The victims of communism must be set as an example to the society, because they have dared to defy dictatorship – said Bence Rétvári, Minister of State of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice on Friday at the premiere of the book ‘Gellert Conferences – Presentations on the crimes of communism’ in Budapest.

During the event which was jointly organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Barankovics Foundation and the Foundation for the Crimes of Communism, the Minister of State pointed out that the horrors of communism must be shown, because whenever communism was put into practice any place in the world, outcomes were always deprivation, executions, line of deportations and dictatorship.

Rétvári Bence stressed that the idea of communism could not be a perfect one, because it has always turned into suppression. As he phrased it, by mentioning communism, it’s not just talking about the past, but about the idea as well of which every deployment experiment brought dictatorship along, as the idea itself is inhuman, undemocratic and the emancipation of communist ideals are unacceptable.

He pointed out that over the past four years, a number of laws and regulations were amended which concern those who were persecuted by communism and a lot was achieved in order to “fix something out of what communists have ruined in this country”. He added the constitutional obligation of the recently established Committee for National Remembrance is the exploration of the communist past and the presentation of that system.
He noted that in most cases the majority of foreign tourists visiting the House of Terror Museum have never experienced communism in practice, but the occasion of their visit makes them aware that whenever realized, this idea did not regard human dignity at any time.

According to his opinion, it is clear that who are democrats then they are anti-communist too, because communism is an idea which cannot be said to be tolerable in a democratic system. He drew attention on the fact as well that this authoritarian regime cannot be relativized and also it must be known that “the fault was not only in Mátyás Rákosi, but in the whole Communist system”.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)