Communism and Nazism in European History

One of the many complaints Czech & Slovak Canadians have about the post-communist era in their old homelands is that the new governments have not been effective in dealing with the countries’ communist past.

Almost twenty years after the Velvet Revolution, many of the former ardent communists are still in their posts in the judiciary, in the police, in the military. Many have converted into the new capitalists, “tunneling” billions of Czech korunas into Swiss bank accounts or offshore jurisdictions. School history textbooks are lacking any serious description, nevermind analysis, of the communist era, and the current economic environment leaves many wondering if the communist state, with its centrally planned economy, was not a better alternative to the Eastern European version of laissez-faire capitalism. Those responsible for the worst crimes against humanity in the 1950s are either dead, very old, and it’s difficult to bring them to justice. Those responsible for the less extreme but still lawless oppression in 1970s have used their resources to successfully evade prosecution. The restitution program designed to return properties confiscated by the communist regime is considered by many as bureaucratic and ineffective. Read the rest of this entry »