are not uniform. It seeks to honor victims and promote opposition to totalitarianism, antisemitism, racism, xenophobia, and political repression. At the same time, historians note that Nazi and Stalinist systems differed in ideology, chronology, and the character of their crimes; commemorating their victims together is therefore intended as a shared remembrance framework, not as a claim that the two regimes were identical. Observed on **August 23**, the occasion links historical study with the continuing defense of human rights, democratic institutions, and the dignity of victims.