The FIR supports the justified request of the Bulgarian veterans and anti-fascists to be recognized socially as fighters in the ranks of the Anti-Hitler-Coalition. The Congress decides that the following letter will be sent to the Bulgarian authorities:

TO:      MRS TSVETA KARAYANCHEVA, Chairwoman OF BULGARIAN PARLIAMNT

TO:      MR. BOYKO BORISOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE CONCIL OF MINSTERS OF BULGARIA

TO:      MR. RUMEN RADEV, PRESIDENT OF BULGARIA

We were surprised to understood that Bulgarians who take part of the in the anti-fascist struggle between 1941-1944 in Bulgaria are not recognized as veterans from Second World War. For us that mean that first as if underestimating and trample the memory of thousands of Bulgarian antifascists, who gave their blood for in the antifascist struggle and second we accept that fact as unrespect to those Bulgarian heroes who today are not alive.

Is it right those days when Bulgaria is full member of European Union, members of the antifascist resistance not to have official status of veterans of the Second World War? For us it is not right and equitable for us. How Bulgarian antifascist are different from their brothers, who take place in antifascist resistance in Europe? For us there is no such a difference! All of us courageously were fighting against Hitler’s fascism.

We would like officially to ask you honourable parliamentarian and political leaders to help us for the official recognition of Bulgarian antifascist as veterans from the Second World War from the Bulgarian parliament.

With that gesture you will not only show respect to Bulgarian antifascists whose number from years decreases because of the biological reasons  but also with that gesture you will give a solid guarantee of the Bulgarian public that you ensure the European values and traditions and also you will give an example of how you attribute in fighting against the neofascism today which works hard over the all continent. Let do not give a chance to neofascist fever to work in our countries.

We would like to wish you health, cheerfulness and success with your highly responsible work like European parliamentarians for the progress and wellness of the peace in whole Europe.

The delegates of the XVIII Congress of the Federation Internationale des Resistants (FIR) – Association Antifasciste are deeply horrified of accepted resolution of the European remembrance for the future of Europe on 19^th September 2019 from European parliament.

It opens the doors of the European Union for fascist invasion. Moreover, it appeals European countries with all resources to provide that antinational politics, to cover atrocities and crimes of the fascism period of the Second World War. The fact is that 535 members of the European parliament delegated there from laboured and progressive Europe, occupied and repressed from Nazi Germany at the time of Second World War with clear majority accepted this bold and brazen resolution with fake content. That is how without any historical remembrance they defend revisionists, Russophobe’s and anti-communist positions and justifies neoliberalism.

How can the “United Europe” deny historical truth and to state that instigator of the Second World War is the Soviet Union, to state also that German-Soviet plan is the reason for Second World War’s events? How Europe can state that Nazi Germany and Soviet Union are Gemini who had the negotiations to separate the world by each other? How that New Europe can state the Red Army is not the liberator of Europe and it is enslaver and occupier?

We flatly opposed and deplore of accepted resolution of the European parliament. We also do not accept the faked historical events of that period. We appeal to all progressive thinking people to unite their forces in the battle with all tries of the rebuilding of the fascism;

We are for verification of the historical truth.

– The Soviet Union is not instigator of the Second Wold War.

– Never Nazi Germany and Soviet Union had negotiations for sharing the world.

– The Red army as part of the Anti-Hitler-Coalition had the biggest contribution for the liberation of Europe from Nazism.

We will defend historical truth of the Second World War and will be struggling for peace, freedom and demarcation in whole Europe and the world!

The FIR registers with concern that the German union of the pursued ones of the Nazi regime – association of anti-fascists (VVN-BdA) is attacked with the means of the tax law. Its political work against old and new Nazis, against racism and dismantling of democracy, for anti-fascist historical memory and international understanding as well as the support of the last still living contemporary witnesses from pursuit and resistance will be more complicate because of financial restriction.

While on one hand the politically responsible persons in Germany spoke full-bodied after the assassination attempt on a synagogue in Halle of the fight against extreme right and against anti-Semitism, on the other hand the largest anti-fascist organization in Germany is attacked on financial level. Thus, the tax authorities make a contribution to pursue anti-fascism – as it demands the extremely right AfD

The VVN-BdA calls under the slogan “anti-fascism must remain non-profit”:

“We demand the recognition of charity for our organization!

We demand practical support for all civil society groups and organizations that defend the basic values of the Basic Law against racist, anti-Semitic, nationalist and neo-Fascist attacks!”

The FIR supports the VVN-BdA in its fight around its non-profit character. We see in the procedure of the finance authority an attempt to make the organization politically gag-dead with the instrument of the tax law.

We call the German Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the land finance Ministers to stop these attacks on an active civilian-society organization in the fight against Neo-fascism and extreme right development.

We call our member federations to support the VVN-BdA by contacting German Embassies and sending protest notes against these attacks against the largest, oldest, non-party and non-denominational organization of anti-fascists in Germany.

In 1966, the United Nations declared 21 March the “International Day against Racism”. The date commemorates the massacre of the South African racist government in Sharpeville, in which 69 people had been murdered six years before.

The apartheid regime in South Africa is history, but racism is unfortunately worldwide. We are witnessing an alarming increase in this inhuman ideology worldwide and the resulting discrimination through laws and other political decisions.

Therefore, the “international day against racism” is until today an important event, on which anti-fascists should set a common sign. In many countries there are in addition alliances, f. e. the movement “stand up to Racism” created with the web-side “#world against racism” a possibility for cross-linking.

All member federations of the FIR are requested to contribute in their countries to the fact that the 21. March 2020 becomes an impressive public action day against racism and extreme right agitation.

May 8 and 9, 2020, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation from fascism and its barbaric war by the military victory over the German Nazi regime.

In Germany and other countries there still live former Waffen-SS fighters who – from Belgium to Latvia and Finland – receive pensions from Germany for their participation in massacres, genocide and war of annihilation. At the same time, their victims are still denied any compensation.

The FIR supports all initiatives to stop the pension payments to former members of the Waffen-SS as well as the demands of survivors and relatives of victims of the numerous massacres, the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, the Greek state and other victims of Nazi terror for compensation.

At a time when extreme right-wing, nationalist and authoritarian movements are growing all over the world and are partly governments, it is important that the punishment of perpetrators and the compensation of victims be made clear:

Fascism is not an opinion, but a crime!

In the past, the FIR showed that it is able as federation of the former resistance fighters and younger anti-fascists to intervene in the current historical-political discourse and to stand up for anti-fascism and humanity. As an international umbrella organization, it is in addition their noblest task to promote the solidarity among the member organizations.

In order to tie the volume of the internationalism still more closely and to practice practical solidarity the FIR is to decide the following:

1. FIR calls all member organizations to support the anti-fascist protests against these Nazi marches.
2. FIR will to write and dispatch public protest notes to the respective national governments and local mayors to all marches mentioned.
3. Together, we will send delegations to the support of the anti-fascists, particularly to Budapest, Sofia and Bleiburg.

Reasons for the decision

The memory of the resistance against fascism and the liberation is the common basis of the FIR. 2020, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation in many places in Europe. While the member organizations of the member federations of the FIR stand for the antifascist inheritance, fascist organizations like the Blood & Honour network, try to rewrite the history and to reinterpret the fascist defeat in victories.

Fascist groups and networks organize events and demonstrations to glorify fascism and its worst representatives. These events serve on the one hand to network old and new fascists and as self-affirmation of the Nazi scene internally, on the other hand they are the starting point for historical revisionist efforts throughout Europe. Occasionally, the boundaries between these activities of the extreme right and government positions are blurred.

Following is an overview of the largest and most important regular events of this kind.

Budapest: Every year in February Nazis from all over Europe come together in Budapest and take part in the commemoration and demonstration of Blood&Honour Hungary. More than one thousand Neo-Nazis march unhindered during the so-called “Day of Honor” in February, while the anti-fascist protest and progressive civil society are exposed to state repression and marginalization.

Sofia: Also in February, the honoring of the fanatical anti-Semite General Hristo Lukov takes place in Sofia since some years. Since his death on 13 February 1943, he has been regarded as a symbolic figure and martyr of Bulgarian fascists. Largely ignored by the media, over a thousand neo-Nazis from all over Europe take part in the glorification of the collaborator and anti-Semite. With a rally in front of the Bulgarian embassy in Berlin in 2019, solidarity with Bulgarian anti-fascists and media attention on Bulgarian television could be generated for the first time.

Riga: Every year on 16 March, the Baltic variant of such Nazi glorification takes place in Riga. The official purpose of this “Day of the Legionnaires” is to commemorate a battle won by Latvian SS units on Lake Ladoga over the Red Army in 1944. In cooperation with the local church, Viktor Arajs and other fascist butchers are blessed and honored. Only a small minority of Latvian Jews and Russian-speaking people organize protests. The year 2014 showed how important solidarity is, in which it succeeded in exerting pressure on the Latvian government by the participation of the FIR, so that this was forced to dissociate itself from the event. In the following years it succeeded repeatedly to arouse media attention by common protests before diplomatic representations of Latvia in several countries and so to practice solidarity with the Latvian anti-fascists* inside.

Bleiburg/ Pliberk: The biggest fascist event is the commemoration of Ustaša fighters in Bleiburg/ Pliberk. Up to 30,000 neo-Nazis and Croatian nationalists meet here on the Loibach field. They are reminiscent of the so-called “Massacre of Bleiburg”, also supported by parts of the Catholic Church. The central element of this May meeting is the trivialization of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Ustaša fighters and other allies of Nazi Germany.

Berlin: For some years, neo-Nazis in Germany have been trying again to establish demonstrations with a clear reference to historical fascism. In the years 2017 and 2018, for example, there were demonstrations for Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess in Berlin with about 1000 participants from the NPD environment. The motto of these Hess marches was “I regret nothing”. This is a saying of Rudolf Hess during the Nuremberg Trials. He glorified in that way industrial mass extermination and war of aggression. Not surprisingly, the marches in Berlin always took place with the participation of internationally arrived neo-Nazis.