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Letter of President Vaclav Klaus to Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia

English Pages, 14. 3. 2005

Dear Mrs President

I received your letter of January 24, 2005, in which – in connection with the forthcoming celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War and defeat of the Nazi Germany – you remind me of the consequent occupation of your country by the Soviet Union and the suffering, which this occupation had inflicted on your country. I am very well aware of both of these matters, as their witness, and I do not underestimate either of them.

The defeat of the Nazi Germany, achieved with considerable help of the citizens of the occupied Europe by common efforts of the Western allies and the Soviet Union, was an immense and truly historical victory. It is necessary to commemorate and celebrate this victory with dignity. It was a result of the heroism of hundred thousands or rather millions of allied soldiers – Soviet, American, British and many others. In that difficult and demanding time they did not risk their lives for the post-war plans of a communist dictator. They were fighting against an enemy, which at that time represented an enormous threat to the entire world. I see the main purpose and importance of the forthcoming celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War in commemorating these efforts and their victims.

You are entirely right that the defeat of the Nazi Germany did not turn out to be the beginning of free and democratic development for the Latvian, Czech and a number of other Central and Eastern European nations, as occurred in the more fortunate Western half of our continent. The defeat of Nazi Germany led to a new totalitarian oppression either immediately in the wake of the war, or several years later, after the fall of the iron curtain which was dividing Europe. The communist era was a period of decline, persecutions and foreign dominance also for the Czech nation. All these facts need to be commemorated as well.

On the basis of my own experience, I am however confident that a deep and open reflection of sensitive questions of the past ought be undertaken in such a manner, so as not to burden the existent and future relations between individual European states and nations. That is why – being aware of the complexity of the whole painful history of the 20th century – I will support the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Moscow through my own participation.

Yours respectfully

Vaclav Klaus

Prague, March 11, 2005