Letter of FIR president Vilmos Hanti

1. Juli 2015

Dear EC members,
Chairmen of the member federations and members of FIR,
Dear Antifascist Comrades,

While our eyes and attention are focused on what kind of a future lies ahead of Europe and the world, we cannot forget what had happened yesterday, where we come from, what kind of lessons our common past carries.
The mission of FIR, the International Federation of Resistance Fighters, is to represent and disseminate the above truth. Today’s strained international relations and, especially, the events unfolding these days on the European continent have demonstrated, perhaps with an acuity unknown since the end of World War II, how dealing with the consequences of the catastrophe submerging us in the 30’s and 40’s is of paramount importance in order to prevent their fall into oblivion.
We can attain this goal if FIR’s leadership and our member organisations do play an appropriate role in public life; if we keep reminding all of us that, unfortunately, people continue to be vulnerable, and the poisoning of people’s minds goes on even today; if we face head on the difficulties which have been accompanying the great geopolitical changes that took place a quarter of a century ago, and most of all, if we keep conveying these messages consistently to the new generations.
My conviction is that in this historic endeavour FIR, too, carries a lot of responsibilities, and we – relying on similar activities carried out by others – can bring an important contribution to keeping alive what everybody should remember. We must not allow that some forces, referring to the passing of time or guided by dark political designs, manage to bury this determinant European heritage which defines our todays and which originates in the terrifying cataclysm and the ensuing historic antifascist victory 70 years ago!
In the spirit of the above, I am turning to the Executive Committee of FIR, to the leadership of its member organisations, to the FIR members themselves with the proposition to intensify our common activities in our societies and among the young generations through initiatives and events, including cross-border meetings. This would send a signal that FIR is alive and is working and deems it important to draw attention to the dangers threatening the democratic order, solidarity, tolerance, human rights, and to focus on the designs of those political forces which seek to squeeze the worst, the most noxious out of people’s minds, making use for this purpose of the countless real problems and crises that beset our continent and its neighbourhood.
Never again cruel destructions, never again fascism dressed either in old or new clothes!

Dear Friends,
I am waiting for your thoughts and reactions to the issues raised in my letter. I wish to know your ideas as to the possibilities for further common action.