Black Ribbon Day

Today is Black Ribbon Day in Europe and Canada. It is a National Day of Remembrance. The purpose of the Day of Remembrance is to preserve the memory of the victims of mass deportations and exterminations (committed by the Nazi and Soviet dictatorships), while promoting democratic values with the aim of reinforcing peace and stability in Europe - and Canada. So why August 23rd? The date was chosen because it was when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed between Hitler's Nazi Germany and Stalin's Communist Soviet Union. Why today is a working holiday it is becoming more wide-known within both the EU and Canada. Most of the EU was once occupied by the Nazis and also behind the Iron Curtain and the memories of those awful times are still fresh in the majority of people. Canada made it a Day of Remembrance in 2009 due mostly because lots of refugees fleeing the Nazis, the Soviets or both went into exile in Canada (mostly from the Baltics.) There is a motion underway in the US Congress to make it a National Day of Remembrance there too (as it as always been a land for the oppressed to flee to.)

While it has been 60+ years since the end of Nazism and 20+ years since the end of Communism (in Europe) a lot more needs to be done. The legacies of both Nazism and Communism haven't been addressed that much  - especially those dealing with Communism - and until each country that went through those terrible years"airs it's laundry" and works to compensate for their past mistakes then not much will truly be changed.